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Bible Dictionaries
Pilate
People's Dictionary of the Bible
or Pilate (pî'late), Pontius Hiatus, the sixth Roman procurator of Judea, succeeding Valerius Gratus. Under his rule John the Baptist commenced his ministry, Luke 3:1, and our Lord was put to death. Luke 23:6; Luke 23:13; John 19:6; John 19:19. Pilate entered on his office at the end of 25 or beginning of 26 a.d., in the reign of Tiberius. He held it about ten years, till a short time before that emperor's death. He was unscrupulous in the exercise of his authority. See Luke 13:1. Malicious, artful, yet not free from superstition, he was not destitute of some sense of justice, as his weak efforts to secure the acquittal of Jesus show. Vitellius, president or prefect of Syria, ordered Pilate to Rome to answer for his conduct before the emperor. His deposition must have occurred in 36 a.d., most probably prior to the passover. Before he arrived in Rome, however, Tiberius was dead, March 16, 37 a.d. Pilate is said to have been banished by Caligula to Vienne in Gaul. According to Eusebius, he put an end to his own life.
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Rice, Edwin Wilbur, DD. Entry for 'Pilate'. People's Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/rpd/p/pilate.html. 1893.
