Pontius Pilate's Governance of Judea

Pilate's decade-long administration was defined by tension. He provoked outrage by bringing Roman standards bearing the emperor's image into Jerusalem, used Temple funds to build an aqueduct, and violently suppressed protests. The 1961 discovery of the Pilate Stone at Caesarea Maritima — inscribed with his name and title 'prefect' — confirmed his historical existence and corrected later sources that called him a procurator. His political vulnerability after Sejanus's fall may explain his reluctant cooperation in Jesus's trial.