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Jesus
of Nazareth
Christianity Home page Jesus
and His crucifixion are mentioned by the Roman historians Cornelius
Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and Seutonious, by non-roman historians
Thallus and Phlegon, by the satirist Lucian of Samosata, by the Jewish
Talmud, and by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. Here
is an extract from Tacitus (The Annuals, book 40, para. 44, line 5): "Therefore,
to scoth the rumor, Nero substituted as culprits, and punished with the
utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices,
whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus, the founder of the name, had
undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the
procurator Pontius Pilatus, and the pernicious superstition was checked
for a moment, only to break out once more, not merely in Judaea, the home
of the disease, but in the capital itself, where all things horrible or
shameful in the world collect and find a vogue. First, then, the confessed
members of the sect were arrested; next, on their disclosures, vast
numbers were convicted, not so much on the count of arson as for hatred of
the human race. And derision accompanied their end: they were covered with
wild beasts skins and torn to death by dogs; or they were fastened on
crosses, and, when day light failed were burned to serve as lamps by
night. Nero had offered his Gardens for the spectacle, and gave an
exhibition in his Circus, mixing the crowd in the habit of a charioteer,
or mounted on his car. Hence, in spite of a guilt which had earned the
most exemplary punishment, there arose a sentiment of pity, due to the
impression that they were being sacrificed not for the welfare of the
state but to the ferocity of a single man." Flavius
Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, book 43, chap. 3, para. 3) writes: "Now
about this time lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it be lawful to call
him a man. For he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of men who
receive the truth with pleasure; and drew over to him many of the Jews,
and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the
information of the leading men among us, had condemned him to the cross,
those who had loved him at first did not cease to do so. For he appeared
to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold
this and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe
of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day." Bible:
All four Gospels testify to His crucifixion. |