(November 23, 2016 at 1:56 am)ApeNotKillApe Wrote: Genuine article not so keen on deliberately fucking himself then. Suppose you probably don't make prefect with that kind of behavior. Insert topical quip.
Roman politics involved in this. Pilate was appointed in 26. Coincidentally, or not, in 26 Emperor Tiberius went in to semi-retirement on the Isle of Capri and left the day to day running of the empire to Lucius Aelius Sejanus. Thus it seems likely that Pilate was Sejanus' man rather than Tiberius'. Sejanus was overthrown and executed in 31 after apparently plotting a coup against Tiberius. In 36 Pilate was relieved by the Governor of Syria, Lucius Vitellius, probably more for being a holdover from Sejanus' clique than for smacking down the Samaritans, as Josephus claimed. In the latter case he would have simply been doing his job.