Editing Pontius Pilate (section)

===Coins===
{{main|Roman Procurator coinage#Pontius Pilate}}
[[File:Prutah Of Pontius Pilate.jpg|thumb|Bronze prutah of Pontius Pilate (worn, clipped, 15mm, 1.97g.).
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'''Obverse:''' ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ surrounding [[lituus]].
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'''Reverse:''' Wreath surrounding date [[Greek numerals|LIϚ]] (year 16, 29/30 CE). Found in Lebanon.]]

As governor, Pilate was responsible for minting coins in the province: he appears to have struck them in 29/30, 30/31, and 31/32, thus the fourth, fifth, and sixth years of his governorship.{{sfn|Bond|1998|pp=20–21}} The coins belong to a type called a "perutah", measured between 13.5 and 17mm, were minted in Jerusalem,{{sfn|Taylor|2006|pp=556–557}} and are fairly crudely made.{{sfn|Bond|1996|p=243}} Earlier coins read {{Lang|grc|ΙΟΥΛΙΑ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ|italics=no}} on the obverse and {{Lang|grc|ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ|italics=no}} on the reverse, referring to the emperor Tiberius and his mother [[Livia]] (Julia Augusta). Following Livia's death, the coins only read {{Lang|grc|ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ|italics=no}}.{{sfn|Bond|1996|p=250}} As was typical of Roman coins struck in Judaea, they did not have a portrait of the emperor, though they included some pagan designs.{{sfn|Bond|1998|pp=20–21}}

E. Stauffer and E. M. Smallwood argued that the coins' use of pagan symbols was deliberately meant to offend the Jews and connected changes in their design to the fall of the powerful Praetorian prefect [[Sejanus]] in 31.{{sfn|Bond|1996|p=241}} This theory was rejected by Helen Bond, who argued that there was nothing particularly offensive about the designs.{{sfn|Bond|1996|pp=241-242}} Joan Taylor has argued that the symbolism on the coins shows how Pilate attempted to promote the [[Roman imperial cult]] in Judaea, in spite of local Jewish and Samaritan religious sensitivities.{{sfn|Taylor|2006|pp=562-563}}

[[File:Coin-of-Pilate.jpg|thumb|Bronze prutah minted by Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem.<br />'''Reverse:''' Greek letters ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ and date [[Greek numerals|LIϚ]] (year 16 = 29/30), surrounding [[simpulum]].<br />'''Obverse:''' Greek letters ΙΟΥΛΙΑ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ, three bound heads of barley, the outer two heads drooping.]]