“Che cos’è la verità?” Il mondo visto da Ponzio Pilato

Abstract

In spite of his bad reputation, Pontius Pilate has recently gained popularity thanks to the “modern apocrypha”, i.e. modern rewritings of the gospels.
The first part of this essay explains the most probable reasons for this success, while the second part analyses the purposes behind contemporary rewritings of Pilate’s character: understanding the past, on one hand, and re-reading the present from an estranging perspective, on the other. Finally, the third part is dedicated to the current issues reflected in Pilate’s stories: the interactions between the Middle East and the Occident, the distinction between law, justice and its practice, and the emerging of secular ideals and spiritual concerns in the post-Christian culture.