A ring from the Herodium reading "Pilatus"
A cheap sealing ring from a Herodian site carries the name Pilatus.
Fakakikihi'iMe'a1st century AD
A simple copper-alloy sealing ring excavated fifty years before anyone could read it. Modern imaging showed a wine vessel and the Greek letters PILATO. Rings of this type were everyday objects, used by officials and their staff.
ΠΙΛΑΤΟ — Pilato.
- Na'e 'ilo'i
- Herodium, West Bank, 1969 — Gideon Foerster's excavation; the inscription read in 2018
- 'Oku tauhi 'i
- Israel Antiquities Authority
- Lea
- Greek
- Na'e a'u mai fēfē kiate kitautolu
- Na'e keli hake, pe 'oku kei tu'u 'i he potu na'e langa ai.
Ko e me'a 'oku ne fakahā
The name is rare in the region, but the ring is an ordinary type and would be unusual for a prefect's own use. It may have belonged to someone working for him, or to another Pilatus. The excavators themselves say so.
Founga hono ngāue'aki 'e he kau hisitōlia
Reported in the Israel Exploration Journal with the caveats intact; treated as suggestive rather than conclusive.
'I he Folofola
Fekau'aki mo
Ngaahi ma'u'anga fakamatala
- Amorai-Stark et al., "An Inscribed Copper-Alloy Finger Ring from Herodium", IEJ 68 (2018)
'Oku 'i he lea faka-Pilitānia 'a e ngaahi fakamatala ko 'eni he taimi ni. 'E muimui mai 'a e liliu.