pontius pilate, prefect of y judea.the bible, pilate infamous as the man who tries jesus. >> pilate is a fascinating character in christian history. he does seem tormented about whether or not jesus is guilty and whether or not to condemn him. >> the pilate of the gospels is uncertain. he seems deeply conflicted with jesus' innocence. >> i have the authority to set you free. >> he's not firm and decisive about what he wants to do. >> the discovery of his name in stone was ground breaking. >> the significance of the pilate stone is that it actually gives us hard evidence of this central figure from the story, the crucifixion of jesus. so pilate really existed. he lived. and he was the prey effect of judea. we have a point of connection between the story of the crucifixion of jesus in the bible and actual roman history. >> although we know a few things about him from the gospels, to fill out history more, we need to go to the jewish historian, josephus, who tells us quite a lot about pilate. >> in oxford where the library

pilot. >> this is one of the pivotal moments which changes everything because suddenly pontius pilotout of this written inscription, it's not just this figure in the gospels. >> reporter: the israel museum here in jerusalem is a treasure house of artifacts from the first century. to visit here as a religious pilgrim or historian is to discover crucial evidence of the end of jesus' life. the left side of the pilot stone was chiseled away to fit into the theater, but the inscription is clear, tibirum, pontius pilot, perfection ous judea, a stone thought to be dedicated to pontius pilot. >> this is the only physical object from the time of pilot which has his name. >> reporter: the gospel of luke tells his story. pilot was called to jerusalem amid the uproar over the ministry of jesus. are you the king of the jews, pilate asks in the scripture? and he answered them, you have said so. >> he probably thought of jesus as a minor rebel, the kind of which he saw many in his governorship. >> the ornate os airy next to the pilot stone is thought to belong to the jewish high priest. dr. gibson'

but the inscription is clear -- pontius pilae.ror tiberius. >> it was the only physical object from his time. >> pilate was called to jerusalem amid the uproar over the ministry of jesus. considered a rebel leading a messiah movement. are you the king of the jews pilate asks in the scripture and he answered him. you have said so. >> he probably thought of jesus as a minor rebel, the kind of which he saw many in his governorship. >> the ornate ossuary next to the pilate stone is thought to belong to a jewish high priest, a pivotal figure in the trial of jesus. dr. gibson's excavations next to the tower of david museum have uncovered further evidence of pilate's time in jerusalem. based on the gospels and writings of the period, the archaeologist imagines pilate's judgment. >> he decides to make an example of jesus and to have his crucified. i don't think he would have had a sleepless night over it. >> there are no records of pilate's last days or his burial place, history records he was called back to rome to account for the brutal

the roman governor based here, pontius pie lat was called on to decide the fate of jesus of nazareth. harsh judge. >> he was a brutal -- we hear of massacres and the blood shed that was connected to the time that he had rule over judea. he was not a nice person. >> we have come to the amphitheater. he spent 20 years conducting excavations in the holy land. here in 1961, archeologist pz discovered proof of pilate's existence. >> you wouldn't think that at this spot, under this wooden stand, this inscription was found, latin inscription mentioning pontius pilate. this was one of those pivotal moments which changes everything because suddenly pontius pilate comes out of this written inscription. it's not just this figure in the gospels. >> the israel museum here in jerusalem is a treasure house of artifacts from the first century. to visit here as a religious pilgrim or historian is to discover crucial evidence of the end of jesus' life. the left side of the pilate stone was chiselled away to fit into the theater. pontius pilate perfect us judea, a stone thought to be dedicated to the mu

latin inscription mentioning pontius pilate.his was one of those pivotal moments that changes everything, because suddenly, pontius pilate comes out of this written ensubscription. it's not just this figure in the gospels. >> reporter: the israel museum here in jerusalem is a treasure house of artifacts from the 1st century. to visit here as a religious pilgrim or historian is to discover crucial evidence of the end of jesus' life. the left side of the pilate stone was chiseled away to fit into the theater, but the ensubscription is clear -- a stone thought to commemorate a lighthouse dedicated to the emperor tiberius. >> this is the only physical object from time of pilate which has his name. >> reporter: the gospel of luke tells the story. pilate was called to jerusalem amid the uproar over the ministry of jesus. considered a rebel leading a messianic movement. are you the king of the jews, pilate asks in the scripture? and he answered them, you have said so. >> he probably thought of jesus as a minor rebel of the kind of whic

so the gospel writers in some way most believe tempered pontius pilate as being indecisive, not beingable for the death of jesus. he says i find no guilt in the man, and the high priest of the temple caiaphas, the jewish authorities are pushing pilate to condemn jesus to death so more culpability is given to the jewish authorities in the gospel than pontius pilate even though he condemns jesus to death. so this is coined of a shading historically and people say, well, no, pontius pilate was a pretty bad guy and he probably wasn't indecisive by the gospel writers present him in a way that lets him off the hook a little because they had romans joining the christian community and wanted to balance out perhaps how bad pilate really was. >> so interesting. father beck, so good to have your voice back and see you again. thank you for being here. >> thanks, christi. good seeing you, too. >> tune into the season premiere of "finding jesus" tonight at 9:00 eastern only here on cnn. >>> the world famousite rod dogsled race was supposed to start today. next, why that start has been delayed while

when they flipped it over, here's the name of pontius pilot staring right at them.hat pilot not onlyist existed but was where the bible says he was. >> what's the information you're hoping viewers take away from this episode? >> i like this show because what it allows the viewer to do, whether they're religious or not religious, they get to look at the evidence that we have and we're honest about the evidence that we don't have. so they get to see different perspectives. we have critical scholars, ark yol archaeologists and rabbis who give different perspectives on the evidence. attend of the day we present the evidence and the viewers get to decide what they believe. >> any questions answered for you? >> you know, i had been studying pilot for quite a while. it was nice to actually be able to go walk around, you know, where pilot lived was actually h herod the great's old palace. the walk in that palace and see the luxury that pilot experienced and then make the trip to jerusalem where he was not liked and did not want to be, you can understand how he would have to

help us make it better becauseht right now all i see from our democratic friends is a sort of like, pontius pilate moment, washing their hands and letting, letting republicans alone do the heavy lifting and we would invite them to work with us in a bipartisan way. something that didn't happen by the way in obamacare which was passed on purely a party-linertl vote.in a and i think it has proven to be a terrible mistake. >> mr. president, would the senator yield, since he invoked my name. >> i would yield for a questionw but i would not yield the floor. >> mr. president, i don't intend for to you yield the floor around you are my friend. you started out by saying you were missing something and, yes, you missed the first part of my speech in which i talked about these folks in the age category of 50 to 64, not eligible for medicaid, medicare. >> question but not a speech. >> okay. i'm about to ask the question. >> okay. >> i want to introduce you to these people in that age group of 50 to 64 and in fact, they told me stories that have them scared to death. would you believe that they believe t

series explores the ground breaking rather discovery about the role of pontius pilate. >> did otherst me? >> i am not a jew. your own nation and chief priests have handed you over to me. >> pilate is almost having a conversation as opposed to interrogating someone. >> are you king of the jews? >> our kingdom is not of this world. everybody who belongs to the truth listens to my voice. >> what is truth? >> when pilate asks jesus, what is truth, we have a great example of dramatic irony. truth should be exactly the thing he understands. >> all right, "finding jesus" airs tomorrow night, 9:00 eastern time right here on cnn. next hour of the "cnn newsroom" starts right now. hello, again. thank you so much for being with me. i'm fred pleitgericka whitfield. senior trump administration officials say they learned of a tweet storm about

.™ >>> this sunday, cnn's original series "finding jesus" returns with the role of pontius pilate. >>ut the life and times of jesus. >> in the bible, pilate is infamous as the man who tries jesus. >> pilate is a fascinating character in christian history. he seems tormented about whether or not jesus is guilty and whether to condemn him. >> pilate in the gospels is uncertain. he seems deeply concerned with jesus' innocence. >> i have the authority to set you free. >> he's not firm and decisive about what he wants to do. >> the discovery of his name in stone was groundbreaking. >> the significance of the pilate stone is it gives us hard evidence of this central figure from the story of the crucifixion of jesus. so pilate really existed, really lived, and really was the prefech of judea. >> joining us is the visiting scholar from columbia university, author of "the politics of jesus." so interesting to have you here. our series is called "finding jesus" but it could really be called "finding pilate." pilate is a name everybody knows, but the real person seems to be more interesting than

the findings include remains of a jewish high priest and a stone bearing the name of roman governor pontiust two architects like this that relate directly to the last moments of jesus, to the arrest and trial and cruise crucifixion were found. >> reporter: evidence for the faithful in this city under god. >> thank you so much, david gregory. the new season of "finding jesus" begins sunday night at 9:00 eastern on cnn. thanks for joining us and have a great weekend. "ac 360" starts right now. >>> tonight, new re lagss about previously undisclosed contact between russia and trump associates. recently president trump is back at mar-a-lago tonight, called russia a ruse and when asked if such contact took place during the campaign said, quote, i have nothing to do with russia and, quote, no person i deal with does. that said, the stories keep coming about former aides, the attorney general, his son-in-law, talking the russian ambassadors during or after the campaign, not uncommon or improper. it's the denial, nondisclosure and the rest raising questions and driving a string of investigati

so it's the pontius pilate routine.re going to wash their hands of this group and try to walk into the sun set and let everybody blame each other. the only people that lose here are americans. i mean, everyday folks who now have coverage, they like it, there may be problems with it, it may need to be fixed but by golly they don't want it taken away from them and i think they'll play hell if they try to. >> steve beshear, former governorf kentucky gave the response last night. thanks for joining us, appreciate it. >> thank you. >>> still ahead, new reporting that just weeks before the election -- listen to this -- the fbi reached a deal with the author of the infamous trump dossier to have him continue his research into possible ties between the campaign and russian officials as well as other late-breaking news on things are story coming up. plus, tonight, thing 1 thing 2 starts after this break. sir! there's been a breach. we need your password so we can lock down the system. my password? yes, sir, we need your password