HisStory

The following was extracted off a forum when i was doing a search on roman history and if it recorded the existence of Jesus. It was in reply to a question if history sources besides the Bible recorded the existence of Him.

in history we have two reliable sources that are classical references to JESUS, independently from what the Holy Bible says.
There were in fact two historians who mention Jesus as a historical personage.
They are the Jewish historian FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS(37 AD - circa 100 AD ) and the great Roman historian Tacitus (AD 55-c.AD 117).
So, the first century Jewish historian Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews 18.3.3 says:
“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 men amongst 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 the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”

Also, in the book 20, 1, of the same work he mentions “Jesus, who was called Christ”.

Similarly, the Roman historian, TACITUS, wrote in 109 AD of a Christ who “suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus”.
Here is the quote from 'Annals' 15.44, where Jesus and the Christians are mentioned in an account of how the Emperor Nero persecuted the Christians in order to draw attention away from himself after Rome's fire of 64 AD:

“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 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, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind“.

From this evidence it is clear that the Romans knew perfectly well Jesus has been executed by Pontius Pilate who was procurator of Judea from 26-36AD under the emperor Tiberius.
Further, a prominent historical detail in this extra-biblical source – the name of Pontius Pilate – is in full agreement with the gospel accounts.
So it seems quite improbable to argue that there was no historical Jesus; on the contrary we have a solid evidence for the existence of Jesus and for historical data about Jesus' life.

In fact both Josephus and Tacitus are reliable sources so that we can conclude that there is every reason to trust Josephus and overall Tacitus as reliable. Tacitus in fact is a writer whose reliability cannot be seriously questioned.

To conclude, what we know for certain about Jesus in history is that :
1- he was a wise man
2-he was crucified by order of Pontius Pilate ,Roman procurator of Judea, at the suggestion of the principal men of the jewish Sanhedrin.
3- he appeared to his apostles alive again the third day.
4- he gave his name-Christ- to the Christians.

Nothing else we can say from the historical point of view.

Hope this can be helpful to you.
Best regards
Maria
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NOTA BENE
-"Antiquities of the Jews" is an account of Jewish history from its early beginnings to the revolt against Rome in AD 66, written in Greek in about AD 93 by Flavius Josephus, a general in the Jewish army who defected to Rome.

-"The Annals" are Tacitus' brilliant account of Roman imperial history from the death of Augustus (14 AD) to the death of Nero (68AD).