ANEW YORK TIMESNOTABLE BOOK – “Sublime . . . The definitive study of Pilate.”–The Washington Post Book World

“Compelling, eloquent and vivid . . . In a superb blend of scholarship and creativity, Wroe brings this elusive yet pivotal figure to life.”–The Boston Globe

One ofEsquire‘s Best Biographies of All Time – Finalist for the Samuel Johnson Prize

The foil to Jesus, the defiant antihero of the Easter story, mocking, skeptical Pilate is a historical figure who haunts our imagination. For some he is a saint, for others the embodiment of human weakness, an archetypal politician willing to sacrifice one man for the sake of stability.

In this dazzlingly conceived biography, Ann Wroe brings man and myth to life. Working from classical sources, she reconstructs his origins and upbringing, his career in the military and life in Rome, his confrontation with Christ, and his long journey home. We catch glimpses of him pacing the marble floors in Caesarea, sharpening his stylus, getting dressed shortly before sunrise on the day that would seal his place in history. What were the pressures on Pilate that day? What did hereallythink of Jesus?

Pontius Pilatelets us see Christ’s trial for the first time, in all its confusion, from the point of view of his executioner.