The inscription (translated as “title” in KJV and “notice” in NIV) Pilate wrote was upon a board whitened with gypsum. These were commonly used for public notices. Suetonious writes of a slave whom Caligula ordered to be punished by having his hands cut off and hung around his neck “and that he then be led about among the guests, preceded by a placard giving the reason for his punishment.” (qt’d in Morris) Pilate’s motivation in writing this inscription is a certain amount of revenge upon the chief priests for supposedly forcing him to condemn an innocent man.

Note the symbolism of the “notice” in (Col 2:14).

Colossians 2:14  having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.