Editing Pontius Pilate (section)

===Trial and execution of Jesus===
{{see also|Pilate's court|Crucifixion of Jesus}}
[[File:Duccio di Buoninsegna - Pilate's First Interrogation of Christ - WGA06803.jpg|thumb|[[Duccio]], ''Christ before Pilate'', c. 1310, his [[Maestà (Duccio)|''Maestà'']] in Siena]]

At the [[Passover]] of most likely 30 or 33, Pontius Pilate condemned [[Jesus]] of Nazareth to death by [[crucifixion]] in Jerusalem.{{sfn|Bond|1998|p=201}} The main sources on the crucifixion are the four canonical Christian [[Gospel]]s, the accounts of which vary.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=22–23}} Helen Bond argues that
<blockquote>the evangelists' portrayals of Pilate have been shaped to a great extent by their own particular theological and apologetic concerns. [...] Legendary or theological additions have also been made to the narrative [...] Despite extensive differences, however, there is a certain agreement amongst the evangelists regarding the basic facts, an agreement which may well go beyond literary dependency and reflect actual historical events.{{sfn|Bond|1998|pp=196–167}}</blockquote>
Pilate's role in condemning Jesus to death is also attested by the Roman historian [[Tacitus on Christ|Tacitus]], who, when explaining [[Nero]]'s persecution of the Christians, explains: "Christus, the founder of the name, had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate, and the pernicious [[superstition]] was checked for a moment..." (Tacitus, ''Annals'' 15.44).{{sfn|Carter|2003|p=12}}{{sfn|Bond|1998|p=xi}} Josephus also [[Josephus on Jesus|mentioned Jesus]]'s execution by Pilate at the request of prominent Jews (''Antiquities of the Jews'' 18.3.3); the text may have been altered by [[Christian interpolation]], but the reference to the execution is generally considered authentic.<ref name="autogenerated145">{{cite book|last=Crossan|first=John Dominic|title=Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography|publisher=HarperOne|year=1995|isbn=978-0-06-061662-5|page=145|quote=That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be, since both Josephus and Tacitus&nbsp;... agree with the Christian accounts on at least that basic fact.}}</ref> Discussing the paucity of extra-biblical mentions of the crucifixion, Alexander Demandt argues that the execution of Jesus was probably not seen as a particularly important event by the Romans, as many other people were crucified at the time and forgotten.{{sfn|Demandt|2012|pp=44–45}} In [[Ignatius of Antioch|Ignatius]]'s epistles [[Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians|to the Trallians]] (9.1) and [[Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans|to the Smyrnaeans]] (1.2), the author attributes Jesus's persecution under Pilate's governorship. Ignatius further dates Jesus's birth, passion, and resurrection during Pilate's governorship in his [[Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians|epistle to the Magnesians]] (11.1). Ignatius stresses all these events in his epistles as historical facts.{{sfn|Bayes|2010|p=79}}

Bond argues that Jesus's arrest was made with Pilate's prior knowledge and involvement, based on the presence of a 500-strong Roman cohort among the party that arrests Jesus in John 18:3.{{sfn|Bond|1998|p=197}} Demandt dismisses the notion that Pilate was involved.{{sfn|Demandt|2012|pp=70–71}} It is generally assumed, based on the unanimous testimony of the gospels, that the crime for which Jesus was brought to Pilate and executed was sedition, founded on his claim to be [[Kings of Israel and Judah|king of the Jews]].{{sfnm|1a1=Bond|1y=1998|1pp=197–198|2a1=Lémonon|2y=2007|2p=172|3a1=Demandt|3y=2012|3p=74}} Pilate may have judged Jesus according to the ''[[Roman litigation#Cognitio|cognitio]]'' {{lang|la|extra ordinem|italics=yes}}, a form of trial for [[capital punishment]] used in the Roman provinces and applied to [[Roman citizenship|non-Roman citizens]] that provided the prefect with greater flexibility in handling the case.{{sfn|Bond|1998|p=198}}{{sfn|Lémonon|2007|pp=172–173}} All four gospels also mention that Pilate had the custom of releasing one captive in honor of the [[Passover]] festival; this custom is not attested in any other source. Historians disagree on whether or not such a custom is a fictional element of the gospels, reflects historical reality, or perhaps represents a single [[amnesty]] in the year of Jesus's crucifixion.{{sfnm|1a1=Bond|1y=1998|1pp=199|2a1=Lémonon|2y=2007|2pp=173–176|3a1=Demandt|3y=2012|3pp=75–76}}

[[File:Munkacsy - Christ in front of Pilate.jpg|thumb|left|''Christ before Pilate'', [[Mihály Munkácsy]], 1881]]
The Gospels' portrayal of Pilate is "widely assumed" to diverge greatly from that found in Josephus and Philo,{{sfn|McGing|1991|p=417}} as Pilate is portrayed as reluctant to execute Jesus and pressured to do so by the crowd and Jewish authorities. [[John P. Meier]] notes that in Josephus, by contrast, "Pilate alone [...] is said to condemn Jesus to the cross."{{sfn|Meier|1990|p=95}} Some scholars believe that the Gospel accounts are completely untrustworthy: [[S. G. F. Brandon]] argued that in reality, rather than vacillating on condemning Jesus, Pilate unhesitatingly executed him as a rebel.{{sfn|McGing|1991|pp=417–418}} [[Paul Winter (author)|Paul Winter]] explained the discrepancy between Pilate in other sources and Pilate in the gospels by arguing that Christians became more and more eager to portray Pontius Pilate as a witness to Jesus' innocence, as persecution of Christians by the Roman authorities increased.{{sfn|Winter|1974|pp=85–86}} [[Bart Ehrman]] argues that the [[Gospel of Mark]], the earliest one, shows the Jews and Pilate to be in agreement about executing Jesus (Mark 15:15), while the later gospels progressively reduce Pilate's culpability, culminating in Pilate allowing the Jews to crucify Jesus in John (John 19:16). He connects this change to increased "anti-Judaism".{{sfn|Ehrman|2003|pp=20–21}} [[Raymond E. Brown]] argued that the Gospels' portrayal of Pilate cannot be considered historical, since Pilate is always described in other sources (''[[The Jewish War]]'' and ''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'' of [[Josephus]] and ''Embassy to Gaius'' of [[Philo]]) as a cruel and obstinate man. Brown also rejects the historicity of Pilate washing his hands and of the [[blood curse]], arguing that these narratives, which only appear in the [[Gospel of Matthew]], reflect later contrasts between the [[Jews]] and [[Jewish Christian]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brown|first=Raymond E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3-oNIgAACAAJ|title=The Death of the Messiah|date=2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-14009-5|pages=753, 833|language=en}}</ref>

Others have tried to explain Pilate's behavior in the Gospels as motivated by a change of circumstances from that shown in Josephus and Philo, usually presupposing a connection between Pilate's caution and the death of Sejanus.{{sfn|McGing|1991|p=417}} Yet other scholars, such as [[Brian McGing]] and Bond, have argued that there is no real discrepancy between Pilate's behavior in Josephus and Philo and that in the Gospels.{{sfn|Bond|1998|p=201}}{{sfn|McGing|1991|pp=435–436}} [[Warren Carter]] argues that Pilate is portrayed as skillful, competent, and manipulative of the crowd in Mark, Matthew, and John, only finding Jesus innocent and executing him under pressure in Luke.{{sfn|Carter|2003|pp=153–154}} [[N. T. Wright]] and [[Craig A. Evans]] argue that Pilate's hesitation was due to the fear of causing a revolt during [[Passover]], when large numbers of pilgrims were in [[Jerusalem]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Evans|first1=Craig A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q12p2RgwWUYC&q=pilate|title=Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened|last2=Wright|first2=Nicholas Thomas|date=2009-01-01|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0-664-23359-4|pages=20|language=en}}</ref>