Procurator

The Greek agemon, rendered “governor” in the Authorized Version, is applied in the New Testament to the officer who presided over the imperial province of Judea. It is used of Pontius Pilate, (Matthew 27:1) ... of Felix, Acts 23, 24, and of Festus. (Acts 26:30) It is explained under Proconsul that after the battle of Actium, B.C. 27, the provinces of the Roman empire were divided by Augustus into two portions, giving some to the senate and reserving to himself the rest. The imperial provinces were administered by legali . No quaestor came into the emperor’s provinces, but the property and revenues of the imperial treasury were administered by procuratores. Sometimes a province was governed by a procurator with the functions of a legatus. This was especially the case with the smaller provinces an the outlying districts of a larger province; and such is the relation in which Judea stood to Syria. The headquarters of the procurator were at Caesarea, (Acts 23:23) where he had a judgment seat, (Acts 25:6) in the audience chamber, (Acts 25:23) and was assisted by a council (Acts 25:12) whom he consulted in cases of difficulty. He was attended by a cohort as body-guard, (Matthew 27:27) and apparently went up to Jerusalem at the time of the high festivals, and there resided at the palace of Herod, in which was the praetorium or “judgment hall.” (Matthew 27:27; Mark 15:16) comp. Acts 23:35