In ancient Rome, people who were called procurator (Latin) were initially treated with irony. Initially, they were just servants who managed the estates. Over time, the meaning of the word has changed. A respected state position has appeared: the procurator is the manager of the province or the head of part of the imperial property.
Position transformation:
- Servant, slave or freedman, at the direction of the owner, could manage the rural estates of his master.
- Between 27 and 14 B. C. Emperor Augustus introduced a new economic policy, increased the importance of tax collection. Officials appeared who were called prefects and procurators.
- Under Emperor Hadrian (117-138), procurators acquired greater state significance. They came from the class of equestrians, who, after the senators, had the second most important rank. For a rider, the procurator is a career boost.
- During the reign of Claudius (41 - 44), the importance of the position rose even more. Now the procurator is both a financier andjudge.
Circle of activity of procurators
- The caretaker of the emperor's house, who de alt with inheritance affairs, warehouses, and storage of valuables.
- Head of Office.
- The tax office that oversaw the collection of taxes in the provinces.
- The Procurator is the civil and military governor of the provinces.
Activities of the procurator
It is divided into 2 parts:
1. The fiscal service, which assumed the steady and precise observance of tax laws. Among other things, they provided payment for the occupying troops in the provinces, their supply of provisions.
2. Governors of the provinces concentrated more rights. In their hands was the financial, administrative and judicial power. The latter was carried out when the emperor's special powers were issued.
Judea Province
It was formed in the sixth century and was part of Syria. Its center was Kessaria.
It was in it that the Roman governor was. The first thing that was done was a census to collect taxes in Rome.
Fifth Prefect of Judah (26-36 CE)
He is best known for the Gospel, the novel "The Master and Margarita" and the story of A. Frans "Procurator of Judea". Flavius Josephus calls his office hegemon. But modern finds of historians (1961) indicate that he was a prefect. The personality of Pilate over 2000 years has grown into legends.
What do "Pontius" and "Pilate" mean
Actually it wasa family name or, as we would say today, a surname. Procurator Pontius, probably descended from a Roman family, made a high career and ruled Judea. The name of the procurator Pilate is translated as "horseman with a spear".
Pilate's personality
Procurator Pilate was a rather tough, if not cruel, ruler. The people were humiliated by an insult to their religious beliefs and customs, crushed by taxes. All this caused the appearance of the messiahs in one place or another. People followed them. Sometimes they went into the desert, the Romans caught them, sometimes they attacked the legionnaires in groups, they were destroyed. Contemporaries complained in letters to the emperor about Pilate's sentencing without trial, about cruelty.
Pilate and Christ
And here comes the new messiah, who cannot competently answer the questions of the Sanhedrin, who is credited with declaring himself king. He is just a simple carpenter with no education, and whose illiterate admirers are fishermen.
Understandable is his hatred of the educated Pharisees who knew and interpreted the Testament, which he did not know. Naturally, Caiaphas demanded the death of the false messiah. Pontius Pilate refused three times to carry out the execution, but then was forced to give in. It is striking that his name is included in the Creed, the daily prayer of Christians. This is not a missionary article. There is no indoctrination here. The author does not call to believe or not to believe.
Pilate's last years
After the crucifixion, Pontius Pilate left for Rome in 36. His fate is legendary. According to one legend, he endedyourself. Places are called different (Gallia, Rome). Allegedly, his body was thrown into the Tiber. But the water did not accept the body and threw it away. The same thing happened in Rhone. Switzerland is also mentioned. The body is thrown into a lake near Lucerne. Now this place is a swamp. According to another version, Nero executed him.
A. Frans believes that Pilate lived to a ripe old age, lived in Sicily, traded in wheat. Pilate met a certain Lamia, a noble man who had been in the East. At the end of the conversation, Lamius recalls one red-haired beauty of free conduct, who later joined the group of the miracle worker from Galilee. "Do you remember him?" Lamy asks. “No,” Pilate replies after thinking.
