Selected Evidence from Pagan Authors
The following are a catalog the historical documents that attest or refer to the historical Jesus.
1. Tacitus on the Jews: (Tacitus' Histories Book 5, ch. 5, translated by W. H. Fyfe., part of Tacitus' introduction to the story of the conquest of Judaea by Titus. See ch. 1-13 for the entire account. Written c.A.D.100-110.)
“Whatever their origin, these rites are sanctioned by their antiquity. Their other customs are impious and abominable, and owe their prevalence to their depravity. For all the most worthless rascals renouncing their national cults, were always sending money to swell the sum of offerings and tribute. This is one cause of Jewish prosperity. Another is that they are obstinately loyal to each other, and always ready to show compassion, whereas they feel nothing but hatred and enmity for the rest of the world. They eat and sleep separately. Though immoderate in sexual indulgence, they refrain from all intercourse with foreign women: among themselves anything is allowed. They have introduced circumcision to distinguish themselves from other people. Those who are converted to their customs adopt the same practice, and the first lessons they learn are to despise the gods, to renounce their country, and to think nothing of their parents, children and brethren. However, they take steps to increase their numbers. They count it a crime to kill any of their later-born children, and they believe that the souls of those who die in battle or under persecution are immortal. Thus they think much of having children and nothing of facing death. They prefer to bury and not burn their dead. In this, as in their burial rites, and in their belief in an underworld, they conform to Egyptian custom. Their ideas of heaven are quite different. The Egyptians worship most of their gods as animals, or in shapes half animal and half human. The Jews acknowledge one god only, of whom they have a purely spiritual conception. They think it impious to make images of gods in human shape out of perishable materials. Their god is almighty and inimitable, without beginning and without end. They therefore set up no statues in their temples, nor even in their cities, refusing this homage both to their own kings and to the Roman Emperors. However, the fact that their priests intoned to the flute and cymbals and wore wreaths of ivy, and that a golden vine was found in their temple has led some people to think that they worship Bacchus, who has so enthralled the East. But their cult would be most inappropriate. Bacchus instituted gay and cheerful rites, but the Jewish ritual is preposterous and morbid.”
2. Tacitus, Annals of Imperial Rome Book 15, ch. 44. The Great Fire (64 A.D. Written c.A.D.100-110).
But neither human resources, nor imperial munificence, nor appeasement of the gods, eliminated sinister suspicions that the fire had been instigated. To suppress this rumour, Nero fabricated scapegoats - and punished with every refinement the notoriously depraved Christians (as they were popularly called). Their originator, Christ, had been executed in Tiberius' reign by the governor of Judaea, Pontius Pilate. But in spite of this temporary setback, the deadly superstition had broken out afresh, not only in Judaea (where the mischief had started) but even in Rome. All degraded and shameful practices collect and flourish in the capital.
First, Nero had self-acknowledged Christians arrested. Then, on their information, large numbers of others were condemned—not so much for incendiarism as for their anti-social tendencies. Their deaths were made farcical. Dressed in wild animals' skins, they were torn to pieces by dogs, or crucified, or made into torches to be ignited after dark as substitutes for daylight. Nero provided his Gardens for the spectacle, and exhibited displays in the Circus, at which he mingled with the crowd - or stood in a chariot, dressed as a charioteer. Despite their guilt as Christians, and the ruthless punishment it deserved, the victims were pitied. For it was felt that they were being sacrificed to one man's brutality rather than to the national interest.
(Michael Grant's translation, Penguin p. 354)
3. Suetonius, Life of Claudius, ch. 25. (Written around A.D.119)
Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from the city.
(Robert Graves' translation, Penguin p. 197)
4. Suetoniuis, Life of Nero, ch. 16. (Written around A.D.119)
Punishments were also inflicted on the Christians, a sect professing a new and mischievous religious belief.
(Robert Graves' translation, Penguin p. 217).
5. Pliny to the Emperor Trajan: (Pliny the Younger, Epistles Book 10, no.96. Written around A.D.112)
“It is my principle, Sir, to refer to you all points on which I am in doubt. Who better than you can guide my hesitation or buttress my ignorance? I have never attended trials of Christians and therefore do not know what the punishment and inquiry usually are and how far they are pushed. And so I was in no slight uncertainty on several points: should any distinction of age be made or should the young be treated no otherwise than those of mature age? Should pardon be given for repentance or should a man who had once been a Christian profit nothing by ceasing to be? Should the name, if free from serious crimes, be punished or only the crimes that attach to the name? pending your advice, the method I have followed with those who were brought before me as Christians is this. I have asked them in person whether they were Christians. If they have confessed I have repeated my inquiry a second and third time; when they persisted, I have ordered them to execution. I had no uncertainty in my mind, that whatever the character of their confession was, their persistence, their unbending obstinacy deserved extreme punishment. There were others, similarly afflicted, to whose cases, as they were Roman citizens. I added the ,note that they should be sent to Rome. Then, as the cases were being tried and the charges spread, as they will, more types of' conduct met me. An anonymous document was produced in public, containing many names. Such of these as declared that they were not and never had been Christians thought fit to discharge, after they, following my recital, had invoked the gods and had prayed with wine and incense before your statue, which I had ordered to be brought in with the divine figures, and had moreover cursed Christ—all acts to which it is said that those who really are Christians cannot possibly be forced. Others, named by the informer. first declared that they were Christians and subsequently denied it; they had been, but had ceased to be, some many years previously, a few as much as twenty five. All of these people adored your image and those of the gods and cursed Christ. But they kept on assuring me that the full extent of their guilt or error had been that they had been accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn, to sing a hymn to Christ as god and to bind themselves by an oath to be guilty of no crime, not to commit theft, robbery or adultery, not to break faith, not to deny a trust on demand; after this it had been their custom to disperse and then to meet again to take food—but ordinary food and quite innocent; they had given up doing even this after my edict, in which, following your instruction, I had forbidden clubs. All this made me feel it the more necessary to ascertain the truth from two servant-girls, whom they called deaconesses, using torture. All I could discover was an evil and extreme superstition. I therefore postponed the trial and have resorted to asking your counsel. The chief reason why I have thought it proper to consult you is the number of the persons in jeopardy. Many of all ages, of all ranks, of both sexes, are being brought into danger. and will continue to be brought. The blight of this superstition has not been confined to towns and villages; it has even spread to the country. But, in my opinion, it can be checked and cured. Certainly, my statistics already show that temples, long left desolate, have begun to be stronged again, that religious ceremonies, long intermitted, are being renewed, and that there is again a market for the flesh of victims, for which till recently hardly a single buyer could be found. This all leads me to realize that a multitude of men can be reformed, if room is left for repentance.”
6. Trajan, to his friend, Pliny: (Pliny, Epistles Book 10, no.97. Written around A.D.112)
“My dear Secundus, you have pursued the correct course of conduct in investigating the cases of those who were brought before you as Christians. Indeed, no general regulation can be laid down that would have anything like a clearcut form. They are not to be sought out; if they are denounced and proved guilty, they must be punished—providing only this, that a man who denies that he is a Christian and proves it by his act, that is to say, by praying to our gods, however suspect he may have been in the past, may now obtain forgiveness through repentance. Anonymous documents must not figure in any charge. That would be a vile precedent, not permissible in our age.”
1. Tacitus on the Jews: (Tacitus' Histories Book 5, ch. 5, translated by W. H. Fyfe., part of Tacitus' introduction to the story of the conquest of Judaea by Titus. See ch. 1-13 for the entire account. Written c.A.D.100-110.)
“Whatever their origin, these rites are sanctioned by their antiquity. Their other customs are impious and abominable, and owe their prevalence to their depravity. For all the most worthless rascals renouncing their national cults, were always sending money to swell the sum of offerings and tribute. This is one cause of Jewish prosperity. Another is that they are obstinately loyal to each other, and always ready to show compassion, whereas they feel nothing but hatred and enmity for the rest of the world. They eat and sleep separately. Though immoderate in sexual indulgence, they refrain from all intercourse with foreign women: among themselves anything is allowed. They have introduced circumcision to distinguish themselves from other people. Those who are converted to their customs adopt the same practice, and the first lessons they learn are to despise the gods, to renounce their country, and to think nothing of their parents, children and brethren. However, they take steps to increase their numbers. They count it a crime to kill any of their later-born children, and they believe that the souls of those who die in battle or under persecution are immortal. Thus they think much of having children and nothing of facing death. They prefer to bury and not burn their dead. In this, as in their burial rites, and in their belief in an underworld, they conform to Egyptian custom. Their ideas of heaven are quite different. The Egyptians worship most of their gods as animals, or in shapes half animal and half human. The Jews acknowledge one god only, of whom they have a purely spiritual conception. They think it impious to make images of gods in human shape out of perishable materials. Their god is almighty and inimitable, without beginning and without end. They therefore set up no statues in their temples, nor even in their cities, refusing this homage both to their own kings and to the Roman Emperors. However, the fact that their priests intoned to the flute and cymbals and wore wreaths of ivy, and that a golden vine was found in their temple has led some people to think that they worship Bacchus, who has so enthralled the East. But their cult would be most inappropriate. Bacchus instituted gay and cheerful rites, but the Jewish ritual is preposterous and morbid.”
2. Tacitus, Annals of Imperial Rome Book 15, ch. 44. The Great Fire (64 A.D. Written c.A.D.100-110).
But neither human resources, nor imperial munificence, nor appeasement of the gods, eliminated sinister suspicions that the fire had been instigated. To suppress this rumour, Nero fabricated scapegoats - and punished with every refinement the notoriously depraved Christians (as they were popularly called). Their originator, Christ, had been executed in Tiberius' reign by the governor of Judaea, Pontius Pilate. But in spite of this temporary setback, the deadly superstition had broken out afresh, not only in Judaea (where the mischief had started) but even in Rome. All degraded and shameful practices collect and flourish in the capital.
First, Nero had self-acknowledged Christians arrested. Then, on their information, large numbers of others were condemned—not so much for incendiarism as for their anti-social tendencies. Their deaths were made farcical. Dressed in wild animals' skins, they were torn to pieces by dogs, or crucified, or made into torches to be ignited after dark as substitutes for daylight. Nero provided his Gardens for the spectacle, and exhibited displays in the Circus, at which he mingled with the crowd - or stood in a chariot, dressed as a charioteer. Despite their guilt as Christians, and the ruthless punishment it deserved, the victims were pitied. For it was felt that they were being sacrificed to one man's brutality rather than to the national interest.
(Michael Grant's translation, Penguin p. 354)
3. Suetonius, Life of Claudius, ch. 25. (Written around A.D.119)
Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from the city.
(Robert Graves' translation, Penguin p. 197)
4. Suetoniuis, Life of Nero, ch. 16. (Written around A.D.119)
Punishments were also inflicted on the Christians, a sect professing a new and mischievous religious belief.
(Robert Graves' translation, Penguin p. 217).
5. Pliny to the Emperor Trajan: (Pliny the Younger, Epistles Book 10, no.96. Written around A.D.112)
“It is my principle, Sir, to refer to you all points on which I am in doubt. Who better than you can guide my hesitation or buttress my ignorance? I have never attended trials of Christians and therefore do not know what the punishment and inquiry usually are and how far they are pushed. And so I was in no slight uncertainty on several points: should any distinction of age be made or should the young be treated no otherwise than those of mature age? Should pardon be given for repentance or should a man who had once been a Christian profit nothing by ceasing to be? Should the name, if free from serious crimes, be punished or only the crimes that attach to the name? pending your advice, the method I have followed with those who were brought before me as Christians is this. I have asked them in person whether they were Christians. If they have confessed I have repeated my inquiry a second and third time; when they persisted, I have ordered them to execution. I had no uncertainty in my mind, that whatever the character of their confession was, their persistence, their unbending obstinacy deserved extreme punishment. There were others, similarly afflicted, to whose cases, as they were Roman citizens. I added the ,note that they should be sent to Rome. Then, as the cases were being tried and the charges spread, as they will, more types of' conduct met me. An anonymous document was produced in public, containing many names. Such of these as declared that they were not and never had been Christians thought fit to discharge, after they, following my recital, had invoked the gods and had prayed with wine and incense before your statue, which I had ordered to be brought in with the divine figures, and had moreover cursed Christ—all acts to which it is said that those who really are Christians cannot possibly be forced. Others, named by the informer. first declared that they were Christians and subsequently denied it; they had been, but had ceased to be, some many years previously, a few as much as twenty five. All of these people adored your image and those of the gods and cursed Christ. But they kept on assuring me that the full extent of their guilt or error had been that they had been accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn, to sing a hymn to Christ as god and to bind themselves by an oath to be guilty of no crime, not to commit theft, robbery or adultery, not to break faith, not to deny a trust on demand; after this it had been their custom to disperse and then to meet again to take food—but ordinary food and quite innocent; they had given up doing even this after my edict, in which, following your instruction, I had forbidden clubs. All this made me feel it the more necessary to ascertain the truth from two servant-girls, whom they called deaconesses, using torture. All I could discover was an evil and extreme superstition. I therefore postponed the trial and have resorted to asking your counsel. The chief reason why I have thought it proper to consult you is the number of the persons in jeopardy. Many of all ages, of all ranks, of both sexes, are being brought into danger. and will continue to be brought. The blight of this superstition has not been confined to towns and villages; it has even spread to the country. But, in my opinion, it can be checked and cured. Certainly, my statistics already show that temples, long left desolate, have begun to be stronged again, that religious ceremonies, long intermitted, are being renewed, and that there is again a market for the flesh of victims, for which till recently hardly a single buyer could be found. This all leads me to realize that a multitude of men can be reformed, if room is left for repentance.”
6. Trajan, to his friend, Pliny: (Pliny, Epistles Book 10, no.97. Written around A.D.112)
“My dear Secundus, you have pursued the correct course of conduct in investigating the cases of those who were brought before you as Christians. Indeed, no general regulation can be laid down that would have anything like a clearcut form. They are not to be sought out; if they are denounced and proved guilty, they must be punished—providing only this, that a man who denies that he is a Christian and proves it by his act, that is to say, by praying to our gods, however suspect he may have been in the past, may now obtain forgiveness through repentance. Anonymous documents must not figure in any charge. That would be a vile precedent, not permissible in our age.”
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