Joseph of Arimathea is that rare Passion figure attested in all four canonical Gospels, and always in the same role: after the crucifixion he goes to Pilate, asks for the body of Jesus, and buries it. Mark calls him "a respected member of the council, who was himself looking for the kingdom of God"; Matthew makes him "a rich man" and a disciple; Luke stresses that this council member "had not consented to their decision and action"; John describes him as a disciple "secretly, for fear of the Jews," and pairs him with Nicodemus in wrapping the body with spices.
The convergence of four independent-seeming notices on this act gives Joseph a firmer footing than most minor Gospel figures. He supplies the new rock-cut tomb in which Jesus is laid, a detail with obvious theological weight for the resurrection narratives, since the emptiness of a known and identified tomb becomes part of the account.
His home town, Arimathea, is otherwise unknown and its location uncertain, often identified with Ramathaim in the Judean hills. Beyond the burial, the New Testament tells nothing of him, no earlier appearance, no later career. That silence is precisely the space into which a remarkable body of medieval legend would later flow.