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New research about an ancient ring bearing an inscription linked to Pontius Pilate may reveal fresh clues about how the Roman governor wielded authority — nearly 2,000 years after he sentenced Jesus Christ to death.
The ring, discovered at Herodium, a mountaintop fortress in the Judean desert, in the 1960s, has long been known to archaeologists — but a new interpretation could help explain its connection to Pilate.
The 2,000-year-old ring sat in storage for over 50 years before researchers published details about it in 2018, according to a release from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
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A later study challenged its connection to Pilate altogether, setting up the scholarly debate that Catherine Bonesho, a UCLA professor of ancient Judaism, addressed in a new study published in Palestine Exploration Quarterly.
Bonesho concluded that the ring’s wording was a transliteration of the Latin PILATO — meaning “for Pilate” or “to Pilate” — into Greek letters.
An ancient ring — seen at right — that was discovered at Herodium has drawn renewed attention over an inscription researchers have linked to Pontius Pilate, who sentenced Jesus to death. (LTL/Heritage Images via Getty Images; C. Amit/IAA Photographic Department and J. Rodman, courtesy of Roi Porat)
This theory, Bonesho argued, better explains the inscription than the earlier interpretation that it was a misspelled or abbreviated Greek form meaning “belonging to Pilate.”
The professor argued the ring likely did not belong to Pilate himself, but may have been worn by a lower-status worker who was carrying out administrative business connected to him.
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“Understanding the ring gives us more insight into what the Roman administration of early Roman Judea looked like, in terms of how authority was distributed into the lower echelons of the political structure,” Bonesho told UCLA officials in a press release.
“Looking at the poor quality of the ring, the Greek transliteration, the fact that those who used seal rings, like secretaries, are more likely to have been enslaved or formerly enslaved workers — all of that gives us insight into what was happening then,” she added.
The ancient ring was discovered at Herodium, a mountaintop fortress in the Judean desert, during archaeological work in the 1960s. (C. Amit/IAA Photographic Department and J. Rodman, courtesy of Roi Porat)
Digital reached out to Bonesho for further comment.
The research is “really interesting,” Candida Moss, a historian of early Christianity, told Digital.
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Moss, the Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham, said the new interpretation could help resolve a years-old puzzle: If the inscription refers to Pilate, why is the ring so cheaply made?
“This isn’t an expensive ring, the kind of thing that you would expect the person who is the governor of the whole area to have,” Moss said.
The ancient ring could offer new clues about how authority was distributed within the Roman administration of early Roman Judea. (Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis via Getty Images)
Moss concurred that the ring may have been used by someone working under Pilate and acting with his authority.
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“When they made business decisions or legal decisions, they used his ring to kind of set a seal and show that they had the authority [of Pontius Pilate] and, by extension, of the whole Roman bureaucracy behind them,” Moss said.
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Beyond its archaeological significance, Moss said the ring may offer new insight into the biblical account of Jesus’ crucifixion, particularly a detail in the Gospel of John.
The new interpretation could help explain why a ring associated with Pontius Pilate, shown in this illustration, was cheaply made, said a historian. (PHAS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
John’s account says Pilate wrote the inscription identifying Jesus as “King of the Jews.”
Moss said the ring may illustrate how an act carried out by a subordinate under Pilate’s authority could nevertheless be attributed to Pilate himself.
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“I think the ring helps us understand why the Bible says that Pilate wrote the inscription that was put on the cross of Jesus, even though we know as historians that he couldn’t possibly have written it himself,” Moss said.
“He delegated that work to someone else,” she said.
