Judean desert

Greek Spelling Offers New Clue to the Wearer of the Pilate Ring

A UCLA scholar argues that a 2,000-year-old copper-alloy ring from Herodium bears a Greek transliteration of the Latin name Pilate. Rather than belonging to Pontius Pilate, the ring may have been used by an enslaved or formerly enslaved worker connected to Judea’s Roman administration.