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Question: Are there historical references to Jesus in non-Biblical
writings?


Cornelius Tacitus (born A.D. 52-54)
     A Roman historian, in A.D. 112, Governor of Asia, son-in-law
of Julius Agricola, who was Governor of Britain A.D. 80-84. Writing
of the reign of Nero, Tacitus alludes to the dead of Christ and to
the existence of Christians at Rome:
     But not all the relief that could come from man, not all the
bounties that the prince could bestow, nor all the atonements which
could be presented to the gods, availed to relieve Nero from the
infamy of being believed to have ordered the conflagration, the
fire of Rome. Hence to suppress the rumor, he falsely charged with
the guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the
persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for their
enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by
Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius: but
the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time broke out again,
not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through
the city of Rome also (Annals, XX.44)


Lucian of Samosata
     A satirist of the second century, who spoke scornfully of
Christ and the Christians. He connected them with the synagogues of
Palestine and alluded to Christ as 
     the man who was crucified in Palestine because He introduced
this new cult into the world...Furthermore, their first lawgiver
persuaded them that they were all brothers one of another after
they have transgressed once for all by denying the Greek gods and
by worshipping that crucified sophist Himself and living under His
laws (The Passing Peregrinus).

Flavius Josephus born A.D. 37
     A Jewish historian, became a Pharisee at age 19; in A.D. 66 he
was the commander of the Jewish forces in Galilee. After being
captured, he was attached to the Roman headquarters. He says in a
hotly contested quotation:
     Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be
lawful to call Him a man, for He was a doer of wonderful works, a
teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew
over to Him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles, He was
the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal man
among us, had condemned Him to the cross, those that loved Him at
the first did not forsake Him; for He appeared to them alive again
in the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten
thousand other wonderful things concerning Him. And the tribe of
Christians so name from Him are not extinct at this day
(Antiquities, xviii.33).

Suetonius (A.D. 120)
     Another Roman historian, a court official under Hadrian,
annalist of the Imperial House, Suetonius says: "As the Jews were
making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chretus [another
spelling of Christus], he expelled them from Rome"  (Life of
Claudius, 25.4)
     He also writes: Punishment by Nero was inflicted on the
Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous
superstition (Lives of the Caesars, 26:2)

Plinius Secundus, Pliny the Younger
     Governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor (A.D.112), Pliny was
writing the emperor Trajan seeking counsel as to how to treat the
Christians. 
     He explained that he had been killing both men and women, boys
and girls. There were so many being put to death that he wondered
if he should continue killing anyone who was discovered to be a
Christian, or if he should kill only certain ones. He explained
that he had made the Christians bow down to the statues of Trajan.
He goes on to say that he also "made them curse Christ, which a
genuine Christian cannot be induced to do."

     In the same letter he says of the people who were being tried:
They affirmed, however, that the whole of their guilt, or their
error, was that they were in the habit of meeting on a certain
fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verse a
hymn to Christ as to a god, and bound themselves to a solemn oath,
not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft,
adultery, never to falsify their word, not do deny a trust when
they should be called upon to deliver it up (Epistles, X.96

Thallus the Samaritan-born historian
     One of the first Gentile writers who mentions Christ is
Thallus, who wrote in A.D. 52. However, his writings have
disappeared and we only know of them from fragments cited by other
writers. One such writer is Julius Africanus, a Christian writer
about A.D. 221 One very interesting passage related to a comment
from Tahllus. Julius Africanus writes:
"Thallus, in the third book of his histories, explains away this
darkness as an eclipse of the sun--unreasonably, as it seems to me"
(unreasonably, of course, because a solar eclipse could not take
place at the time of the full moon, and it was the season of the
Paschal full moon that Christ died).
     Thus, from this reference we see that the Gospel account of
the darkness which fell upon the land during Christ's crucifixion
was well known and required a naturalistic explanation from those
non-believers who witnessed it.
(Source consulted: Josh McDowell)






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