Pilate’s Inscription in Caesarea

Caesarea Maritima was developed almost from scratch by Herod the Great in the latter decades of the first century BC. Herod’s intention was to compete with – if not to surpass – other large Mediterranean harbours such as Alexandria, the Piraeus of Athens, or Seleucia (Antioch’s port). Herod’s architects achieved an amazing feat of engineering by completing the harbour in a very short time. For that, barges were filled with a mixture of rubble, lime, and volcanic ashes called pozzolana, that served as a binder. They were set afloat and sunk under their intended destination. With the contact of the water, the whole mixture became one solid block. Hundreds of those blocks were needed to build the artificial breakwater that encompassed Caesarea harbour.

The breakwater built by Herod’s engineers has sunk into the sea. It can be seen in aerial photography: the dark stain in the deep blue of the sea. Source: R. L. Hohfelder et al. “Constructing the Harbour of Caesarea Palaestina, Israel: New Evidence From the ROMACONS Field Campaign of October 2005,” The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (2007) 36.2: 409-415.

In front of it, on top of a high podium, Herod had a temple dedicated to Augustus. Strictly speaking the harbour was named Sebastos (Augustus in Greek) in honour of Octavian-Augustus, Herod’s new patron after the battle of Actium. With the harbour flourished the city of Caesarea. A beautiful hippodrome and a large theatre were built facing the sea, to the south of the harbour. Between them, a rocky outcrop juts into the sea. That is the spot Herod chose to build his palace.

Upon Herod’s death and after the brief rule of his son Archaelaus, Caesarea became the capital city of Roman Judaea, a sub-province of the great senatorial province of Syria. With the procurators replacing Herod’s rule, Caesarea had no reason to exist as a major Mediterranean harbour. It became, for the next six centuries, a Roman capital city, seat of the governor. In Jesus’ time they were called procurators. Chosen from the equestrian order – and not the senatorial order which was the highest – those sub-governors were young and ambitious, yet inexperienced and lacking tact. The most famous one is Pontius Pilate who ruled over Judaea in the period 26-36 AD. When in Caesarea he used to stay at Herod’s palace, which was thus called the praetorium.

In 1961, an incredible archaeological find was made: a slab bearing an inscription in Latin with the names of Tiberius, Pilatus, and Judaea.

The reconstructed text reads as follows (in bold letters, the text deciphered on the stone):

[ ––]S TIBERIEUM
[. PO]NTIUS PILATUS
[PRAEF]ECTUS IUD[AE]E
[DEDIT D]E[DICAVIT]

Pilate’s stone is exhibited in the Israel Museum. Wikipedia.

Prof. Gregory Rowe deciphering a replica of Pilate’s stone in situ. Reed Miller, 2021.“Tiberieum” refers to a building -likely a temple- dedicated to Tiberius. Pontius Pilate is easily readable, as well as Judaea. The difficulty arises at the third line where only an “e” has been deciphered; but, since a verb is expected there and since we are speaking of a building, the epigraphists suggest it to read “dedicavit” (he dedicated).

We are here in presence of hard evidence for the existence of Pontius Pilate, a major character in the history of salvation, whose name is remembered every time we pray the creed.

Additionally, Pontius Pilate is called after his official name: praefectus, that is “prefect” and not “procurator” as scholars used to refer to him. The Gospels were written in Greek. They therefore use the Greek generic name of hegemon (ruler) to refer to Pilate which does not correspond to the Roman imperial nomenclature.

In building this Tiberieum to honour the emperor Pilate may have been looking for a promotion to a richer and quieter province. It did not happen! He was sent back to Rome for trial by the governor of Syria after being accused of cruelty against Samaritans (Josephus, Antiquities 18.4.1-2).

Pilate’ inscription was unearthed by the archaeologists in the area of the theatre. The slab was heavily damaged on its left side because it had served for some time as a step in one of the theatre stairways. This secondary use of such an important stele remains shrouded in mysteries. Here is a possible explanation. In 363 AD, while Christianity was about to supersede paganism, a terrible earthquake shook all Palestine and partially destroyed Caesarea’s theatre. Building material was needed, as well as replacements for stones that had been crushed. It was then that someone chose Pilate’s stele to insert it into a staircase that was being repaired, taking care to place the inscription side facing upwards so that Pilate’s name would be trodden underfoot by spectators on their way to the theatre.

By Henri Gourinard