The Trial of Jesus of Nazareth

What Do the Historical Records Say?

The trial of Jesus before the religious and political authorities in Jerusalem was not only a defining moment in world history that reverberated throughout the Roman Empire and beyond, ultimately changing the lives and beliefs of millions, but it was also an event that is essential to the Christian faith. Although Jesus is widely acknowledged by scholars as a historical figure, many question the trial narrative recorded in the four Gospels, and skeptical scholars for decades have written it off as Christian propaganda or historical fiction.¹ Yet archaeological discoveries and ancient manuscripts illuminating the situation in first-century Jerusalem have corroborated many details related to the people, places, and events of the trial accounts. These challenge the supposition that the trial of Jesus Christ represents a theological tale spun to accommodate the ideology of Christians.

Annas

The account begins with Jesus being arrested at night and brought before Annas at the house of the high priest.² The first point of confusion occurs here, as both Annas and Caiaphas are referred to as high priests.³ This can be explained, however, by the different ways in which the Mosaic Law and the policy of the Romans, who appointed and deposed high priests at will, viewed the priesthood. At the time of Jesus’ trial, Annas was still considered high priest according to the Mosaic Law, even though he did not formally function as such since the Romans had placed Caiaphas in that office in AD 18.⁴ Far from being a mythical figure, Annas is known as a high priest and prominent resident of Jerusalem from the historical writings of Josephus and also from a tomb located in the southern Hinnom Valley, which is the most elaborate Roman-period tomb in all of the Jerusalem area.⁵

There are three especially strong candidates for the location of the house of the high priest, and while scholars differ, the most likely seems to be an elaborate mansion and high-priestly house dubbed the “Burnt House,” from which archaeological excavations yielded an inscribed stone weight with the name Kathros, the name of a high-priestly family in the first century AD. If the term “house of the high priest”

refers to a specific building, and not merely to the family residence of whomever was the acting high priest, then the Burnt House would have been the first location to which Jesus was brought for trial.

Simon Peter

Waiting outside was Simon Peter, the disciple of Jesus.⁶ Although Peter was at this time a person of little consequence, over the next three decades he would become one of the most prominent leaders of the early Christians. Peter wrote two letters which are preserved in the New Testament. Due to his place among the Apostles and his instrumental role in the spread of Christianity, Peter is attested to not only in the early historical records of the church, but also archaeologically by his house in Capernaum and his tomb in Rome near the Circus of Nero, where he was executed in AD 64.⁷ Inscriptions mention Peter by name, both on the walls of his house at Capernaum and at his tomb in Rome—a Greek inscription (PETPOC) and a Latin inscription (ROMAE BO PETRUS) at his house, and a Greek inscription (PETR[OS] ENI) at his tomb.⁸

Caiaphas

Following the brief questioning before Annas, Jesus was next sent to Caiaphas, the acting high priest from AD 18–36 and leader of the Sanhedrin council.⁹ This high priest was known as Joseph son of Caiaphas. He is attested to in the first-century writings of Josephus, by an inscription on his ossuary found in his family tomb outside Jerusalem, and by an inscription on the ossuary of his granddaughter.¹⁰ These inscriptions identify him as Joseph son of Caiaphas and a priest of the line of Maaziah from Beth-Imri.¹¹

The place where Jesus was taken before Caiaphas, the council meeting chamber, was known as the Hall of Hewn Stone. It was located on the southern side of the Temple Mount but was destroyed in AD 70 when the Romans obliterated the buildings on the Temple Mount. Only meager identifiable ruins remain, in the form of column capitals from this area, which was called the Royal Portico.

Pilate

Because only the Romans had the authority to exercise capital punishment at this time, the priests brought Jesus before the Roman governor of Judea Province, Pontius Pilatus, at the Praetorium in Jerusalem.¹² This governor, or more precisely this prefect, ruled from AD 26–36, when he was eventually summoned to Rome by Emperor Tiberius. Pontius Pilatus is attested to as governor of Judea who held the position of prefect by several artifacts: the Pilate Stone found at Caesarea; the “Pilato” ring found at Herodium; passages in the writings of Josephus, Tacitus, and Philo; and coins minted in Judea during his reign.¹³

The location of this encounter between Jesus and Pilate was the Praetorium, the residence of the Roman governor at the former palace of Herod the Great on the western side of the city.¹⁴ This building has been partially excavated, and although it is little known today, the remains of the Gabbatha (also called the stone pavement), a gate, and the bema (the judge’s seat) were all discovered.¹⁵

While the evidence for the existence and position of Pilate is overwhelming, and the archaeological discoveries of the location of the trial seem convincing, many scholars continue to assert that the behavior of Pilate in the Gospels contradicts his character in ancient sources and must be an unhistorical rendering. Yet, when one understands the historical and political context of Pilate in Judea during AD 33—he had endured multiple disputes and complaints from the Jews; he may have been appointed by the disgraced and executed former Praetorian commander Sejanus, and he ruled in an era when challenging Caesar could result in your death—it is obvious why Pilate took the threat of “no friend of Caesar” seriously and opted to avoid conflict with the Jews rather than risk his career or even his life for a teacher named Jesus who was virtually unknown to him.¹⁶

Herod Antipas

Before appeasing the Jewish leaders, however, Pilate attempted to pass responsibility on to the local ruler of Galilee, Herod Antipas, who was in Jerusalem for Passover.¹⁷ Herod Antipas was one of the sons of Herod the Great. He had inherited part of the kingdom after his father’s death in 4 BC, and he ruled from Galilee as a tetrarch. Antipas is known from the writings of Josephus and Philo; from coins that he issued bearing his name and title, “Herod Tetrarch”; and from various archaeological remains, such as the new capitol at Tiberius that he had constructed.¹⁸ Herod Antipas, however, had no real power in Judea Province to make decisions regarding executions, and so he sent Jesus back to Pilate.

Simon of Cyrene

Finally, after one more attempt at merely punishing and releasing Jesus, Pilate yielded to the adamant demands of the Jewish religious leaders and handed Jesus over to be crucified. But before the sentence could be carried out, the crossbeam had to be carried to the top of Golgotha. After being scourged, Jesus was too weak to do so on his own, and here enters the obscure character of Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus.¹⁹ Astonishingly, this person seems to be attested to by inscriptions on an ossuary discovered in a tomb in the Kidron Valley. The inscriptions included the identifiers “Alexander son of Simon” in Greek and “Alexander the Cyrenean” in Aramaic.

Jesus, the Christ

The final person in this story is Jesus of Nazareth himself, known as the Christ. Although the falsehood continues to be repeated in popular culture that Jesus is not attested to in any first-century sources and that our only knowledge of him comes from the New Testament and later Christian writings, Jesus is known from both ancient texts and archaeological inscriptions.

For example, the trial and execution of Jesus is referred to by Josephus, Tacitus, Serapion, and Lucian.²⁰ Further, Jesus appears to be mentioned in two inscriptions—one from Jerusalem and one from Alexandria. On the James Ossuary, dated to about AD 62, Jesus is referred to in an Aramaic inscription as Jesus the brother of “James son of Joseph,” a relation which, according to Josephus, was apparently widespread knowledge at the time.²¹ More recently, a first-century bowl from the harbor of Alexandria was found with a Greek inscription mentioning Christ as a “magician”—a term reflecting the Egyptian obsession with sorcery and the idea that Jesus was a powerful practitioner of magic or a miracle worker.

Witnesses of History

Thus, the archaeological data related to the trial of Jesus—including artifacts, architectural ruins, and ancient manuscripts—corroborate seven key figures, three locations, and other details of the historical context behind the scenes. These not only confirm the existence of Jesus as a historical person, but they also corroborate details of the trial narrative found in the Gospels. Together, they bear witness that the Gospel accounts are not myth but are accurate records of an event that forever changed the course of history.

Notes

1. Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah, Yale University Press (2008); Bart Ehrman, Lost Christianities, Oxford University Press (2003); Brian McGing, “Pontius Pilate and the Sources,” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 53 (1991): 416-438; Paul Winter, On the Trial of Jesus, De Gruyter (1974).
2. John 18:12-24; Luke 22:54.
3. Luke 3:2; John 18:19.
4. Numbers 35:25-28.
5. Josephus, Antiquities 18.26-27.
6. John 18:15-18.
7. Roger T. O’Callaghan, “Vatican Excavations and the Tomb of Peter,” The Biblical Archaeologist 16.4 (1953).
8. Stanislao Loffreda, Recovering Capharnaum, Edizioni Custodia Terra Santa (1984).
9. Matthew 26:57-67; Mark 15:1; John 18:24.
10. Josephus, Antiquities 18.34-35.
11. Boaz Zissu and Yuval Goren, “The Ossuary of ‘Miriam Daughter of Yeshua Son of Caiaphas, Priests [of] Ma’aziah from Beth ’Imri’,” Israel Exploration Journal 61(2011): 74-95.
12. Matthew 27:11-14; Luke 23:1-4; John 18:28-31.
13. Josephus, Wars 2.117, 169; Tacitus, Annals 15.44; Philo of Alexandria, Ad Gaium 299.
14. Matthew 27:27; Mark 15:16; John 18:28-33; Josephus, Wars 2.301; Philo, Ad Gaium 299-305.
15. Shimon Gibson, “The Trial of Jesus at the Jerusalem Praetorium: New Archaeological Evidence,” The World of Jesus and the Early Church, Hendrickson Academic (2011); Joel P. Kramer, Where God Came Down, Sourceflix (2020).
16. Titus Kennedy, Excavating the Evidence for Jesus, Harvest House (2022).
17. Luke 23:5-15.
18. Josephus, Antiquities 18.111-137; Philo of Alexandria, Ad Gaium 300.
19. Mark 15:21; Matthew 27:32; Luke 23:26.
20. Josephus, Antiquities 18.63-64; Tacitus, Annals 15.44; Mara Bar Serapion, Letter to His Son; Lucian, Passing of Peregrinus 11-13.
21. Amnon Rosenfeld, Howard R. Feldman, and Wolfgang E. Krumbein, “The Authenticity of the James Ossuary,” Open Journal of Geology 4 (2014); Josephus, Antiquities 20.200.