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Valerius Gratus

praefectus civitatis of Judaea from 15 to 26 AD

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ153063 ↗
Source-derived summary

Valerius Gratus was the 4th Roman Prefect of Judaea province under Tiberius from 15 to 26 AD.

History

He succeeded Annius Rufus in 15 and was replaced by Pontius Pilate in 26. The government of Gratus is chiefly remarkable for the frequent changes he made in the appointment of the high-priesthood. He deposed Ananus, and substituted Ishmael ben Fabus, then Eleazar, son of Arianus, then Simon, son of Camith, and lastly Joseph Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Ananus.

In popular culture

In the book Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and its derived films, Gratus is almost killed by a roof tile which accidentally falls from the home of Judah Ben-Hur, which prompts all subsequent events of the story. In the novel, Gratus is portrayed as a corrupt governor who acted against the Jews by removing the rightful head priest of the Temple, Hannas, and replacing him with a Roman puppet, Ishmael.

See also

Gens Valeria

Roman administration of Judaea (AD 6–135)

Roman Procurator coinage

References

Bibliography

Josephus - Antiq. xviii. 6. § 5.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Valerius Gratus” as praefectus civitatis of Judaea from 15 to 26 AD. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Valerius, Gratus and praefectus.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current 173-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The linked authority record independently contributes the date -0050. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Valerius, Gratus and praefectus providing the first useful test.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q153063. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Valerius Gratus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.