“These Things Were Reported to Tiberius”

In the late 1920s an Austrian historian of religion, Robert Eisler, introduced a riveting new theory about the trial and death of Jesus. On the strength of a dossier of Old Russian manuscripts, Eisler became convinced that Jesus went to Jerusalem shortly before his death with a cohort of “secretly armed” disciples. Once in the holy city, Eisler conjectured, Jesus and his cohort of fighters must have gained control of “the strongly fortified Temple”. It is this action which must have led to Jesus’ arrest and death. Eisler’s most momentous claim, however, is that Pilate’s notes on Jesus’ trial were rediscovered the nineteenth century and published in the early twentieth century. This chapter examines some of Eisler’s sources, and his place in the reception-history of Jesus’ Roman trial. Eisler is unique for his stress on the fascinating question of what Pilate wrote.