Valerius Gratus was the Roman Prefect

Prefect

Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....

 of Iudaea province

Iudaea Province

Judaea or Iudaea are terms used by historians to refer to the Roman province that extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel...

 under Tiberius

Tiberius

Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...

 from 15 to 26 AD. He succeeded Annius Rufus

Annius Rufus

Annius Rufus succeeded Marcus Ambivulus as Prefect of Judea in 12 CE. His tenure was apparently without incident since the only event that Josephus reports as occurring while he was in office is the death of Augustus in Rome in 14 CE. He was succeeded by Valerius Gratus in 15 CE.-External links:* ...

 and was replaced by Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilatus , known in the English-speaking world as Pontius Pilate , was the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, from AD 26–36. He is best known as the judge at Jesus' trial and the man who authorized the crucifixion of Jesus...

.

The government of Gratus is chiefly remarkable for the frequent changes he made in the appointment of the high-priesthood

Kohen Gadol

The High Priest was the chief religious official of Israelite religion and of classical Judaism from the rise of the Israelite nation until the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem...

. He deposed Ananus

Annas

Annas [also Ananus or Ananias], son of Seth , was appointed by the Roman legate Quirinius as the first High Priest of the newly formed Roman province of Iudaea in 6 AD; just after the Romans had deposed Archelaus, Ethnarch of Judaea, thereby putting Judaea directly under Roman rule.Annas officially...

, and substituted Ismael, son of Fabi, then Eleazar, son of Arianus, then Simon, son of Camith, and lastly Joseph Caiaphas

Caiaphas

Joseph, son of Caiaphas, Hebrew יוסף בַּר קַיָּפָא or Yosef Bar Kayafa, commonly known simply as Caiaphas in the New Testament, was the Roman-appointed Jewish high priest who is said to have organized the plot to kill Jesus...

, the son-in-law of Ananus.

In popular culture

In the book Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and its derived films, Gratus is almost killed by a tile which is accidentally dropped by Judah Ben-Hur, which prompts all subsequent events of the story. In the novel Gratus is portrayed as a corrupt governor who acted against Ben-Hur's family in order to enrich himself.