he was executed for some political crime. When he was arraigned
before Pilate, he was charged with claiming the title ‘king of the
Jews’, and when he was nailed to the cross a placard carrying
this charge was fixed over his head (Fredriksen 2000: 120–5). The
very manner of his death confirms that his punishment was
intended as a deterrent. A Roman account of the rationale for
crucifixion underlines this point: ‘Whenever we crucify criminals,
the most frequented roads are chosen, where many people can
see it and be moved by fear. For punishments are concerned not
so much with exacting vengeance as with setting an example’
(Pseudo-Quintilian,Declamations274).
Furthermore, Jesus was not crucified alone, but in the
company of two other men. The synoptic gospels as in agreement
that these two were criminals: Luke23.32 and 39 simply calls
them ‘evil-doers’ (kakourgoi), but Mark15.27 and Matthew27.38
specify their crime through use of the Greek word le ̄stai– bandits.
In popular retellings of the crucifixion story (and some modern
translations of the New Testament) these bandits are sometimes
referred to as ‘robbers’ or ‘thieves’. Such a designation is mis-
leading, giving the impression that they were rather insignificant
criminals. Evidence from Palestine in the age of Jesus (roughly
from the mid-first century BC to the mid-first century AD)
suggests, however, that their activities were anything but petty.
From contemporary sources, such as Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities
andJewish War, it is clear that banditry represented a serious
threat to the socio-political order in parts of Judaea, Galilee, and
surrounding areas (Freyne 1988). This volatile political situation
is hinted at also in the gospels in the figure of Barabbas. In the
Gospel of John(at 18.40) he is called a le ̄ste ̄s(the singular of
le ̄stai), and from other gospels it is clear that he was not a minor
criminal: he had been involved in insurrection (stasis) and murder
in Jerusalem (Mark15.7;Luke23.19).
Is it possible that the historical figure of Jesus was some
kind of social revolutionary, similar to the various bandits who
periodically disrupted life in Roman Palestine? Of course, the
violence associated with such revolutionary activities is singularly
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