Festus

Porcius Festus was the Roman procurator of Judea who succeeded Felix approximately A.D. 59–60 and held office until his death around A.D. 62. He inherited the case of Paul, who had been imprisoned by Felix for two years in Caesarea. When the Jerusalem Jewish leaders pressed Festus to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem (where they planned to kill him), Paul exercised his right as a Roman citizen and appealed his case to Caesar (Acts 25:11–12).

Festus appears as a relatively fair-minded official who acknowledged he found no capital offense in Paul's case but was perplexed by the religious dispute involved. When King Herod Agrippa II and his sister Bernice visited Caesarea, Festus presented Paul's case to them, saying he could find nothing to write to Caesar since the accusations were about "their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive" (Acts 25:19). Paul's defense before Agrippa provoked Festus's declaration: "Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you mad" (Acts 26:24).