Reply #15: Pontius Pilate was a murderous thug, and not the vascillating man...

[IndianaGreen]

Pontius Pilate was a murderous thug, and not the vascillating man portrayed in the Gospels. Gibson's film will perpetuate a myth that has been used as the basis for persecuting Jews for two millenia.

BTW, Samaritans were Jews too, they just did not follow the dictates of the Jerusalem Temple, thinking it to be corrupt and Jewish-Lite. Samaritans were actually a bit more liberal, for example pre-marital sex was permissible for a couple engaged to be married.

Pontius Pilate (suicide ca. 38 CE)

The best known Roman governor of Judea to later history because of his role in the accounts of Jesus' execution. Pilate probably came from the ranks of cavalry officers (equites) from which Rome regularly drew the prefects of smaller occupied provinces like Judea. His appointment as prefect of Judea in the latter half of the reign of Tiberius---when the brutal Praetorian captain Sejanus was de facto ruler of Rome---is confirmed by reports in Josephus & a stone found in 1962 at Caesarea Maritima (the capitol of the Roman province of Palestine), inscribed: "(Thi)s Tiberieum (Pon)tius Pilatus, Prefect of Judea, (mad)e."

The Pilate described by Josephus & the Roman historian Tacitus was a strong willed, inflexible military governor who was insensitive to the religious scruples of his Jewish & Samaritan subjects & relentless in suppressing any potential disturbance. This stands in sharp contrast to the impression conveyed in the Christian gospels which, for apologetic reasons, portray him as reluctant to execute Jesus. Pilate's decade long tenure (26-36 CE) testifies to both his relative effectiveness in maintaining order & to the aging emperor's lack of personal attention to administrative affairs. The ruthless slaughter of thousands of Samaritan pilgrims by Pilate's cavalry , however, led to such a strong Palestinian protest that Pilate was eventually recalled to Rome. Tiberius died before his return; but the new emperor (Caligula) relieved Pilate of his command & exiled him to Gaul (Vienne-on-Rhone). In good Roman military fashion, as one who had suffered defeat & public disgrace, he committed suicide.

For references to Pilate outside the NT see:

Josephus, Antiquities 18.35, 55-64, 85-89, 177; War 2.169-177;
Philo, Embassy to Gaius 38;
Tacitus, Annals 15.44.

http://religion.rutgers.edu/iho/pilate_2.html