Book 1 — Chapter 9 — The Times of Pilate
Eusebius dates the Roman governorship of Pontius Pilate by the reign of Tiberius and the succession of provincial administrators. He rejects forged anti-Christian “Acts of Pilate” circulating in his own period by noting that some placed Pilate at an impossible date, contradicting the chronology preserved by Yosephus and the Gospel writings. In Eusebius's reconstruction, Pilate governed Yehudah beginning in the twelfth year of Tiberius and remained for roughly ten years. The public activity and execution of Yahushua therefore fall within that administration. Eusebius's concern is apologetic and forensic: hostile documents should be tested against the chronology of rulers rather than accepted because they carry an official-sounding title. The chapter is an early example of his method of comparing ecclesial memory with external political chronology.