>>10997748No, Pontius Pilatus, who was Proconsul in Judea in the year 33, is a well-attested figure in local history, and his name is visible in inscriptions. Romans, who later encounter Christians, were no stranger to Pilatus of course. He was, outside the Bible narrative, considered famously anti-semetic. Like all Romans, he considered Jews backwards, and on one occasion tried to bring golden shields with the faces of the Emperors depicted on them to the Temple precinct. This nearly caused a rebellion, so Pilatus took away the idolatrous images. Pilate later died fighting in Germania, that's the general consensus at least.
It wasn't unusual for Romans to not care at all about Jewish beliefs; after the end of a war against the Seleucid Empire, Pompey the Great, came to Judea in triumph; he decided then to support the Pharisees over the Sadducees just because it benefited Rome to do so, and then he caused an international incident by entering the holy of hollies in the Jewish Temple, just to see what was up.
Anyway, the whole discussion between Jesus and Pilate has no attestation outside the Bible, but from what other historical sources say about Pilate's character, it checks out with the Biblical narrative, including 1) Pilate's appeasement of the Jews by killing Jesus, since he'd done that before, and 2) Pilate's evident lack of care regarding Jewish beliefs. In many ways, these were classic Roman prejudices.
