Pontius Pilate the release of Barabbas and said of Jesus, "Crucify him!" In Matthew, Pilate responds, "Why? What evil has he done?" The crowd continued shouting, "Crucify him!" Pilate ordered a sign posted above Jesus on the cross stating "Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews" to give public notice of the legal charge against him for his crucifixion. The chief priests protested that the public charge on the sign should read that Jesus "claimed" to be King of the Jews. Pilate refused to change the posted charge, saying "What I have written, I have written." (""Quod scripsi, scripsi""). This may
Chronology of Jesus the Roman historian Tacitus in "The Annals" ("c." AD 116), described the persecution of Christians by Nero and stated () that Jesus had been executed on the orders of Pilate during the reign of Tiberius (Emperor from 18 September AD 14 – 16 March AD 37). According to Flavius Josephus, Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea from AD 26 until he was replaced by Marcellus, either in AD 36 or AD 37, establishing the date of the death of Jesus between AD 26 and AD 37. In the Gospel of Luke, while Jesus is in Pilate's court, Pilate realizes that