Overview
A limestone building block carrying four lines of a Latin inscription, found in 1961 by Antonio Frova's Italian team at Caesarea Maritima. It was not in its original place: it had been reused as a step in the theatre (Taylor 2006 describes this as its third use; a half-circle 22 cm across cut into its right side points to an earlier reuse, perhaps as a well-head).
The left side is broken away, so every line is missing its beginning. What survives reads [...]S TIBERIEUM / [..PO]NTIUS PILATUS / [PRAEF]ECTUS IUDA[EA]E / [...]É[...]. The certain content is the name Pontius Pilatus and the title 'prefect of Judaea', plus a building or monument called a 'Tiberieum', a word found nowhere else in Latin.
What the Tiberieum was, who or what it was dedicated to, and what verb ended the text are all restorations, and they differ sharply between editors (see questions).
What the text says (summary)
[...]S TIBERIEUM / [..PO]NTIUS PILATUS / [PRAEF]ECTUS IUDA[EA]E / [...]É[...] — '[...] Tiberieum / [..Po]ntius Pilate / [Pref]ect of Judaea / [...]'Literal translation (this encyclopedia) of the diplomatic text printed by J. E. Taylor, NTS 52 (2006) 564–565 (restorations in square brackets are editorial)
What the evidence shows
- The name PILATUS and the nomen [PO]NTIUS are on the stone; only the first two letters of PONTIUS are restored.
- The title reads [PRAEF]ECTUS IUDA[EA]E: 'prefect', an equestrian military-administrative title, not 'procurator'.
- The first surviving word ends ]S; the word before TIBERIEUM is lost and is estimated at 4–6 letters (Taylor 2006, following Lehmann & Holum 1999).
- Only an E with an apex survives in line 4; the verb is not preserved.
- The block was found reused as a theatre step, not in its original setting.
Open questions
- What was the Tiberieum? Frova (1961) and Degrassi (1964) took it as a cult building for Tiberius, with Degrassi restoring line 1 as [DIS AVGVSTI]S ('to the divine Augusti'); Taylor (NTS 2006) keeps a cultic reading, arguing Pilate dedicated a Tiberieum to the Dis Augustis and linking it to Philo's account of Pilate's shields (Legatio 299–305). Alföldy (SCI 18, 1999, 85–108) reads line 1 as [NAVTI]S ('for sailors') and line 4 as [REF]E[CIT] ('rebuilt'), making the Tiberieum a secular harbour lighthouse tower at Caesarea, on the analogy of the Drusion tower Josephus names there.
- The line-1 word: Lehmann & Holum (Inscriptions of Caesarea Maritima, 1999, 68–71) list at least ten proposals (e.g. Dis Augustis, Caesariensibus, Iudaeis, clupeis, munus) and find none fully convincing because most are too long for the 4–6 letter gap (as reported by Taylor 2006, 565).
- The verb in line 4: 'dedicavit' (dedicated), 'fecit' (made) and 'refecit' (rebuilt) have all been proposed; the stone shows only an apexed E.
Sources
- A. Frova, 'L'iscrizione di Ponzio Pilato a Cesarea', Rendiconti dell'Istituto Lombardo, Classe di Lettere 95 (1961) 419–434 (editio princeps), as reviewed by A. N. Sherwin-White, Journal of Roman Studies 54 (1964) 258–259 link editio princeps
- G. Alföldy, 'Pontius Pilatus und das Tiberieum von Caesarea Maritima', Scripta Classica Israelica 18 (1999) 85–108 link study
- J. E. Taylor, 'Pontius Pilate and the Imperial Cult in Roman Judaea', New Testament Studies 52.4 (2006) 555–582 link study
- Israel Museum, Jerusalem, collection record 395572: 'Latin dedicatory inscription mentioning Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea' link museum record
- A. Amit et al. / W. Eck & A. Ecker debate on the Herodium ring, as reported in 'Pontius Pilate's Ring Reexamined', Biblical Archaeology Society, Bible History Daily, 24 April 2023 link study
Corrected from the earlier edition of this page
- Old text quoted the stone as 'Pontius Pilatus, Prefect of Judea, built this...'. No verb survives; line 4 shows only an apexed E, and 'built', 'dedicated' and 'rebuilt' are all editorial restorations (Taylor 2006, 565–566).
- Old dimensions 'approximately 30 cm × 40 cm' are wrong. The block is 82 × 65 cm; the surviving inscribed field is about 30 × 31 cm (Taylor 2006, 564).
- Old entry called it the 'Only extrabiblical evidence of Pilate' / 'Only archaeological evidence'. Philo (Legatio 299–305) and Josephus write about Pilate; a copper ring from Herodium reading ΠΙΛΑΤΟ was published in the Israel Exploration Journal, though Eck & Ecker ('Atiqot 2023) dispute that it refers to Pontius Pilate. The Caesarea stone is the only object that names him with his title.
- Old entry said it 'Confirms Gospel accounts of trial'. The stone confirms Pilate's name and his office in Judaea. It says nothing about any trial.
- The Israel Museum's own record title says 'procurator', but the stone reads [PRAEF]ECTUS. The old entry's 'Prefect' is right; the museum's label is not what the stone says.
Checked against new publications through 2026-09.