Joseph Caiaphas was high priest (18–36 A.D.) at the time of Jesus' activity and crucifixion. Caiaphas was mentioned by Josephus Flavius (Ant. 18:35:95) and in the New Testament (Matt. 26:3; Luke 3:2; John 11:49; 18:13–14; Acts 4:6),
Caiaphas was appointed by the procurator Valerius Gratus to succeed Simeon b. Kimḥit. He served in office throughout the administration of Gratus' successor, Pontius Pilate (26–36 AD), and was deposed the same year as Pilate by Vitellius, governor of Syria.
As high priest and chief religious authority in the land, Caiaphas had many important responsibilities, including controlling the Temple treasury, managing the Temple police and other personnel, performing religious rituals, and serving as president of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council and court that considered the case of Jesus.
The high priest had another function in first-century Jerusalem by serving as a sort of liaison between Roman authority and the Jewish population. High priests, drawn from the Sadducean aristocracy, received their appointment from Rome since the time of Herod the Great, and Rome looked to high priests to keep the Jewish populace in line.
Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas, high priest from 6 to 15 A.D. and head of a family that would control the high priesthood for most of the first century. Annas is also mentioned in Biblical accounts. It is possible that he, as a high priest emeritus, might have served at the side of Caiaphas in the Sanhedrin called to resolve the fate of Jesus.
Although little is known of Caiaphas, historians infer from his long tenure as high priest, (18 to 36 A.D.), that he worked well with Roman authority. For ten years of his time in office, Caiaphas served with Roman prefect Pontius Pilate. The two presumably had a close relationship, and may have had standing arrangements for how to deal with subversive persons such as Jesus.
Caiaphas's motives in turning Jesus over to Pilate are a subject of speculation. Some historians suggest that he had little choice. Others argue that Caiaphas saw Jesus as a threat to the existing religious order. He might have believed that if Jesus wasn't restrained or even executed that the Romans might end their relative tolerance of Jewish institutions.
High priests were both respected and despised by the Jewish population. As the highest religious authority, they were seen as playing a critical role in religious life and the Sanhedrin, but at the same time, many Jews resented the close relationship between the high priest and the Roman authorities and suspected them of taking bribes or practicing other forms of corruption.
According to Jewish historian Josephus, both Caiaphas and Pilate were dismissed from office by Syrian governor, Vitellius in the year 36 A.D. It seems likely that the cause of their dismissal was growing public unhappiness with their close cooperation. Rome might have perceived the need for a conciliatory gesture to Jews whose sensibilities had been offended by the two leaders. Josephus described the high priests of the family of Annas as "heartless when they sit in judgment."
Unlike other Temple priests, Caiaphas, as a high priest, lived in Jerusalem's Upper City, a wealthy section inhabited by the city's powerful. His home almost certainly was luxurious and constructed around a large courtyard.
In 1990, archaeologists discovered an ossuary, or bone box in a family tomb in Abu Tor, two miles south of Jerusalem. It had on its side the name of Joseph Caiaphas, written in Aramaic, and is assumed to be genuine. (See in Archeology Finds)
