Epistula Pilati ad Claudium
Other titles: Letter of Pilate to Claudius, Report of Pilate to the Emperor Claudius
Standard abbreviation: Ep. Pil. Claud.
Clavis number: ECCA 259; CANT 64
Category: Pilate Cycle
Related literature: Acts of Pilate, Epistle of Pilate to Tiberius, Epistle of Tiberius to Pilate, Healing of Tiberius, Passion of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (Pseudo-Marcellus)
Compiled by Joshua E. Harris, Indiana University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Harris, Joshua E. “Epistle of Pilate to Claudius.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/epistle-of-pilate-to-claudius/.
Created March 2020. Current as of January 2024.
1. Summary
The Epistle of Pilate to Claudius is a pseudepigraphic report from Pontius Pilate addressed to the Emperor Claudius concerning Christ’s crucifixion. This may seem odd, given that Claudius’s reign began 10 years or so after the death of Jesus. Ep. Pil. Claud. exists alongside a small set of pseudepigraphic letters “authored” by Pilate, including an exchange between Pilate and Herod as well as Pilate and Tiberius.
Ep. Pil. Claud. is transmitted at the end of the Latin A recension of the Descensus Christi ad inferos, the latter portion of the Acts of Pilate/Gospel of Nicodemus. It also exists in Greek in the Acts of Peter and Paul (chs. 19–21) and in the Greek version of Pseudo-Marcellus’s Passion of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (chs. 40–42; which is translated into Latin in the Healing of Tiberius ch. 16). According to J.K. Elliott (1993), the text may be the oldest of the Christian Pilate literature and may have originated from the end of the second century C.E. Tertullian (Apol. 21.24) and Eusebius (Hist. eccl. 2.2.) mention a report from Pilate to the reigning emperor. Armenian and Syriac versions of the letter exist as well, although they appear to bear little connection to the Greek and Latin forms of the text.
Pilate begins the letter with a greeting to Claudius, and proceeds to explain a recent matter: that the Jews managed to punish themselves and their posterity through their envy. He relates to Claudius the story of the Son of God promised to the Jews, who would be born of a virgin and who would rule as their king. Pilate recounts Jesus’ arrival in Judaea and lists his many miracles. Even though the Jews acknowledged him as the Son of God, the chief priests envied him and delivered him to Pilate, claiming that he was a sorcerer acting contrary to Jewish law. Pilate states that he believed the priests and ordered Jesus to be scourged and handed over to their will; then they crucified him and appointed guards to keep watch over his tomb. Pilate recounts that Christ arose from the dead on the third day while his guards kept watch, but the Jews bribed the guards to say that Jesus’ disciples stole his body. Nonetheless, Pilate says, his guards were unable to keep silent about what happened and confessed what they had seen, and that they had received money from the Jews to keep quiet. Pilate concludes the letter by saying that he has made his report “lest anyone should lie about it and lest you should think that the lies of the Jews should be believed” (trans. Elliott, 2005: 206). Given the text’s neutral attitude toward Pilate and its emphasis on Jewish culpability for Christ’s crucifixion, the epistle may have been composed as an early Christian polemic against those who denied Christ’s divinity (be they Jewish or pagan).
Named historical figures and characters: Claudius (emperor), Jesus Christ, Pontius Pilate.
Geographical locations: Judea.
2. Resources
2.1 Web Sites
Early Christian Writings: Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Administrator: Peter Kirby (Features the English translations of M. R. James).
3. Bibliography
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Armenian
3.1.2 Greek (see manuscripts of Passion of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (Pseudo-Marcellus)
Ehrman, Bart D., and Zlatko Pleše. The Other Gospels: Accounts of Jesus from Outside the New Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013 (from Acts Pet. Paul 40–42, with English translation, pp. 276–77).
3.1.3 Latin (see the manuscripts of the Latin A recension of the Gospel of Nicodemus; and the Healing of Tiberius).
Alençon, Bibliothèque municipale, 17, fols. 175v (13th cent.)
London, British Library, Royal 1 E. IX, fols. 286r–286v (15th cent.) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 157
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 17730, fol. 8r (15th cent.) ~ Gallica (as Ep. Tiberius)
Not yet confirmed:
Jena, Bibliotheca Electoralis, F. 76 (15th cent.)
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, lat. 6722 (15th cent.)
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, lat. 19608 (1482)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 3158 (16th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 3282 (16th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 18089 (1467)
Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, pal. 4576 (15th cent.)
Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, pal. 557(3) ca. 1447)
Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, pal. 1354 (16th cent.)
Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, pal. 4453 (1437/1462)
3.1.4 Syriac
Alqoš, Notre-Dame des Semences, Scher 326, fol. 98r–100r (ca. 1900)
Baghdad, Chaldean Patriarchate of Baghdad, 377, fols. 21r–22r (1894)
Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 47, fol. 45v–46r (1907)
Brock, Sebastian. P. “A Syriac Version of the Letters of Lentulus and Pilate.” OCP 35 (1969): 45–62 (edition and translation of Mingana Syr. 47, with readings from the Greek and Latin editions for comparison, pp. 57–61).
3.2 Modern Translations
See also translations of Acts of Pilate/Gospel of Nicodemus, Acts of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Healing of Tiberius, and Passion of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.
3.2.1 English (see English translations of Acts of Pilate/Gospel of Nicodemus, Acts of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Healing of Tiberius, and Passion of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul)
Ehrman, Bart D., and Zlatko Pleše. The Other Gospels: Accounts of Jesus from Outside the New Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013 (from Ps.-Marcellus chs. 40–42, with English translation, pp. 276–77).
Elliott, James Keith. The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005 (from the Gospel of Nicodemus, pp. 205–206).
James, M.R. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924 (based on from Ps.-Marcellus chs. 40–42, p. 146).
3.2.2 French
Dubois, Jean-Daniel, and Rémi Gounelle. “Lettre de Pilate à l’empereur Claude.” Pages 357–67 in vol. 2 of Écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Edited by Pierre Geoltrain and Jean-Daniel Kaestli. Paris: Gallimard 2005 (based on Passion of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul 19–21).
Gounelle, Rémi, and Zbigniew Izydorczyk. L’Evangile de Nicodeme ou les Actes faits sous Ponce Pilate (recension latine A), suivi de La lettre de Pilate à l’empereur Claude. Apocryphes 9. Turnhout: Brepols, 1997 (pp. 211–13).
3.2.3 German
Hennecke, Edgar, ed. Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung. Edited by Edgar Hennecke. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1904 (p. 76).
Scheidweiler, Felix. “The Gospel of Nicodemus / Acts of Pilate and Christ’s Descent into Hell.” Pages 501–36 in New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 1, Gospels and Related Writings. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by R. McL. Wilson. Rev. ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1991 (English trans. of Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung, Bd. 1. Evangelien und Verwandtes. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. 6th ed. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1990) (see pp. 526–27).
3.2.4 Italian
Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (vol. 3, pp. 131–32).
Moraldi, Luigi. Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 2 vols. Classici delle religioni, Sezione quarta, La religione cattolica 24. Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1971 (vol. 1, pp. 641–42).
3.3 General Works
Cross, J. E. Two Old English Apocrypha and their Manuscript Source. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996 (see pp. 64–68).
Izydorczyk, Zbigniew. Manuscripts of the “Evangelium Nicodemi,” A Census. Subsidia Mediaevalia 21. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993.
Lémonon, Jean-Pierre. Pilate et le gouvernement de la Judée. Textes et monuments. Études bibliques. Paris: J. Gabalda & Co., 1981. (pp. 264–65).
Longland, Sabrina. “Pilate Answered: What I Have Written I Have Written.” Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 26.10 (1968): 410–29.
Pfeiffenberger, Selma. “Notes on the Iconology of Donatello’s Judgment of Pilate at San Lorenzo.” Renaissance Quarterly 20.4 (1967): 437–54.
Reinach, Salomon. “A propos de la curiosité de Tibère.” Pages 16–23 in vol. 3 of Cultes, myths et religions. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1908.
Speyer, Wolfgang. “Neue Pilatus-Apokryphen.” VC 32 (1978): 53–59.
Winter, Paul. “A Letter from Pontius Pilate.” NovT 7.1 (1964): 37–43.