Caiaphas as High Priest

Joseph Caiaphas serves as Jewish high priest from roughly 18-36 CE, appointed by the Roman prefect Valerius Gratus and kept in power through Pilate's entire tenure. In 1990, construction workers in Jerusalem accidentally discovered an ornate ossuary inscribed 'Yehosef bar Qayafa' (Joseph son of Caiaphas) — one of the most dramatic archaeological confirmations of a New Testament figure. Caiaphas navigates the impossible politics of serving as the religious leader of the Jews while staying in Rome's good graces, which is the exact tension that drives him to orchestrate Jesus' arrest.