The island was inhabited from neolithic through Roman times. According to local legends, Ponza was named after Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea who tried Jesus of Nazareth for heresy. Pontius Pilate's family owned a grotto on Ponza, which is still named after him. The Pontius Pilate legend of Ponza's name has recently come into dispute amongst historians, because the name "Pontia" appears in Strabo's Geography. This pre-dates the birth of Pilate. It is not known if this is the same name as Ponza or a similar name. Pontia means "Land of Bridges" in Latin and Ponza has many natural arches and natural bridges, so that may be the origin of the name Pontia. Another theory is that the name is of Greek origins from Greek pontos, πόντος, sea (sea also Pontus).
In ancient times the island was called Tyrrhenia. Legend says that Ponza is what is left of the lost island of Tyrrhenia. Ponza is said to have been connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land, which sank into the sea with most of the island below the water, with the parts remaining above sea level. The same exact phenomena happened at Capri. According to legend, there was a large city on the ancient island. There has been significant archaeological progress recently that shows this may be true. For example, it was discovered that the harbor floor of nearby Pozzuoli had sunk and risen several times in the last 5,000 years, revealing sunken Roman temples.
Ponza was first colonised by Etruscans. The island was heavily forested with giant trees in ancient times, but the forest is gone and the trees are extinct and the hills are covered with man-made terraces. Most of these terraces are no longer being used to grow food and grapes and are falling apart, due to lack of maintenance. The tallest hill on the island, called Monte Guardia, still has the rotting stumps of the extinct giant trees over eight feet wide. Crops are grown on these terraces like grapes for wine and cactus pears and
