The argument of this article is that in Jn 18.30 Jesus is accused of ‘doing evil’ to Caesar – or maiestas. Johannine critics sometimes mention maiestas, but they have neither introduced the ancient and modern literature on the topic nor applied it to the interpretation of the accusation against Jesus in John’s gospel. Horace, Velleius Paterculus, the senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone patre and Suetonius, as well as various treaties and edicts, demonstrate the transference of maiestas from Rome to Caesar. So instead of slandering the people, the crime of maiestas became slandering the emperor. If an author such as Josephus seems, in his own way, to intimate the crime, then so also may John. And if ‘doing evil’ means maiestas, then Jn 18.30 fits more comfortably not only with the wider first century, but also the wider Johannine narrative.
AndoClifford2000Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire (Classics and Contemporary Thought, 6; Berkeley: University of California Press).
2.
AndoClifford2011Law, Language, and Empire in the Roman Tradition (Empire and After; Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press).
3.
AubertJ.-J.2002 ‘A Double Standard in Roman Criminal Law? The Death Penalty and Social Structure in Late Republican and Early Imperial Rome’, in AubertJ.-J.SirksB. (eds.), Speculum Iuris: Roman Law as a Reflection of Social and Economic Life in Antiquity (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan): 94-133.
4.
BarrettC.K.1978The Gospel According to St. John: An Introduction with Commentary and Notes on the Greek Text (2nd edn; Philadelphia: Westminster Press).
5.
BaumanRichard A.1974Impietas in Principem: A Study of Treason against the Roman Emperor with Special Reference to the First Century A.D. (MBPR, 67; Munich: C.H. Beck)
6.
BaumanRichard A.1996Crime and Punishment in Ancient Rome (London: Routledge).
7.
Bermejo-RubioFernando2013 ‘(Why) Was Jesus the Galilean Crucified Alone? Solving a False Conundrum’, JSNT36.2: 127-54.
8.
BlankJosef1959 ‘Die Verhandlung vor Pilatus Joh 18,28-19,16 im Lichte johanneischer Theologie’, BZ3: 60-81.
9.
BondHelen K.1998Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation (SNTSMS, 100; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
10.
BrantJo-Ann A.2011John (Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic).
11.
BrinkC.O.1982Horace on Poetry: Epistles Book II: The Letters to Augustus and Florus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
12.
BrownRaymond E.1994The Death of the Messiah: From Gethsemane to the Grave: A Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the Four Gospels (2 vols.; ABRL; New York: Doubleday).
13.
BultmannRudolf1971The Gospel of John: A Commentary (trans. Beasley-MurrayG.R.; Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox Press).
14.
BurnandChris2011Tacitus and the Principate: From Augustus to Domitian (Greece and Rome: Texts and Contexts; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
15.
BurtonPaul J.2011Friendship and Rome: Roman Diplomacy and Imperialism in the Middle Republic (353–146 BC) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
16.
ChaudhuriPramit2014The War with God: Theomachy in Roman Imperial Poetry (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
17.
ChiltonC.W.1955 ‘The Roman Law of Treason under the Early Principate’, JRS45: 73-81.
18.
CohenSarah T.2008 ‘Augustus, Julia and the Development of Exile andAd Insulam’, CQ58.1: 206-17.
19.
CookJohn Granger2011 ‘Crucifixion and Burial’, NTS57: 193-213.
20.
CookJohn Granger2013 ‘Roman Crucifixions: From the Second Punic War to Constantine’, ZNW104: 1-32.
DavieJohn2011Satires and Epistles (Oxford World’s Classics; Oxford: Oxford University Press).
23.
EderWalter2005 ‘Augustus and the Power of Tradition’, in GalinskyKarl (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus (trans. GalinskyKarl; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press): 13-32.
24.
EdwardsCatharine2000Suetonius: The Lives of the Caesars (Oxford World’s Classics; Oxford: Oxford University Press).
25.
GizewskiChristian2006 ‘Maiestas’, in CancikHubertSchneiderHelmuth (eds.), Brill’s New Pauly (Antiquity volumes, trans. Christine F. Salazar; Classical Tradition volumes, ed. LandfesterManfred, trans. GentryFrancis G.), http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e718120 (accessed 23 April 2018).
26.
GrünewaldThomas2004Bandits in the Roman Empire: Myth and Reality (trans. DrinkwaterJohn; London: Routledge).
27.
HarkerAndrew2008Loyalty and Dissidence in Roman Egypt: The Case of the Acta Alexandrinorum (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
28.
HendersonJohn2014 ‘Was Suetonius’ Julius a Caesar?’, in PowerTristanGibsonRoy K. (eds.), Suetonius: the Biographer: Studies in Roman Lives (Oxford: Oxford University Press): 81-110.
29.
JossaGiorgio2006Jews or Christians?: The Followers of Jesus in Search of their Own Identity (trans. RogersMolly; WUNT, 202; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck).
30.
KaimowitzJeremy H.2008The Odes of Horace (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press).
31.
KeenerCraig S.2003The Gospel of John: A Commentary (2 vols.; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic).
32.
KellyBenjamin2016 ‘Repression, Resistance and Rebellion’, in du PlessisPaul J.AndoCliffordTuoriKaius (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Roman Law and Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press): 374-85.
33.
KolbAnneSpeidelMichael A.2016 ‘Perceptions from Beyond: Some Observations on Non-Roman Assessments of the Roman Empire from the Great Eastern Trade Routes’, in SlootjesDaniëllePeachinM. (eds.), Rome and the Worlds Beyond its Frontiers (Leiden: Brill): 151-80.
34.
KyleDonald G.2001Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome (London: Routledge).
35.
LieuJudith1999 ‘The “Attraction of Women” in/to Early Judaism and Christianity: Gender and the Politics of Conversion’, JSNT72: 5-22.
36.
LlewelynS.R., with the collaboration of R.A. Kearsley 1994New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity 7: A Review of the Greek Inscriptions and Papyri Published 1982–83 (Sydney: Macquarie University, The Ancient History Documentary Research Centre).
37.
MasonHugh J.1974Greek Terms for Roman Institutions: A Lexicon and Analysis (American Studies in Papyrology, 13; Toronto: Hakkert).
38.
MasonSteve with HonoraChapman2008Judean War 2: Translation and Commentary (Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary, ed. MasonSteve; Leiden: Brill).
39.
MasriLarisa2016 ‘Rome, Diplomacy, and the Rituals of Empire Foreign Sacrifice to Jupiter Capitolinus’, Historia65.3: 325-47.
40.
MelounováMarkéta2014 ‘Crimen maiestatis and the poena legis during the Principate’, Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae54: 407-30.
41.
MichaelsJ. Ramsey2010The Gospel of John (NICNT; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
42.
Minas-NerpelMartinaPfeifferStefan2010 ‘Establishing Roman Rule in Egypt: The Trilingual Stela of C. Cornelius Gallus from Philae’, in LembkeKatjaMinas-NerpelMartinaPfeifferStefan (eds.), Tradition and Transformation: Egypt under Roman Rule; Proceedings of the International Conference, Hildesheim, Roemer- and Plizaeus-Museum, 3–6 July 2008 (Leiden: Brill): 265-98.
43.
MitchellStephen1976 ‘Requisitioned Transport in the Roman Empire: A New Inscription from Pisidia’, JRS76: 106-31.
44.
MitchellStephen2005 ‘The Treaty between Rome and Lycia of 46 BC (MS 2070)’, in PintaudiR. (ed.), Papyri Graecae Schøyen (P. Schøyen I) (Florence: Gonnelli): 161-258.
45.
MorrellKit2017Pompey, Cato, and the Governance of the Roman Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
46.
MouleC.F.D.1959An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek (2nd edn; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.)
47.
MuraokaT.2016A Syntax of Septuagint Greek (Leuven: Peeters).
48.
NeagoeAlexandru2004The Trial of the Gospel: An Apologetic Reading of Luke’s Trial Narratives (SNTSMS, 116; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
49.
OliverJ.M.1971 ‘On the Edict of Germanicus Declining Divine Acclamations’, Rivista storica dell’antichità1: 229-30.
50.
PeachinMichael2015 ‘Augustus’ Emergent Judicial Powers, the “Crimen Maiestatis”, and the Second Cyrene Edict’, in FerraryJ.ScheidJ. (eds.), Il princeps romano: Autocrate o magistrato? Fattori giuridici e fattori sociali del potere imperiale da Augusto a Commodo (Pavia: IUSS Press): 497-553.
51.
PölönenJanne2004 ‘Plebeians and Repression of Crime in the Roman Empire: From Torture of Convicts to Torture of Suspects’, Revue internationale des droits de l’antiquité51: 217-57.
52.
PotterD.S.DamonCynthia1999 ‘The Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre’, American Journal of Philology120: 13-41.
53.
PowerTristan2014 ‘Introduction: The Originality of Suetonius’, in PowerTristanGibsonRoy K. (eds.), Suetonius the Biographer: Studies in Roman Lives (Oxford: Oxford University Press): 1-18.
54.
ReinhartzAdele2017 ‘The Gospel According to John’, in LevineAmy-JillBrettlerMarc Zvi (eds.), The Jewish Annotated New Testament (2nd edn; Oxford: Oxford University Press): 168-218.
55.
RidderbosHerman1997The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary (trans. VriendJohn; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
56.
RogersR.S.1935Criminal Trials and Criminal Legislation under Tiberius (Middletown, CT: American Philological Association).
57.
RogersR.S.1959 ‘Treason in the Early Empire’, JRS49: 90-94.
58.
RoweGregory2014 ‘The Roman State: Laws, Lawmaking and Legal Documents’, in BruunChristerEdmondsonJonathan (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy (Oxford: Oxford University Press): 299-318.
SharonNadav2017Judea under Roman Domination: The First Generation of Statelessness and its Legacy (EJL; Atlanta: SBL Press).
61.
StarrRaymond J.2010 ‘Augustus as “Pater patriae” and Patronage Decrees’, ZPE172: 296-98.
62.
ThompsonMarianne Meye2015John: A Commentary (NTL; Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press).
63.
TuoriKaius2016The Emperor of Law: The Emergence of Roman Imperial Adjudication (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
64.
Wallace-HadrillAndrew1982 ‘Civilis Princeps: Between Citizen and King’, JRS72: 32-48.
65.
WardleDavid2010 ‘Suetonius on Vespasian’s Rise to Power under the Julio-Claudians’, Acta Classica53: 101-15.
66.
WardleDavid2014Suetonius: Life of Augustus (Clarendon Ancient History Series; Oxford: Oxford University Press).
67.
WelchJohn W.2006 ‘Miracles, Maleficium, and Maiestas in the Trial of Jesus’, in CharlesworthJames H. (ed.), Jesus and Archaeology (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans): 349-83.
68.
WengstKlaus2001Das Johannesevangelium. II. Kapitel 11–21 (TKNT, 4.2; Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer).
69.
WhitlarkJason A.2014Resisting Empire: Rethinking the Purpose of the Letter to ‘the Hebrews’ (LNTS, 484; London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark).
70.
WilliamsMargaret H.1990 ‘Domitian, the Jews and the “Judaizers”: A Simple Matter of Cupiditas and Maiestas?’, Historia39.2: 196-211.
71.
WilliamsonCallie2016 ‘Crimes against the State’, in du PlessisPaul J.AndoCliffordTuoriKaius (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Roman Law and Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press): 333-44.
72.
YakobsonAlexander2003 ‘Maiestas, the Imperial Ideology and the Imperial Family: The Evidence of the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre’, Eutopia3.1-2: 75-107.
