Apocrypha
Death of Pilate
Pilate Cycle
1 chapter · read and listen
Reading note
An apocryphal or pseudepigraphal text — outside the canon of the Western churches, yet widely circulated among ancient Jews and Christians. Published here from a public-domain translation, edited for continuous reading.
Chapters
Dossier
Pilate's end in the medieval Western version: imprisoned, a suicide, his body rejected by earth and rivers until it is sunk in a lake ringed by mountains.
Where this text comes from
Latin, 11th to 13th centuries AD. It circulated in the Golden Legend and is the latest text in this collection.
Why it is not in the Bible
Outside every canon.
What you will find
- Christ's seamless tunic is used here as an amulet shielding Pilate from the emperor's anger.
- The body is bound to a great weight and sunk in the river Tiber — and even that does not end the story.
- The unclean spirits remaining in the body are the reason no place will keep it.
Frequently asked questions
- How did Pilate actually die?
- Nobody knows. Historians record only that he was removed from office around AD 36 and sent to Rome. Everything else is later tradition, and the Western version is far harsher than the Eastern one.