Pontius Pilate, without a doubt, is one of the most influential and memorable participants depicted in the story the Bible tells about the life of Jesus. In the first century, Pontius Pilate ruled the people of Judea. He had a method to his madness, but even a powerful revolutionary, Jesus, would question his authority over the people. Jesus claimed to be the king of the Jews and represented a tremendous threat to Pontius. In his eyes, this was a rebellion against his authority and would be considered a threat to his power. During this time, Jesus had a large number of followers and far surpassed Pontius. Pontius knew this and would have condemned Jesus to death for his so-called rebellion and blasphemy against the empire. In this case, Pontius is credited with having condemned Jesus to death on the cross. However, there is controversy as to whether or not his actions reflected his beliefs about Jesus' guilt. Pontius' life is somewhat vague, but from the fragments of his story scholars are able to make an educated guess about what kind of ruler he would be and help clarify some issues that make this part of his life blurry. Pontius is mentioned primarily in four historical gospels that speak of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the majority consensus was that he did not take responsibility for his death. However, the biggest question of all is: who was this man and how did the fate of one of the most influential men in history fall into the hands of this Roman governor? Even though Pontius Pilate was a very influential aspect of the Bible, very little is actually known about the man. Most importantly, there are no accurate representations of what the ruler actually looked like. However, in 1961 artifacts were unearthed that demonstrate... middle of paper... that there is no reason for Pilate to delay the inevitable, unless it was to provoke onlookers and in the process reassert Roman rule. little more." (Skinner) A man who refuses to be involved in an issue and who lets the people decide is described in Matthew 27:19. water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it." (Hooke, Matthew 27:19) I believe that Pontius was simply a man who did what he had to do. It could have been any other Roman put in that position to make that kind of decision and the outcome would have been the same almost every time. Pontius Pilate was not the historical villain that everyone makes him out to be. He was just a man whose fate collided with one of the stories of influential men.