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Pontius Pilate
Contributed by: Clay
  • 1. Which event is Pontius Pilate most famously associated with?
A) The resurrection of Jesus
B) The sermon on the mount
C) The baptism of Jesus
D) The crucifixion of Jesus
  • 2. According to the Gospels, how did Pilate attempt to absolve himself of responsibility?
A) He put it to a vote
B) He fled Jerusalem
C) He washed his hands
D) He condemned Jesus himself
  • 3. Which Roman Emperor was in power during Pilate's governance?
A) Caligula
B) Augustus
C) Tiberius
D) Nero
  • 4. Which Jewish festival was occurring during Jesus' trial?
A) Passover
B) Tabernacles
C) Pentecost
D) Hanukkah
  • 5. Who did Pilate release instead of Jesus?
A) Lazarus
B) Barabbas
C) Simon
D) Matthew
  • 6. How is Pilate viewed in Christian theology?
A) As a villain only
B) As a martyr
C) As a hero
D) As a figure of moral conflict
  • 7. What was Pilate's primary concern during the trial?
A) Justice for Jesus
B) The truth of the accusations
C) The opinions of the Pharisees
D) Maintaining order and avoiding unrest
  • 8. Which Gospel contains the most detailed account of Pilate's interaction with Jesus?
A) John
B) Luke
C) Mark
D) Matthew
  • 9. Which ancient historian reports that Pilate was dismissed after a Samaritan uprising?
A) Tacitus
B) Josephus
C) Pliny the Younger
D) Suetonius
  • 10. What does the cognomen 'Pilatus' potentially mean?
A) "Follower of Jesus Christ"
B) "Skilled with the javelin (pilum)"
C) "Descendant of a Roman emperor"
D) "Leader of the Jewish council"
  • 11. What might the cognomen 'Pilatus' refer to if it is not related to military skill?
A) "A title of nobility in Judaea"
B) "The pileus or Phrygian cap, possibly indicating a freedman ancestor"
C) "An ancient city in Italy"
D) "A Roman legion"
  • 12. What does the name 'Pontius' suggest about Pilate's ancestry?
A) "An ancestor was a Roman emperor"
B) "An ancestor lived in Jerusalem"
C) "An ancestor came from Samnium in central, southern Italy"
D) "An ancestor was a Greek philosopher"
  • 13. What was the original social status of Pilate's family before becoming ennobled?
A) "Plebeian origin"
B) "Noble origin"
C) "Slave origin"
D) "Patrician origin"
  • 14. According to historian Alexander Demandt, where might Pilate have had a military command?
A) "In Egypt"
B) "In Greece"
C) "In Jerusalem"
D) "With a legion stationed at the Rhine or Danube"
  • 15. What is the traditional tenure period for Pontius Pilate as governor of Judaea?
A) 17 to 27 AD
B) 19 to 29 AD
C) 30 to 40 AD
D) 26 to 36/37 AD
  • 16. What was the primary residence of Pontius Pilate as governor?
A) Capri
B) Antioch
C) Caesarea
D) Jerusalem
  • 17. Which Jewish High Priest did Pilate retain for his entire tenure?
A) Jonathan ben Ananus
B) Ananus ben Ananus
C) Eleazar ben Ananias
D) Joseph ben Caiaphas
  • 18. Which sect did Pontius Pilate work closely with during Jesus's execution according to Helen Bond?
A) Sadducees
B) Zealots
C) Pharisees
D) Essenes
  • 19. Which Jewish king did Pilate have a difficult relationship with, according to the Gospel of Luke?
A) Herod Agrippa I
B) Herod Antipas
C) Archelaus
D) Philip the Tetrarch
  • 20. Who was responsible for collecting tributes and taxes during Pilate's governorship?
A) The Jewish Sanhedrin
B) Herod Antipas
C) Pontius Pilate
D) Lucius Vitellius
  • 21. Which scholar argues that Pilate's governorship began in 19 AD?
A) Jean-Pierre Lémonon
B) Kenneth Lönnqvist
C) E. Stauffer
D) Daniel R. Schwartz
  • 22. What was the relationship between Pontius Pilate and Herod Antipas after Jesus's execution?
A) They became political allies.
B) It deteriorated further.
C) Their relationship mended.
D) Herod Antipas was removed from power.
  • 23. What policy is Joan Taylor known for attributing to Pontius Pilate during his governorship?
A) Reducing military presence in Jerusalem
B) Promoting the imperial cult
C) Building new infrastructure projects
D) Implementing tax reforms
  • 24. What does Bond suggest about the number of Galileans killed?
A) Thousands were killed
B) All Galileans in Jerusalem were killed
C) The number does not seem particularly high
D) Only a few dozen were affected
  • 25. Who attested to Pilate's role in condemning Jesus to death outside the Gospels?
A) Cicero
B) Seneca
C) Tacitus
D) Pliny the Younger
  • 26. According to Josephus, who requested Jesus's execution by Pilate?
A) Roman soldiers
B) Nero
C) Pontius Pilate himself
D) Prominent Jews
  • 27. Which form of trial did Pilate likely use to judge Jesus?
A) Judicium publicum
B) Cognitio extra ordinem
C) Repetundae
D) Lex Julia de adulteriis
  • 28. What was the crime for which Jesus was brought to Pilate and executed?
A) Theft
B) Sedition
C) Treason against Rome
D) Blasphemy
  • 29. Which Gospel is considered the earliest one, showing Jews and Pilate in agreement about executing Jesus?
A) Matthew
B) John
C) Luke
D) Mark
  • 30. Which historian argued that Pilate unhesitatingly executed Jesus as a rebel?
A) Tacitus
B) S. G. F. Brandon
C) Philo
D) Josephus
  • 31. Where did Pontius Pilate slaughter a group of armed Samaritans?
A) Bethlehem
B) Caesarea Maritima
C) Tirathana near Mount Gerizim
D) Jerusalem
  • 32. Who was the governor of Syria when Pilate's removal as governor occurred?
A) Augustus
B) Caligula
C) Tiberius
D) Lucius Vitellius the Elder
  • 33. Who was the new emperor when Pontius Pilate returned to Rome after Tiberius's death?
A) Claudius
B) Vespasian
C) Caligula
D) Nero
  • 34. Which historian claims that Pontius Pilate committed suicide after being recalled to Rome?
A) Eusebius
B) Josephus
C) Philo
D) Tacitus
  • 35. In which play does Pilate instruct flagellators on how best to whip Jesus?
A) Alsfelder Passionsspiel
B) Arnoul Gréban's fifteenth-century Passion
C) Benediktbeuern passion play
D) Frankfurter Passionsspiel
  • 36. In which text does Pilate's body experience demonic visitations?
A) The Cura sanitatis Tiberii
B) The Mors Pilati
C) The Evangelium Gamalielis
D) The Vindicta Salvatoris
  • 37. What type of coins did Pontius Pilate mint?
A) Sestertius
B) Aureus
C) Denarius
D) Perutah
  • 38. Which Spanish city has a first-century Roman tower called 'Torre del Pilatos'?
A) Tarragona
B) Lyon
C) Seville
D) Huesca
  • 39. Where did King Atus live according to the legend?
A) Mainz
B) Rome
C) Jerusalem
D) Vienne
  • 40. In what year was the Pilate Stone found by archaeologists?
A) 1984
B) 1970
C) 1955
D) 1961
  • 41. In what year was the inscription on a sealing ring attributed to Pontius Pilate uncovered?
A) 2018
B) 2021
C) 2000
D) 19th century
  • 42. Which village in Scotland claims to be Pilate's birthplace?
A) Fortingall
B) Vienne
C) Bamberg
D) Tarragona
  • 43. In which language is the Book of the Cock preserved?
A) Hebrew
B) Latin
C) Greek
D) Ge'ez (Ethiopic)
  • 44. Which play includes legendary scenes of Pilate's life before the passion?
A) Mystère de la Passion d'Angers by Jean Michel
B) Ludus de Passione from Klosterneuburg
C) Frankfurter Passionsspiel
D) Alsfelder Passionsspiel
  • 45. What stereotype was often given to Pilate in thirteenth-century depictions?
A) Angelic characteristics
B) Roman imperial attributes
C) Greek philosopher traits
D) Stereotyped Jewish features
  • 46. What action led to Pilate being sent as a hostage to Rome?
A) Stealing from the king
B) Refusing to obey orders
C) Killing another hostage
D) Attempting to escape
  • 47. What does Paul Maier note about the records of Pilate's suicide?
A) Many records confirm Pilate's suicide.
B) Pilate's suicide is well-documented in Roman archives.
C) All historians agree on the details of Pilate's death.
D) No other surviving records corroborate Pilate's suicide.
  • 48. How does Josephus view Pilate's governorship?
A) Completely supportive
B) Hostile
C) Mostly neutral
D) Very critical
  • 49. Why is there disagreement about the Pilate Stone's inscription?
A) The inscription is fragmentary.
B) It was written in an unknown language.
C) It was damaged by natural causes.
D) Pilate's name is missing.
  • 50. What was the general belief about the Ameria inscription at the turn of the 20th century?
A) It was believed to be an ancient myth.
B) It was accepted as genuine.
C) It was considered a forgery.
D) It was lost and forgotten.
  • 51. What did the earlier coins of Pontius Pilate read on the obverse?
A) ΙΟΥΛΙΑ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ
B) ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ
C) ΗΡΩΔΗΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ
D) ΠΟΝΤΙΟΣ ΠΙΛΑΤΟΣ
  • 52. What is the earliest attestation of a positive tradition about Pilate?
A) Justin Martyr's writings
B) Tertullian's writings
C) Apocryphal texts
D) Eusebius' Church History
  • 53. Why is it unlikely that Pontius Pilate owned the copper-alloy sealing ring?
A) It was dated to 2018.
B) It was discovered at Herodium.
C) The cheap material
D) The inscription was in Latin.
  • 54. In which text does Pilate's suicide occur after exile by Emperor Nero?
A) The Vindicta Salvatoris
B) The Cura sanitatis Tiberii
C) The Mors Pilati
D) The Evangelium Gamalielis
  • 55. Where was the copper-alloy sealing ring with an inscription related to Pontius Pilate discovered?
A) Rome
B) Solomon's Pools
C) Herodium
D) Jerusalem
  • 56. Which ancient source is hostile towards Pontius Pilate?
A) Tacitus
B) Philo
C) The Gospels
D) Josephus
  • 57. What did Pilate grant Judas after he killed his own father?
A) An army to fight with
B) Money and jewels
C) Ruben's property
D) A position in the court
  • 58. In which country were passion plays used to satirize corrupt officials rather than stoke antisemitism?
A) England
B) France
C) Germany
D) Italy
  • 59. What is the earliest reference to Pilate's records of Jesus's trial?
A) Eusebius' Church History
B) Apocryphal texts
C) Tertullian in late first-, early second-century
D) Christian apologist Justin Martyr around 160
  • 60. What change occurred on the coins after Livia's death?
A) They only read ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ.
B) They were no longer minted in Jerusalem.
C) They began to feature Jewish symbols.
D) They started including a portrait of Tiberius.
  • 61. Who rejected the theory that the coins' pagan symbols offended Jews?
A) Helen Bond
B) Joan Taylor
C) Alexander Demandt
D) Henry MacAdam
  • 62. Which emperor's persecution is associated with early apocryphal texts about Pilate?
A) Constantine
B) Trajan
C) Maximinus II
D) Tiberius
  • 63. In Anatole France's short story 'Le Procurateur de Judée,' where is Pontius Pilate banished?
A) Gaul
B) Rome
C) Egypt
D) Sicily
  • 64. What does the inscription on the sealing ring read in Greek?
A) ΠΙΛΑΤΟ(Υ) (Pilato(u))
B) ΤΕΡΩΝ (Tiberius)
C) ΜΑΞΙΜΙΝΟΣ (Maximinus)
D) ΣΙΚΑΡΙΟΙ (Sicarii)
  • 65. What is the name of the building mentioned in the inscription?
A) Caesarea Palace
B) Temple of Augustus
C) Tiberieum
D) Aquila
  • 66. What is the name of another aqueduct providing water to Solomon's Pools, dated to the mid-first century AD?
A) Wadi el-Biyar Aqueduct
B) Biar Aqueduct
C) Arrub aqueduct
D) Solomon's Pools
  • 67. In Chingiz Aitmatov's novel 'Plakha,' what philosophical perspective does Pilate hold?
A) Materialist pessimism, believing mankind will soon destroy itself
B) Faith in divine intervention
C) Optimistic belief in human progress
D) Indifference to the fate of humanity
  • 68. Where were Pilate's coins minted?
A) Jerusalem
B) Alexandria
C) Antioch
D) Rome
  • 69. Which medium became prominent for depicting large-scale church paintings of Pilate in Italy?
A) Manuscript illuminations
B) Large-scale church paintings
C) Ivory carvings
D) Woodcuts
  • 70. Which material became less common for Pilate's depictions starting from the eleventh century?
A) Manuscripts
B) Metal
C) Frescoes
D) Ivory
  • 71. What skill was King Atus known for?
A) Architecture
B) Astrology
C) Medicine
D) Swordsmanship
  • 72. What does Géza Alföldy suggest the Tiberieum might have been?
A) A lighthouse
B) A Roman bathhouse
C) A temple dedicated to Tiberius
D) A marketplace
  • 73. Who argued that nothing bad happened to Pilate because the Jews were responsible for Jesus' death?
A) Origen
B) Eusebius
C) Tacitus
D) Celsus
  • 74. Which text records the destruction of an aqueduct from Solomon's Pools by the Sicarii?
A) Inscription on a sealing ring
B) Church History
C) Apocryphal texts
D) Talmud (Lamentations Rabbah 4.4)
  • 75. What title is associated with Pontius Pilate in the Ameria inscription?
A) Quattuorvir (IIIVIR)
B) Pontifex Maximus
C) Governor of Judaea
D) Praetorian Prefect
  • 76. In which text is Pilate portrayed as a true believer in Christ who is martyred for his faith?
A) The Cura sanitatis Tiberii
B) The Mors Pilati
C) The Evangelium Gamalielis
D) The Vindicta Salvatoris
  • 77. Which group targeted the aqueduct from Solomon's Pools during the First Jewish-Roman War?
A) Zealots
B) Roman soldiers
C) Sicarii
D) Temple treasury
  • 78. Which scholar argues that Pilate was a reasonably competent administrator?
A) M. P. Charlesworth
B) Henry MacAdam
C) Paul Maier
D) E. Stauffer
  • 79. What is one reason scholars are skeptical of the theory connecting Pilate with Sejanus?
A) "Pilate's coins explicitly deny any connection"
B) "The evidence depends entirely on Philo"
C) "Sejanus never existed"
D) "It was proven false by archaeological findings"
  • 80. According to some versions, where was Pontius Pilate born?
A) Egypt
B) Jerusalem
C) Rome
D) Bethlehem
  • 81. Which aqueduct did A. Mazar tentatively identify as being attributed to Pontius Pilate?
A) Wadi el-Biyar Aqueduct
B) Solomon's Pools
C) Biar Aqueduct
D) Arrub aqueduct
  • 82. In which century did legends about Pilate begin in Western Europe?
A) Seventh century
B) Ninth century
C) Fifth century
D) Eleventh century
  • 83. Who tentatively identified the aqueduct attributed to Pontius Pilate in the mid-20th century?
A) Josephus
B) A. Mazar
C) Kenneth Lönnqvist
D) Talmud
  • 84. In which text does Pilate's wife and two children also get crucified?
A) The Cura sanitatis Tiberii
B) The Martyrium Pilati
C) The Vindicta Salvatoris
D) The Evangelium Gamalielis
  • 85. Which philosopher questioned why God did not punish Pontius Pilate if Jesus was divine?
A) Plato
B) Aristotle
C) Socrates
D) Celsus
  • 86. What pattern does the word 'Tiberieum' follow?
A) Naming buildings after Roman emperors.
B) Naming military structures after victories.
C) Naming public baths after senators.
D) Naming religious sites after gods.
  • 87. On what date is Pontius Pilate venerated as a saint by the Ethiopian Church?
A) 19 June
B) 25 December
C) 15 August
D) 25 June
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