Oh, how I wish more historical biographies were written to be so engaging! I would love to see Ann Wroe try her hand at a similar biography of Judas Iscariot. ( )

Wow.

This is a beautifully written mosaic of the life and times of the world's most famous equivocator. Ann Wroe paints this moasic by artfully using all the classical resources at hand - biblical, apocryphal, legend etc. All the while, she has fun with it, and by doing this, she challenges the reader to think of the possiblities and draw their own conclusions. Ultimately, she weaves this into a tale that is both entertaining, moving, educational and masterfully written.

To write a biography of Pilate is to start, literally, without anything tangible outside of the common biblical sources. We do have a few non-biblical sources, but they are scant and incredibly vague. I would venture to guess, 99 percent of his life can't be independently verified. So, this book stands as a testament to Wroe's skill and deftness that she can piece together over a 300 page book on the man! This is a book that attempts to capture his life from cradle to grave. A bold task indeed.

That being said, this book isn't a biography in a traditional sense. Given the little evidence on the historicity of Pilate, one has to speculate. And speculate Wroe does: She speculates and offers multiple birth places, multiple upbringings, and ultimately, multiple paths of his adulthood that lead him to his storied clash with Jesus. This speculation continues on with the trial and execution of Jesus, his removal from governance, exile in later life, and ultimate death.

I think that speculation is part of the fun, part of the creative license Wroe uses to lay out all of the possible Pilates for the reader - the saintly Pilate, the removed, detached and callous Pilate, the remorseful, sorrowful Pilate, the hesitant Pilate. This book really gets one thinking.

Of course, one looking for just the facts may not apperciate the openness displayed here. This book isn't a book a reader can go to for clear, objective answers. Wroe lays out the puzzle pieces and the let's the reader decide how they should go together (for Wroe, they can go together in multiple ways). Some readers are turned off by that, and I can sympathize with that sentiment. But, I don't think we can expect all the answers with the little evidence we do have.

Aside from Pilate, there are other things to like about this book: I have always found this time period and early Christian history fascinating. Wroe immerses the reader into early post Republic Roman History. She masterfully describes the Roman political way of life, and day to day duties of a prefect- all fascinating to me. This book is worth reading just for Wroe's engaging examination the times, and it may lend itself to further reading and examination by the reader

Recommended. ( )

How do you write a whole book about a man we know very little about? Ann Wroe has managed to envelope the known with information about life at the time in Judea, and what it would have been like to a governor in a small corner of the Roman Empire for an unpredictable and terrible emperor. With that is added lots of superstition and fiction created about Pilate in the centuries since; these tend to be a bit tedious, especially because of what it is - superstition and fiction. Although it goes to show the fascination that people have for this man, with many people over time making their apologies for Pilate sentence on Jesus. This overlooks, of course, the fact that Pilate is not the central player in the trial and death of Christ.

Still, it's a wonderful book to read. A bit long, but enriching. ( )

Three books dig for insights into the shadowy ruler and his wife

This is an excellent book -- makes one totally rethink Pontius Pilate ( )