Tacitus on Jesus

The Fire of Rome, by Karl von Piloty, 1861. According to Tacitus, Nero targeted Christians as those responsible for the fire.
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The Roman historian and senator Tacitus referred to Jesus, his execution by Pontius Pilate, and the existence of early Christians in Rome in his final work, Annals (written c. AD 116), book 15, chapter 44.[1]

The context of the passage is the six-day Great Fire of Rome that burned much of the city in AD 64 during the reign of Roman Emperor Nero.[2] The passage is one of the earliest non-Christian references to the origins of Christianity, the execution of Christ described in the canonical gospels, and the presence and persecution of Christians in 1st-century Rome.[3][4]

There are two points of vocabulary in the passage. First, Tacitus may have used the word "Chrestians" (Chrestianos) for Christians, but then speaks of "Christ" (Christus) as the origin of that name. Second, he calls Pilate a "procurator", even though other sources indicate that he had the title "prefect". Scholars have proposed various hypotheses to explain these peculiarities.

The scholarly consensus is that Tacitus's reference to the execution of Jesus by Pontius Pilate is both authentic, and of historical value as an independent Roman source.[5][6][7] However, Tacitus does not reveal the source of his information. There are several hypotheses as to what sources he may have used.

Tacitus provides non-Christian confirmation of the crucifixion of Jesus.[8][9] Scholars view it as establishing three separate facts about Rome around AD 60: (i) that there was a sizable number of Christians in Rome at the time, (ii) that it was possible to distinguish between Christians and Jews in Rome, and (iii) that at the time pagans made a connection between Christianity in Rome and its origin in Roman Judaea.[10][11]

Tacitus is one of the non-Christian writers of the time who mentioned Jesus and early Christianity along with Flavius Josephus, Pliny the Younger, and Suetonius.[12]

  1. ^ P. E. Easterling, E. J. Kenney (general editors), The Cambridge History of Latin Literature, page 892 (Cambridge University Press, 1982, reprinted 1996). ISBN 0-521-21043-7
  2. ^ Stephen Dando-Collins (2010). The Great Fire of Rome. ISBN 978-0-306-81890-5. pp. 1–4.
  3. ^ Brent 2009, p. 32–34.
  4. ^ Van Voorst 2000, p. 39–53.
  5. ^ Evans 2001, p. 42.
  6. ^ Watson E. Mills, Roger Aubrey Bullard (2001). Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. ISBN 0-86554-373-9. p. 343.
  7. ^ Helen K. Bond (2004). Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation. ISBN 0-521-61620-4. p. xi.
  8. ^ Mykytiuk, Lawrence (January 2015). "Did Jesus Exist? Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible". Biblical Archaeology Society.
  9. ^ Eddy & Boyd 2007, p. 127.
  10. ^ Dunn 2009, p. 56.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference AntiochRome was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Van Voorst 2000.