The facts about Pontius Pilate are very few. We don't know when he was born or when he died. We know nothing of his career before he became Govenor of Judea, and nothing of what happened to him after he was recalled by Tiberius. Some say he came from Rome, others from Spain or Germany. Everyone - from the evangelists to the writers of the medieval mystery plays - has his own Pilate, each symbolic of something, each a projection of his own ideas and anxieties. This extraordinary book is all about our Pilates, real, half-real and invented. Some are familiar, some surprising. They have depths and contrasts that are unexpected. They do remarkable things. Among these surprises, perhaps, are the glimpses we get of a man actually walking on a marble floor in Caesarea, feeling his shoes pinch, clicking his fingers for a slave, while the clouds of lasting infamy gather over his head.
Pilate: The Biography of an Invented Man
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As one of the most remembered and controversial minor characters from the bestselling book of all time, Pontius Pilate makes an intriguing subject for a book of his own. His own ambivalent role in the drama leading up to the crucifixion, and his actions afterwards, have made him a character of great fascination over the centuries. He is not an easy man to pin down though and is, therefore, not an immediately obvious candidate for a biography. However this isn't strictly speaking your typical biographical work.
Pilate the man has become far more over the centuries since his destiny briefly and fatefully met that of Jesus of Nazareth, far more; a symbol, a portmanteau character, a name rich in meaning and filled with a subtle ambiguity that reaches to the essence of people's souls. The Bible says very little about him and accounts from the Gospels of events leading up to the crucifixion are inconsistent. According to St John, Pilate and Jesus entered into a serious discussion about the nature of God's kingdom before Pilate, finding no fault with Jesus, offered the Jewish crowd the opportunity of having "their King" released. They chose instead to free Barabbas, a robber and a murderer, and Pilate, no doubt mindful of the precarious political minefield he was navigating, ceded to their yobbish preference. Whether he ever really had a choice or was simply a pawn fulfilling his role is an unanswerable question that reaches to the very heart of the Christian religion. Anne Wroe has researched this study of an elusive man thoroughly and come up with an engaging book that explores every aspect of the man that can be discerned from the historical record, together with the layers of myth and legend, interpretation and judgement that have been laid down on top for the 2,000 years since. --Alisdair Bowles
Review
"The sheer skill of the writing... the touch of a master-novelist... Few have ever explored so imaginatively, or with such passionate attention to detail." - "Sunday Telegraph"
"Extraordinary and compelling." - "Sunday Telegraph"
"Ann Wroe's knowledge of the past 2,000 years is encyclopaedic--She manages to keep Pilate living and breathing in the text, and occasionally kicking and screaming." - "Independent on Sunday"
"From the Trade Paperback edition."
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Count
Format:Hardcover
Ann sets out in her introduction that this is an under-researched collage from diverse sources. It is a brave attempt to fly in the face of history writting traditions, and I think she pulls it off marvellously. Making no apologies for inaccuracies or stumbling into myths, she attempts to paint a picture of what a man such as Pilate may have been like. Most authors would get bogged down in arguments around insignificant aspects, but Ann sticks to the script the whole way thru. Read it as a piece of history, or read it as a fictional account, it works either way. And she makes no attempt to force any theories your way. Read it and make your own mind up!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I've been intrigued by the conversation between Jesus and Pilate for a long time. I therefore, enjoyed her analysis of the dialogue that the 4 Gospels report. Insightful, sensitive and encourages the reader to contemplate further about the dialogue. I did not find the 'invented' dialogue from the many historical dramas to be useful. A well researched piece, given how little we know about Pilate. I came to feel sympathy for him!
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book makes the reader think. Ann Wroe draws into it legend and modern parallels that most readers might not have considered. It will hold your attention and tantalise to the very end. It will make the reader consider his/her attitudes and will pose many unanswered questions. Who else could compare Christ's methods with those of the anti-abortionists? Who else would dare to compare Ghandi with Christ? How many of us realised or considered that Christ planned his own agonising death?
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
'Pilate' is the sort of book that reminded me of the great reading experiences of my childhood. It is so well written that one feels as if one is actually present in the ancient world walking amongst the people who lived then. Ann Wroe gets inside the minds of the Romans, Jews and Early Christians and somehow makes them come alive. It is a book that will change the way you view the events surrounding death of Christ because it so skilfully weaves what is known with what is not. 'Pilate' has left me with a lot of questions, but a lot of answers too.
5 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Ann Wroe seems to have set out at the start of her studying to attempt an overview from historical sources as to what we could reasonably expect Pontius Pilate to have been - the man in his time, so to speak - with reference to how history has tended to portray him. What she's actually ended up with is a michmash of fable, myth, fact and supposition that is difficult to accept as being an accurate description of what we can know for sure about the character. To give you one problem that arises let me point out that, even when the author seems to agree with the account of the Bible in varied stories and teachings, she doesn't always understand the actual facts of the story accurately with the result that the unknowing reader may accept these assertions without knowing what the cited texts really say. I know that many people won't be too bothered if she should add volumes to the Gospel accounts but the real danger is that it cannot be determined whether she is any more accurate when she cites historical sources that she equally would have the reader accept. My opinion as to the worth of the book is this - if you are well versed in the authorities that Ann Wroe uses, then read it. But if you are, you probably know what she will write anyway. If you're unsure as to what her authorities actually say, steer clear of the book.
3 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I found this book very interesting, giving a many-stranded, multi-source portrayal of this man. The one glaring error - the same error into which the translators of the first edition of the New English Bible New Testament fell - is that of attributing the strange darkness during the crucifixion to an eclipse of the sun. That this is an error is especially evident in this year of a total eclipse because the sun cannot be eclipsed by a full moon, only a new moon. The crucifixion took place at Passover, which is always at full moon. For Wroe to state that people wouldn't have been that troubled by it is thus wrong. The sun blotted out from noon to 3 p.m. during full moon must have been terrifying. Was this, after all, a supernatural phenomenon?
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