During the 1800s a wave of skepticism engulfed academia which called into question the historical reliability of the Bible. Many liberal scholars doubted that the Bible could be taken seriously, because there was no hard evidence to confirm its people, places and events. All that began to change with the advent of a new field of study - archaeology. Then with each turn of the digger’s spade, the Bible was vindicated as archaeologists scored major discoveries.
For a long time, doubting Thomases weren’t sure if the Gospel writers knew what they were talking about with respect to Pontius Pilate. Bible readers know him as the Roman governor of Judea who held office from 26-36 AD. His most infamous act of cowardice occurred when he washed his hands of Jesus, capitulating to the cries of the lynch mob demanding Jesus’ crucifixion (See John 18-19). Still, some conjectured that perhaps Pilate never existed.
Then in 1961 during an excavation at Caesarea Maritima, archaeologist Antonio Frova discovered a stone tablet with the name “Pontius Pilate Prefect of Judea” inscribed upon it. Since then, it has been concluded that the site in Caesarea was a second seaside palace where Pilate stayed when he was not holed up in Herod’s opulent Jerusalem mansion. Until this inscription was found, the only record that Pilate existed was in the Gospels, and brief references by the ancient historians Josephus, Tacitus and Eusebius.[1]
The Pilate Stone
In 2018 the New York Times reported that a seal ring was found in Jerusalem bearing the name of Pontius Pilate. Archaeologists believe that the copper alloy ring was either worn by Pilate or by one of his administrators who would use the seal to give Pilate’s authority on official documents. That same article is quoted, “for historians of the Roman period, Pilate was just one of a string of Roman officials who were sent to Judea to govern and keep the peace. Were it not for his biblical role, he would be remembered as a Roman official who didn’t do so well.”[2]
Pilate's Seal Ring
Finally, in his recent book, The Final Days of Jesus, archaeologist Shimon Gibson (University of UNC-Charlotte) provides compelling evidence for his excavation of some ruins outside Jerusalem, as the location where Jesus was tried by Pilate. According to John 19:13, after Pilate had Jesus flogged, “he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha.” In 2009 near the site of Herod’s Western Jerusalem palace, Gibson unearthed several pavement stones and a bema seat, which was a raised platform used by the Greeks and Romans to render public verdicts by judges. These ruins fit John’s description perfectly. Today, the growing consensus is that Gibson has indeed found the place where Pilate presented a bloody and beaten Jesus with the acclamation Ecco Homo! (Latin for “Behold the man”)
Gabbatha
Today, there’s no doubt that the Bible is historically accurate as the archaeological record testifies. In fact, there has yet to be an archaeological discovery which had controverted the Bible. I think Christian apologist, Eric Metaxas, summarizes beautifully by writing:
-DM
[1]
Alfred Hoerth & John McRay, Bible Archaeology (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker, 2005), 173.
[2]
Palko Karasz, “Pontius Pilate’s Name Is Found on 2,000-Year-Old Ring,” New
York Times, 30 November 2018 <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/world/middleeast/pontius-pilate-ring.html>
[3]
Eric Metaxas, Is Atheism Dead? (Washington D.C.: Salem, 2021), 218.
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