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
Pontius Pilate of locally recruited soldiers stationed regularly in Caesarea and Jerusalem, such as the Antonia Fortress, and temporarily anywhere else that might require a military presence. The total number of soldiers at his disposal would have numbered about 3,000. As regards the death of Pontius Pilate, Eusebius of Caesarea's Ecclesiastical History says that Pilate killed himself on orders from the Emperor Caligula in about 39 AD. According to the canonical Christian gospels, Pilate presided at the trial of Jesus and, despite stating that he personally found him not guilty of a crime meriting death, sentenced him to be crucified. Pilate is