Pilate Imports Standards to Jerusalem

Josephus

The Jewish War 2.169–177

ca. 75

Pilate was sent by Tiberius to Judaea as procurator, and in a covert operation at night he smuggled into Jerusalem under wraps those portrait plaques of the emperor which are called standards. When day came, this excited a huge commotion among the Jews. The immediate onlookers were appalled to see what amounted to a heavy-footed desecration of…

Please login or register for free access to Posen Library
Register
Already have an account?
Engage with this Source

Josephus relates that Pontius Pilate, the Roman- appointed prefect of Judaea from 26 to 36 CE, demonstrates his insensitivity to Jewish values by trying to install standards (likenesses) of the emperor in Jerusalem, which the Jews perceive as a violation of their cultural norm against images. Pilate eventually has them removed.

Later, after he raids Temple funds to build an aqueduct, Pilate forcibly quells dissent by having the Jewish objectors beaten, causing a stampede during which many are crushed in their effort to escape.

Read more

Creator Bio

Josephus

37–100

Flavius Josephus was born into a prominent Jewish priestly family and served as a general stationed in the Galilee during the First Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE). He was captured by the Romans and eventually integrated into the Flavian imperial aristocracy, who commissioned him to compose chronicles of the Jewish–Roman war and the history of the Jews. Josephus’ works, all written in Greek, include The Jewish War, Jewish Antiquities, Against Apion, and his autobiography, Life of Josephus. These writings provide important insights into the Judaisms of the Second Temple period and include one of the few surviving accounts of the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.

You may also like

The Sicarii

The countryside may thus have been swept clear, but a new breed of terrorists was growing like a cancer in Jerusalem, the so-called Sicarii who murdered people right in the middle of the city in broad…
View Source

An Egyptian False Prophet

As well as these [the Sicarii] another group of criminals came into being, less bloodstained in action but with a more blasphemous agenda, who ruined the calm of the city just as much as the assassins…
View Source

Incitement to Revolt

So this boil [of the Egyptian false prophet] too was lanced, but, as happens in a sick body, another tumour broke out elsewhere. The charlatans and the terrorists joined forces to incite large numbers…
View Source

Racial Conflict in Caesarea

Another disturbance broke out at Caesarea, with racial conflict between the Jewish element of the population and the Syrian inhabitants. The Jews claimed the city as theirs on the grounds that its…
View Source

Roman Corruption

Felix’s successor as procurator, Festus, set out to deal with the main plague affecting the country: he captured large numbers of the terrorizing bandits, and put a good many to death. But his…
View Source