RPC I 4969 Pontius Pilatus Prutah

Judaea, Pontius Pilate, Roman prefect under Tiberius 26-36 AD.

AE prutah, struck 30/31 AD in Jerusalem,

Obverse:  TIBEPIOY KAICAPOC; lituus. 

Reverse: LIZ (date) within wreath. 

Reference: Hendin 1343; RPC I 4969.

Size: 1.58gm, 14.9mm.

Pontius Pilatus was originally an equestrian of the Samnite clan of the Pontii. He got his appointment from Sejanus, the infamous Praetorian prefect. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why he didn’t care too much about people walking around, saying things like «Bad company ruins good morals.” (Corinthians 15:33).

It didn’t take Pilatus long to become unpopular in Judea, however. His attempt to win the hearts and minds of the Jewish people seems to have gotten off to a bad start when he forgot that the use of iconography and symbols had stricter religious rules in Jerusalem than in Rome, and few were impressed when Pilatus decorated the walls of Jerusalem with worship images of the emperor, and minted coins bearing pagan religious symbols, like the lituus on the coin above. This actually caused the Jews to riot, and they gathered in Ceasarea (home of the prefect) to protest. Pilatus threatened to kill the rioters, but as they seemed ready to die for their belief, he changed strategy and removed the images.

Pilatus seems to have intended to abolish the Jewish laws and to remove the privileges that the Jews enjoyed. This was of course not popular. The affair with the decorations had also shown that he would let himself be moved by the mob, as he would later prove during a certain trial where he allowed a seemingly innocent man to be crucified.
The clumsiness of the head strong Pilatus got the best of him in the end. After having provoked riots with both the Jews and Samaritans, and several acts of «cruelty and oppression», he was out of favor with the new emperor Caligula, who ordered Pilatus to commit suicide. 

Collezione : VIIII Roman Provincial Coins