Pilate were here

altogether. Perhaps one day someone more familiar with the Roman conquest of Scotland than me will look afresh at his findings.

If the great St Patrick was indeed born in Banavie it is surely to Lochaber’s advantage to make this more widely known.

Notices outside Strontian tell the world that it is the village which gave its name to the element Strontium so why not something similar at Banavie – from wooden chariot wheels to alloys and a few bunches of shamrocks to go with it?

The identification by archaeologists of a ring found during excavations of the royal palace of Jerusalem, near Bethlehem in the late 1960s but only now been cleaned and subjected to a new form of photography that revealed the inscription, provides another link between Scotland and the Romans – this time of world-interest.

It clearly says ‘Pilato’, meaning ‘belonging to Pilatus’, who can be no other than Pontius Pilate, the fifth prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, who oversaw the trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The writing is in reverse, implying its use as a seal for authenticating documents, as was standard for official rings belonging to Roman officials.

There is no proof that the ring actually belonged to Pilate. However, the surname was unusual and the figure in the Bible, whose identity has been confirmed by a contemporary inscription, is the only Pilatus recorded as living in the region in the first century AD.

There is a tradition in Scotland that Pilate was born in Fortingall, a village at the foot of Glen Lyon in Perthshire famed for its ancient yew tree said to be 3,000 to 8,000 years old which, if correct, probably makes it the oldest living thing on the planet.

The Romans arrived in Glen Lyon about AD26. Between their first incursion into Britain and their later invasion, Caesar Augustus dispatched envoys to establish diplomatic relations with some of the important British and Caledonian chieftains. These included a Caledonian chieftain called Metellanus, whose stronghold was at the head of Glen Lyon.

A member of the Roman delegation to Metellanus’s tribe fathered a child with a Caledonian woman, and this child subsequently returned to Rome with his parents, and was brought up as Pontius Pilate.

General Roy, in his military survey of 174755, shows a ‘Roman fort’ near Fortingall which appears on many other maps. Excavations over the centuries have produced no Roman remains, leading modern archaeologists to believe that the 80-acre site is medieval, borne out by the discovery of a dateable copper pot, with a beak, handle and three legs.

We do know, though, from a chambered burial cairn that for more than 5,000 years, the area has not only been inhabited but also regarded as a sacred place.

So, where was Pilate born? I understand that there is an ancient stone slab at Caesaria in Palestine inscribed ‘Hiberieum Pontius Pilate’, suggesting that his birth may have been in Scotland because, at the time, the UK’s northern and western regions, including Ireland, were known as Hibernia.

Should we accept this inscription to reinforce the story according to the old Glen Lyon tradition or does it not really matter?

Every Easter, as they have done for nigh on 2,000 years, practising Christians will recite the words ‘suffered under Pontius Pilate’ as part of the Creed.