Porcius Festus

Porcius Festus was the Roman procurator of Judea who succeeded Felix, taking office around A.D. 59–60 (Acts 24:27). His tenure was brief — he died in office around A.D. 62 — but historically significant for both Judea and Paul. Shortly after arriving in his province, Festus traveled from Caesarea to Jerusalem, where the Jewish leaders pressed him to have Paul brought there for trial (planning an ambush), but Festus insisted Paul would be heard at Caesarea.

The climactic hearing of Acts 25–26 unfolds under Festus: Paul's defense before Festus and King Agrippa II ends with Agrippa's famous near-persuasion (Acts 26:28) and his assessment that Paul could have been released had he not appealed to Caesar (Acts 25:11). Festus's verdict — "This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment" (Acts 25:25) — is one of several such declarations of Paul's innocence in Acts, paralleling the repeated declarations of Jesus's innocence before Pilate. Josephus records Festus as a generally competent administrator who confronted Sicarii and false prophets in Judea.