Pilate - The Biography of an Invented Man

The subtitle of Wroe's splendid biography of Pontius Pilate reveals a profound truth and is a meticulous and eloquent description of the way Pilate has been perceived in history, literature and legend during the last 2000 years. For it has indeed been an 'invention'. The well-meaning Pilate of the Gospels bears little relation to the brutal portrait given by Philo of Alexandria, an older contemporary of Jesus Christ. Later tales become even more fanciful, demonstrating a blithe disregard for facts but an intense interest in the meaning of Jesus's trial and condemnation by the Roman governor of Judea.

Hardcover. English. Jonathan Cape. 1999. ISBN: 9780224059428. 392 pp. Good with dw. Book No: 52629