Posted on 11/29/2018 7:28:32 PM PST by bkopto
The Israeli daily Haaretz is reporting that a bronze ring found 50 years ago at the Herodion excavation near Bethlehem has been discovered to bear the name of Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Jerusalem and the man who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus, according to the New Testament.
Haaretz reports that the name was discovered on the ring with the use of a special camera at the Israel Antiquities Authority labs. The letters on the ring spelled out in Greek writing Pilatus. The words surrounded a picture of a wine vessel.
Hebrew University Professor Danny Schwartz told Haaretz that Pilatus was a rare name in Israel. I dont know of any other Pilatus from the period and the ring shows he was a person of stature and wealth, Schwartz said, according to the article.
The ring is a sealing ring, common in ancient times, and used to seal letters and stamp official documents using molten wax. Researchers believe it was used by the governor in day to day work, or belonged to one of his officials or someone in his court, who would use it to sign in his name, Haaretz reports.
Adding weight to the possibility that this ring belonged to the Pontius Pilate of the New Testament is the fact that this type of ring was a hallmark of the cavalry in the Roman era, to which Pilate belonged, Haaretz reports.
Pilate was the fifth prefect of the province of Judea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26 C.E. to 36 C.E., though there is some dispute about the exact dates.
The ring was originally found by Hebrew University Professor Gideon Forster shortly after the Six-Day War in 1968-69, Haaretz reports.
sweet post.
Thanks for the ping!
I’ve often thought of opening an exercise studio and calling it “Pontius Pilates”. The slogan on all marketing materials would read: “Crucifying workout-Heavenly results!”
I can't remember much about it, but I do remember that as the story was told here, Pilate's wife really ragged his azz about letting Jesus go. Pilate was conflicted but he eventually told his wife to buzz off and he condemned Jesus for political expediency at the behest of Caiaphas.
Pilate was removed in 36 by Lucius Vitellius, governor of Syria, the father of the later emperor Vitellius (one of the four emperors of A.D. 69).
Thanks for the info!
From you FR name you’re obviously a Romano-phile! (if there actually is such a word!)
In any case, where's it been for 50 years, lost in a US government warehouse?
Good afternoon.
It was common in history to inscribe different languages on one’s own currency. Latin and Greek being popular. We do it to this day on ours.
Did anyone ping Sunken civ?
5.56mm
Well I know that stuff is found. But finding the ring of a king just laying around? You would think someone would have thought it had value?
That’s right. Rings are never lost.
Whatever.
Took me awhile to figure out that you read it clockwise, starting from the Pi at around 3 o'clock.
Of course as a signet ring, the wax imprint would be counter-clockwise.
I'm sure you're right. The ATM, the real currency for small transactions, I went to today offered 3 choices, English, Spanish, French. In that order. I was shocked when I went to one a few years ago. 1-Spanisn, 2-English. But at least I had a choice, didn't start in Spanish.
I may have forgotten to ping Sunken, I will a little later or you can if you've the time before I do.
Yeah, I studied the graphic for a little while trying to get “Pilate” out of it. I should have said the PI located at the 3 o’clock position. The IOTA looks a little messed up to me, also.
There is some kind of scratch mark next to the iota, it’s probably just damage of some sort.
I must have looked at the picture a dozen times before I figured out how to make sense out of it by going clockwise. And the article says the ring spells out “Pilatus” which added to the confusion.
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Speaking of this, one other excellent FReeper earlier mentioned that this ring's discovery may be bad juju.
Only because I love this relatively new Steeler football player and it's a nice play on words, may I add:
************
Here is some 'good juju'.
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Juju Smith-Schuster
see post 96 ........
I don’t get it.
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