Pilate Stone
E155862
The Pilate Stone is an ancient limestone block bearing a Latin inscription that provides the only widely accepted archaeological evidence for the historical existence and Roman governorship of Pontius Pilate in Judea.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Pilate Stone canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1367352 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Pilate Stone Context triple: [Caesarea Maritima, hasInscription, Pilate Stone]
-
A.
Ormond Stone
Ormond Stone was an American mathematician and astronomer known for his role in advancing mathematical scholarship and for serving as an early editor and organizer of major mathematical publications.
-
B.
Hicks Stone
Hicks Stone is an American architect and author known for preserving and documenting the legacy of his father, modernist architect Edward Durell Stone.
-
C.
Petros
Petros is a Greek given name meaning "rock" or "stone," best known as the original form of the name Peter.
-
D.
Thoosa
Thoosa is a minor sea nymph in Greek mythology, known primarily as the mother of the Cyclops Polyphemus by the sea god Poseidon.
-
E.
Salvator
Salvator is the Latin term traditionally used in Christian theology and liturgy to refer to Jesus Christ as the Savior.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Pilate Stone Target entity description: The Pilate Stone is an ancient limestone block bearing a Latin inscription that provides the only widely accepted archaeological evidence for the historical existence and Roman governorship of Pontius Pilate in Judea.
-
A.
Ormond Stone
Ormond Stone was an American mathematician and astronomer known for his role in advancing mathematical scholarship and for serving as an early editor and organizer of major mathematical publications.
-
B.
Hicks Stone
Hicks Stone is an American architect and author known for preserving and documenting the legacy of his father, modernist architect Edward Durell Stone.
-
C.
Petros
Petros is a Greek given name meaning "rock" or "stone," best known as the original form of the name Peter.
-
D.
Thoosa
Thoosa is a minor sea nymph in Greek mythology, known primarily as the mother of the Cyclops Polyphemus by the sea god Poseidon.
-
E.
Salvator
Salvator is the Latin term traditionally used in Christian theology and liturgy to refer to Jesus Christ as the Savior.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Roman inscription
ⓘ
archaeological artifact ⓘ inscribed stone ⓘ |
| approximateDateRange | 26–36 CE ⓘ |
| archaeologicalContext |
Caesarea Maritima theater
ⓘ
surface form:
Roman theater at Caesarea Maritima
|
| associatedWith |
Caesarea Maritima
ⓘ
Pontius Pilate ⓘ Roman province of Judea ⓘ Tiberius ⓘ |
| category |
1st-century inscriptions
ⓘ
Archaeological discoveries in Israel ⓘ Artifacts related to Jesus ⓘ Roman Judea ⓘ |
| challengesEarlierAssumption | that Pilate held the title procurator ⓘ |
| condition | fragmentary ⓘ |
| culture |
Roman Antiquity
ⓘ
surface form:
Ancient Rome
|
| currentLocation | Israel Museum ⓘ |
| currentLocationCity | Jerusalem ⓘ |
| dateOfCreation | 1st century CE ⓘ |
| discoveredAt | Caesarea Maritima ⓘ |
| discoveredBy | Antonio Frova ⓘ |
| discoveredInCountry | Israel ⓘ |
| discoveryDate | 1961 ⓘ |
| foundDuring | Italian archaeological expedition at Caesarea Maritima ⓘ |
| governorTitleAttested | prefect ⓘ |
| inscriptionMentions |
Pontius Pilate
ⓘ
Tiberius ⓘ
surface form:
Tiberius Caesar
|
| inscriptionPurpose | dedication of a building to Tiberius ⓘ |
| inscriptionReconstructedTextIncludes |
Pontius Pilate
ⓘ
surface form:
PONTIUS PILATUS
Pontius Pilate ⓘ
surface form:
PRAEFECTUS IUDAEAE
TIBERIEUM ⓘ |
| inscriptionRefersTo | Roman prefect of Judea ⓘ |
| inscriptionType | dedicatory inscription ⓘ |
| language | Latin ⓘ |
| material | limestone ⓘ |
| museumInventoryStatus | on display ⓘ |
| numberOfLinesPreserved | 4 ⓘ |
| originalLocation | Caesarea Maritima theater ⓘ |
| providesEvidenceFor |
Roman governorship of Pontius Pilate in Judea
ⓘ
historical existence of Pontius Pilate ⓘ |
| region |
Levant region
ⓘ
surface form:
Levant
|
| relatedTo |
New Testament studies
ⓘ
Roman epigraphy ⓘ biblical archaeology ⓘ |
| scriptStyle | Roman capitals ⓘ |
| significance |
corroborates New Testament references to Pontius Pilate
ⓘ
evidence for Roman administration in Judea ⓘ only widely accepted archaeological evidence naming Pontius Pilate ⓘ |
| usedAs | spolia in theater staircase ⓘ |
| writingSystem | Latin alphabet ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Pilate Stone Description of subject: The Pilate Stone is an ancient limestone block bearing a Latin inscription that provides the only widely accepted archaeological evidence for the historical existence and Roman governorship of Pontius Pilate in Judea.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.