Not a “Signet Ring” of Pontius Pilatus

Gideon Foerster’s excavations at Herodium in 1968/69 yielded a simple ring, which was published only in 2018. The inscription on the ring was read as Πιλάτο(υ), i.e., ‘of Pilate.’ Various interpretations were offered for the inscription, all generally linking the ring directly or indirectly to Pilate. This paper shows that, apart from the problematic reading, everything we know about the Roman administration in the provinces speaks against such an assumption, especially the use of the Greek language in an administrative context in the first half of the first century. Alternative readings for the letters and other ways to understand them are discussed.

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