Caifás

Caiaphas was the high priest of Jerusalem from approximately AD 18–36, the longest serving high priest under Roman rule, and the chief architect of Jesus's arrest and trial. He presided at the assembly that voted to have Jesus killed, reasoning that 'it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish' (John 11:49–50), a statement the evangelist reads as unwitting prophecy. He led the nighttime hearing before the Sanhedrin and forwarded Jesus to Pilate for execution. Caiaphas also appeared in the trial of Peter and John (Acts 4:6). Archaeological confirmation of his existence came in 1990 when a first-century ossuary inscribed 'Yehosef bar Qayafa' was discovered in Jerusalem, widely accepted as the burial box of his family.