Pontius, was the sixth Roman procurator of Judea (Matt. xxvii. 2; Mark xv. 1; Luke iii. 1; John xviii. xix.), and the one under whom Jesus Christ taught, suffered, and died (Acts iii. 13; iv. 27; xiii. 28; I Tim. vi. 13; Tacitus, Annal. xv. 44). Pilate succeeded Valerius Gratus as governor of Judaea, and held office for ten years during the reign of Tiberius. His character, as indicated by Philo Judeaus, by Josephus, and in the New Testament, is, without exception, stubborn, cruel, and avaricious. His imperious cruelty at last cost him his office. Josephus informs us (Antiq. xviii. 4, 2) that the Samaritans, having been treated by Pilate in a barbarous manner, complained to Vitellius, governor of Syria, who ordered him to Rome to give an account of his conduct to the emperor. Tiberius was dead before Pilate arrived; but Eusebius relates that the guilty procurator was banished to Vienne in Gaul, where he committed suicide about the year A.D. 38.