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Click on title of any pericope numbered in red to access the original language text.
| 39. | Imperial Images in Jerusalem |
| 55 | Now (ca. 26 CE) (Pontius) Pilate, the procurator of Judea, removed the army from Caesarea and put it in winter quarters in Jerusalem in violation of the Jewish laws. He thought of bringing the busts of (the emperor Tiberius) Caesar which were on the standards into the city, whereas our Torah forbids us even the making of images. |
| 56 | Because of this, previous procurators used standards without such decorations when they entered the city. Pilate was the first who brought these images into Jerusalem and set them up there. This was done without the knowledge of the people, because it was done in the middle of the night. |
| 57 | But as soon as they learned about it, they flocked in great numbers to Caesarea; and for many days they sought to get Pilate to remove the images. |
| --- Josephus, Antiquities 18.55-57 |
| 40. | Protesters over Use of Temple Funds Killed |
| 60 | (Pilate) also made an aqueduct to Jerusalem for water taken from a spring twenty miles away, paying for the work from the temple treasury. But (the Jews) were not pleased with what he had done to get the water. And many thousands of people gathered together and made a protest against him and insisted that he abandon his project. As crowds love to do, some even called out names, abusing the man [Pilate]. |
| 61 | So he had a great number of his soldiers don Jewish dress and carry daggers under their garments. Sending them to a place where they might surround the Jews, he then himself ordered the Jews to depart. But when they began to insult him, he gave the soldiers the signal they had previously agreed on. |
| 62 | And they fell on the crowd with greater force than Pilate had commanded, punishing rioters and bystanders equally... A great number of them were killed, but others escaped wounded. Thus the situation was quieted. |
| --- Josephus, Antiquities 18.60-62 |
| 41. | Samaritan Pilgrims Routed [36 CE] |
| 85 | Even the Samaritan nation was not free from uproar. For there was a man who attracted them for a while by telling lies and devising all things for satisfaction of the masses. He bid them go with him to Mount Gerizim, which they assume to be the purest of mountains. He claimed that when they got there he would show them the sacred vessels buried there as Moses had set down to be done. |
| 86 | Believing his word to be true, they were in arms. And they encamped in a village called Tirathana, adding late-comers, as they planned to make the ascent of the mount as a great horde. |
| 87 | But Pilate anticipated the climb, and prevented them with cavalry and an armed escort. Clashing with the first-comers to the village, they slew some in pitched battle and turned the (others) to flight. Many they took alive; and of these Pilate executed the ring-leaders and the most influential among the fugitives. |
| 88 | When the uprising had been put down, the Samaritan council went to Vitellius---a man of consular status who held the governorship of Syria---and they charged Pilate with the slaughter of the victims, for they had gone to Tirathana not in rebellion against the Romans but in flight from Pilate's maltreatment. |
| 89 | Then sending out his friend Marcellus to be procurator of the Jews, Vitellius ordered Pilate to return to Rome to explain the things the Samaritans charged to the emperor. Then Pilate, having spent ten years in Judea, dispatched to Rome obeying the orders of Vitellius, whom he could not oppose. But before he reached Rome, Tiberius passed away. |
| --- Josephus, Antiquities 18.85-89 |
| 42. | Edict to Erect Imperial Statue in Temple [39 CE] |
| 261 | Now (in 39 CE) Gaius (Caligula) bore a grudge for being ignored only by the Jews in this respect [i.e., honoring him as divine]. So he sent his legate, Petronius, to Syria to take the rule over from Vitellius and ordered him to lead a large force into Judea. If they received him willingly, he was to place a statue of (Caligula) in the temple of God. But if they treated him with arrogance, he still was to do this after mastering them in battle. |
| --- Josephus, Antiquities 18.261 |
| 43. | Jews Prepare to Fight Caligula |
| 9 | Under Tiberius there was quiet. Then at the command of Gaius Caesar to place a statue of him in the temple, (the Jews) took up arms instead. But Caesar's death (in 43 CE) put an end to the commotion. |
| --- Tacitus, Histories 5.9 |
| 44. | Caligula's Death Averts War |
| 54 | Indeed, the Jews had given the appearance of rising up in revolt; (but) after the news of (Caligula's) murder there was no need for compliance (with his order). (Yet) fear remained that some emperor would command the same thing. |
| --- Tacitus, Annals 12.343 |
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