V. Palestinian Secular Dates.—!. The pro- curators of Judaea. — (1) Pontius Pilate, it seems to be universally agreed, was appointed procurator of Judsea in 26, and held the office until 36, being then deposed and sent to Rome by Vitellius, after 'ten years in Judaea' (^n<. XVIII. iv, 2). He ar- rived in Rome just after the death of Tiberius.
(2) The year following the deposition of Pilate, the Imperial authority of Rome Avas represented in Judsea by Marcellus, a friend and deputy of Vitellius. He is nowhere given the title of 'pro- curator,' and Josephus is careful to caU him a
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'curator' {iiri/xeXrjTris, Ant. XVIII. iv. 2). Nor had he apparently come into sufficient prominence through any action to warrant his being mentioned in the succession.
(3) From 37-41 the procurator was a certain Marullus [Ant. XVIII. vi. 10) who, like Marcellus, does not seem to have done anything official worthy of note.
(4) From 41 to 44 Agrippa I., as king on approxi- mately the level of independence enjoyed by his grandfather Herod the Great, superseded all pro- curators. At his death, according to Josephus, Cuspius Fadus was appointed, thus resuming the line broken for three years {Ant. XIX. ix. 2, XX. v. 1, BJ II. xi. 6 ; Tacit. Hist. v. 9). The term of office of Fadus was probably between two and three years.
(5) Tiberius Alexander, a renegade Jew, Avho was rewarded for his apostasy by appointment to various offices, culminating in the procuratorshiiJ, probably reached Palestine in 46 (Jos. Ant. XX. v. 2; BJ II. xi. 6, XV. 1, xviii. 7f., IV. x. 6, VI. iv. 3 ; Tacit. Ann. xv. 28, Hist. i. 11, ii. 74, 79 ; Suet. Vespas. 6).
(6) Ventidius Cumanus was sent to succeed Alexander in 48. According to Tacitus {Ann. xii. 54), he was placed over Galilee only, while Felix was assigned rule over Samaria. They were both involved in various cruelties practised on the natives, and both were accused before Quadratus, who was commissioned to examine into the affair. But the commissioner quietly exculpated Felix, and even gave him a place on the court of investi- gation and judgment. Cumanus was condemned and removed. Such a joint procuratorship, how- ever, is excluded by Josejihus' explicit statements {Ant. XX. vi. 2, vii. 1). According to these, Cumanus alone was the procurator and alone responsible. Felix was sent by Claudius from Rome to succeed him at the express request of Jonathan, the high priest. The contradiction is probably due to some confusion on the part of Tacitus. The date of the removal of Cumanus may be approximately fixed as 52.
(7) Antonius Felix immediately succeeded Cuma- nus. Soon after his arrival in Palestine, he saw and was enamoured of Drusilla, the sister of Herod Agrippa II., and enticed her to leave her husband, Azizus king of Emesa, and marry himself. This he succeeded in accomplishing through the aid of a magician from Cyprus, bearing the name of Simon. Drusilla was born in 38, being six years of age at the time of her father's death (44), and his youngest child. She was therefore at this time 14 or 15 years old. The procuratorship of Felix was characterized by arbitrariness and greed. Though he did much to punish lawlessness, he also provoked comjolaints on account of which he was recalled in 60. See above. III. 4 and art. Felix.
(8) Purcius Festus. — The reasons which fix the beginning of the procuratorship of Festus in 60 have been given above. Tlie time of the year when he arrived is determined as the summer season (Ac 25'). There are clearer data for fixing the end of his term. From BJ Vl. v. 3 we learn that Albinus his successor was in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles (?), four years before the outbreak of the great war and seven years and live months before the capture of Jerusalem — or, in otiier words, the Feast of Tabernacles of tlie year 62. Allowing for sufficient time for the next procurator to assume tlie reins of government at Csesarea, for a similar interval for his appoint- ment, for the journey from Rome and arrival in Palestine, the death of I-'estus, which took place M'hile he was still in office in Palestine, must be dated very early in the summer or late in the spring of 62.
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(9) Albinus.— 1\xe date of the death of Porcius Festus determines also that of the accession of Albinus {BJ VI. v. 3). W. M. Ramsay {Ex])ositor, 6th ser., ii. [1900] 81-105), in harmony with his theory that the death of Festus occurred in the autumn of 60, dates the arrival of Albinus in May or June 61. But the computation rests on a series of obscure and questionable considerations. Albinus was recalled in 64, after more than two years of maladministration.
(10) Gessius Florus was the last of the procu- rators. According to Josephus {Ant. XX. xi. 1), it was in his second year that the Jewish War broke out. Since this is fixed at 66 {BJ II. xiv. 4), he must have entered upon his office in 64, The end of his administration was also the end of the method of governing Judaea by procurators. For the events Avhich follow the year 66 and culminate in the catastrophe of 70 he is held responsible.