The Trial Before Pilate
6th century
Mosaic
Church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna
After trying to dissuade the crowd from seeking Jesus' death, "Pilate seeing that he prevailed nothing, but that rather a tumult was made; taking water washed his hands before the people, saying: I am innocent of the blood of this just man; look you to it" (Matthew 27:24).
The man in the long gray hair is Caiaphas, who is also pictured in the scenes of Jesus' trial before the Sanhedrin and the Way of the Cross. As in those images, he wears a tunic, striped boots, and a mantle with an elaborate pectoral clasp.
This is one of the 13 mosaics of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ along the upper band of the right wall of the nave.
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Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.