The Pilate Ring: A Reconsideration

A copper alloy ring from Herodium was published by Amorai-Stark et al. (Citation2018), who read the ring’s inscription of ‘ΠΙΛΑΤΟ’ as a possible reference to Pontius Pilate. The ring’s low quality, imagery and the spelling of the inscription have raised many questions: does ‘ΠΙΛΑΤΟ’ actually refer to Pilate himself (Eck and Ecker Citation2023), who wore the ring (Graves Citation2019) and where was it made. Building on evidence of language learning in the Roman provinces, I argue that ‘ΠΙΛΑΤΟ’ with its omicron spelling is best understood as the Latin dative form ‘PILATO’ transliterated into Greek, meaning ‘for / belonging to Pilate’. Informed by the roles of local elites and enslaved workers in Roman Judea, this study posits that local elite(s) commissioned the ring for an enslaved worker to use at Herodium for various tasks related to Pilate’s administration. This reconstruction plausibly accounts for the ring’s features and has the potential to illuminate the quotidian administration of Roman Judea.