Pilate and the pardoning of a murderer

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Contrabass101

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I was wondering, if we have any extra-biblical sources about the custom to release a prisoner, which Pilate is described as having established.

Was it lawful under Roman Law to pardon a murderer and rebel such as Barabbas? Do we have historical evidence of something like it somewhere else in the Empire - or in Judea? What were Pilate’s motives for this custom?
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I honestly don’t know but I thought that I would respond so that your post can get a bump and not disappear before you get an answer.
 
Contrabass101 said:
I was wondering, if we have any extra-biblical sources about the custom to release a prisoner, which Pilate is described as having established.

Was it lawful under Roman Law to pardon a murderer and rebel such as Barabbas? Do we have historical evidence of something like it somewhere else in the Empire - or in Judea? What were Pilate’s motives for this custom?
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We don’t have any extrabiblical sources for it, unfortunately. But we do have records that there are cases in the Roman Empire when prisoners were usually released by public demand.
The ‘custom’ might have been merely improvised by Pilate to attempt to bolster his popularity with the Jews, timing it with the feast of the Passover, which is why we do not hear about this custom save the Gospels-it must’ve disappeared with him after he was removed from his post and exiled in 36 AD.

As an aside, there was actually this theory that at the time Jesus was put into trial, Barabbas’ release was already promised in advance; the people present (who more likely is composed of Jerusalemites than Galileans) might have only been there to pick him up (which might explain why the crowd wanted Barabbas so badly; Jesus is not the one promised to them to be released! And some of the Jewish authorities present might have further added fuel to the fire)
 
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