Folklore: The Pilate Gets His Myth

Subject: Folklore: The Pilate Gets His Myth
From: LadyJean
Date: 23 Feb 04 - 11:14 PM

With all the controversy coming out of Mel Gibson's new movie, I began to wonder about a story I have encountered wherein Pontius Pilate gets what he so richly deserves. I first read it in a book of Swiss folk tales, when I was a child. Pilate comes to a sorry end. They bury him, but the earth rejects him. They toss him in the Tiber, but he poisons the water. Finally they dump him on top of a Swiss Alp, where he can play nasty tricks on the locals, like making it rain on weddings. The alp is called Mount Pilatus, of course.
A Cornish Mystery play has Pilate executed by Tiberius Ceasar. His body is rejected by earth and water, and then taken off by devils to hell.
I know it's a myth. The Romans cremated their dead. But I'd like to know more about it's origins. Does anyone else know any versions of this story.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Pilate Gets His Myth
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Feb 04 - 11:55 PM

Interesting question. In a search on "death of Pilate" I found a (big C) Catholic online encyclopedia with the following:

Then the emperor ordered him to be kept in prison, until he should deliberate in a council of the wise men what ought to be done with him. And a few days after, sentence was therefore passed upon Pilate, that he should be condemned to the most disgraceful death. Pilate, hearing this, killed himself with his own knife, and by such a death ended his life.

When Caesar knew of the death of Pilate, he said: Truly he has died by a most disgraceful death, whom his own hand has not spared. He is therefore bound to a great mass, and sunk into the river Tiber. But malignant and filthy spirits in his malignant and filthy body, all rejoicing together, kept moving themselves in the waters, and in a terrible manner brought lightnings and tempests, thunders and hail-storms, in the air, so that all men were kept in horrible fear. Wherefore the Romans, drawing him out of the river Tiber, in derision carried him down to Vienna, and sunk him in the river Rhone. For Vienna is called, as it were, Via Gehennoe, the way of Gehenna, because it was then a place of cursing. But there evil spirits were present, working the same things in the same place. Those men therefore, not enduring such a visitation of demons, removed froth themselves that vessel of malediction, and sent him to be buried in the territory of Losania. And they, seeing that they were troubled by the aforesaid visitations, removed him from themselves, and sunk him in a certain pit surrounded by mountains, where to this day, according to the account of some, certain diabolical machinations are said to bubble up.

This passage, along with a description of Pilate wearing Christ's garment in front of Caesar and realizing some beneficial effect, occured several places in my search. An interesting site that posts this same description then argues against it can be found here. It is part of a larger blended philosophy webring. Really interesting stuff, when you start poking around. (This is the table of contents--and makes this philosopher's heart race just to see all of the great topics!)

SRS

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Pilate Gets His Myth
From: LadyJean
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 11:45 PM

Thank you! That was fascinating. The table of contents does look interesting. Though I'm afraid I'd have a hard time picking facts out of the bias.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Pilate Gets His Myth
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 12:27 AM

I'm pretty sure you could find other philosphy texts that would address this topic, but it will take some digging. The trick is to find the discussions that present some sort of original text then debate it.

Years ago I enjoyed reading Jessie Weston's From Ritual to Romance, to do with the stories of the holy grail. There is a lot of good stuff that she dug out of legends to write that book. I don't recall that this story you are interested in dovetails with the grail legends in her book, but perhaps those who deal similarly with religion and myth (Joseph Campbell, James Frazer, many others) might have some leads for you. I'm not a religious scholar, nor do I practice an organized religion, so I have only a general familarity with the texts. Maybe Weston occurs to me because there was something there. Stream of consiousness? T.S. Eliot. Steinbeck. Lots of folks studied these stories to reuse the stories and messages in their own works.

SRS