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"WHILE Pilate WAS SITTING
ON THE JUDGMENT SEAT,
HIS WIFE SENT WORD TO HIM, 'HAVE NOTHING TO DO
WITH THAT INNOCENT MAN, FOR TODAY I HAVE SUFFERED
A GREAT DEAL BECAUSE OF A DREAM ABOUT HIM' "
MATTHEW 27:19
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| We don’t know what
Pilate’s wife dreamed of, or even her name, but it
seems that she exerted a great deal of influence
upon her husband, Pontius Pilate. For this
reason, Eastern Orthodox tradition honors Ms. Pilate
as a saint on October 27th and names her Claudia
Procula. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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View of Pontius Pilate's
palace, looking west |
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| We assume she would have come to Judea in 26 A.D.
when Pilate was appointed provincial governor by
Roman Emperor Tiberius. They would have taken
up residence in the royal seaside palace at Caesarea
built four decades earlier by Herod the Great. Along
with her husband, Claudia would have patronized a
variety of cultural events in Caesarea’s magnificent
theater and enthusiastically cheered on her favorite
chariot drivers competing in the adjacent
hippodrome. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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On right, rows of original seats
in the hippodrome or horse course |
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| The palace itself, built onto a rocky promontory,
had a brilliantly decorated dining area, a fountain,
colonnades and – a nearly Olympic-size swimming
pool. Coated with hydraulic plaster, the pool was
fed with fresh water drawn up from the underground
water table. It may seem strange to find a
fresh-water swimming pool next to the Mediterranean,
but swimming in the sea was evidently frightening
and dangerous, as the Caesarea coast is pounded by
powerful surf. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Remains of Ms. Pilate's swimming
pool |
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Would Claudia have worked on perfecting her
breast-stroke before she left with her husband that
fateful spring to journey up to Jerusalem? Because
the Jews gathered in great numbers during the
seven-day Passover feast, Pilate feared an
insurrection and needed to be close to the Temple to
maintain order. In Jerusalem, Claudia and Pilate
lodged in another of Herod’s buildings, a fort
towering over the Temple, named after Herod’s first
Roman patron, Marc Antony. |
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It was at the Antonia Fort, the Praetorium, (John
18) that Jesus of Nazareth, accused of sedition, was
brought before Pontius Pilate for trial and then led
away to be crucified. Presumably unaware of the
profound ramifications of this act, the governor and
his wife returned to their Caesarea residence after
the Passover feast to carry on their agenda of
promoting Roman culture in the provincial capital. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Model of the Antonia Fort with
four towers overlooking Jerusalem's Temple |
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Claudia may have been haunted by dreams of the
injustice perpetrated by her husband. Or she
may have simply slipped back into the role of the
governor’s wife, occupying herself with notions of
redesigning the frescoes in the seaside palace or
supervising the decorating of niches around the pool
with exotic spice plants and fragrant flowers.
In the year 36 A.D. Claudia reluctantly left
Caesarea when Pilate’s tenure was abruptly
terminated. He was urgently summoned to Rome
to answer charges of brutality. When the couple
arrived in Rome, Tiberius was dead and another
governor over Judea had been appointed to replace
Pilate. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Headless statue of one of Rome's
emperors, found at Caesarea |
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When we visit Caesarea, let’s allow enough time to
stroll through Pilate’s Promontory Palace. At its
entrance, we’ll notice a copy of a stone which once
graced a public building called the Tiberium,
dedicated by Prefect [governor] Pontius Pilate to
the emperor.
Once Tiberius and Pilate were long gone and
forgotten, the dedicatory stone was “recycled”
during the third century renovations of the theater. It was discovered by students excavating in 1961. The original stone is now on exhibit at the Israel
Museum in Jerusalem. |
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As we check out Claudia’s swimming pool, originally
built by Herod the Great, we’ll note one of the
outside walls is still standing intact, two storeys
high. We may even observe some students exposing
some of the colorful mosaic floor tiles in the
palace. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Roman mosaic unearthed at Pilate's
palace |
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There is nothing like my extended tour of Caesarea –
with the theater, hippodrome, harbor, aqueducts and
Pilate’s Palace all framed by the Mediterranean – to
elevate the mood of your participants and challenge
your photographers with endless panoramic
opportunities. It’s fun and hands-on with lots of
juicy -- and important -- stories. (Remind me to
share my favorite: “The Owl announces Agrippa’s
death.” It’s the Josephus version of Acts 12.)
As we stroll through the ruins Bible in hand, we
recall that in addition to Pilate and Claudia,
Cornelius, Peter, Philip and Paul all sojourned here
at this sensational biblical site. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Caesarea's two-thousand-year-old
aqueduct |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Caesarea's ancient aqueduct at sunset |
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Copyright 2007, 2011 Gila Yudkin. Permission
needed for any reuse. |
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Gila
Yudkin, a Connecticut Yankee
guiding in King David’s court, has been
sharing biblical insights on site in the
Holy Land for over 30 years. She
herself loves photographing Caesarea,
particularly on windy and stormy days -- and
at sunset.
On tour, Gila mixes fun, fantasy
and facts with passion for archeology and Bible.
Be sure to
contact her in the
beginning stages of planning your tour to check her
availability. |
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More on the life and
times of Jesus: |
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Pilate's Praetorium |
1st C AD Bethsaida |
Mount Arbel / Jesus'
ministry |
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Sepphoris Theater |
Hippos / Decapolis city |
Model of Jesus' Jerusalem |
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Tour the Temple
Mount in the
company of Abraham and Isaac, David and Solomon,
Jesus and the disciples, the angel Gabriel and
Mohammed -- and Gila. Meet many other luminaries,
both real and legendary.
Gila's Temple Mount tour
is now available as a written
24-page PDF with a
Temple Mount plan,
guidelines for passing the security check
and ten recommended reads on the
Temple Mount from Gila's bookshelves.
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GILA
YUDKIN
•
TCHERNIKOVSKI
64A
•
JERUSALEM
•
ISRAEL
gila@itsgila.com
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