WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:01.380 Hey, noble ones. 00:01.600 --> 00:05.020 On this video I'd like to talk about the historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth, 00:05.340 --> 00:09.520 as reported by the ancient Romans, or, as his name was probably pronounced in 00:09.520 --> 00:10.900 his language, Yeshua. 00:21.860 --> 00:26.700 Some people try to prove he existed at all costs, accepting all evidence a priori. 00:27.060 --> 00:30.880 Others try to prove he didn't, refuting all evidence without even looking 00:30.880 --> 00:32.140 into the actual context. 00:32.280 --> 00:35.780 This is a critical historical investigation, so I will try to be as 00:35.780 --> 00:40.220 unbiased as possible, even though implicit, biased, unconscious bias is 00:40.220 --> 00:41.960 inevitable to a certain extent. 00:42.320 --> 00:45.740 I'll do my best to be as fair as possible in my evaluation of the ancient sources, 00:46.000 --> 00:50.540 some of which we will read in the original Latin, and draw a picture of how solid of 00:50.540 --> 00:54.840 a historical figure Jesus actually was when examining what the ancients said. 00:55.200 --> 00:59.060 The video will not be about doctrine or beliefs, as I would never use my platform 00:59.060 --> 01:02.040 as a way to push my personal beliefs onto my subscribers. 01:02.340 --> 01:04.420 I respect you and your personal beliefs. 01:04.420 --> 01:08.380 At the end, having examined all evidence fairly, I will draw my conclusions, 01:08.640 --> 01:12.220 but feel free to let me know if you agree or disagree in the comments below. 01:12.520 --> 01:14.400 So, what sources are we going to use? 01:14.680 --> 01:18.740 On this video we'll examine mostly non-Christian evidence, with just a couple 01:18.740 --> 01:19.300 of exceptions. 01:19.580 --> 01:24.480 Publius Cornelius Tacitus, one of the greatest Roman historians and senator of 01:24.480 --> 01:24.800 Rome. 01:25.160 --> 01:29.540 Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, Roman historian, early imperial era. 01:29.860 --> 01:34.080 Titus Flavius Josephus, Romano-Jewish historian, born in Jerusalem. 01:34.080 --> 01:36.660 At the time, part of Roman Judea. 01:36.940 --> 01:41.620 Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Younger, 01:41.880 --> 01:44.260 Roman magistrate, lawyer and author. 01:44.780 --> 01:48.360 Emperor Trajanus, Emperor Hadrianus. 01:48.540 --> 01:54.020 For non-Roman authors we're going to read from Lucian of Samosata, Assyrian satirist 01:54.020 --> 01:54.820 and rhetorician. 01:55.140 --> 02:00.440 And Mara Bar Serapion, Stoic philosopher from the Roman province of Syria. 02:00.440 --> 02:03.340 Now we're going to jump right into the historical mentions. 02:03.660 --> 02:07.020 And at the end of each mention I will give you a sort of validation. 02:07.440 --> 02:11.100 So I'll tell you how much validity that mention has. 02:11.420 --> 02:15.340 But in order to fully understand and appreciate these mentions, there are two 02:15.340 --> 02:18.760 things that I need to talk about, and I'll do that in the second part of the 02:18.760 --> 02:21.720 video, so make sure to watch until the end, because they're very important. 02:22.040 --> 02:27.540 First, the actual, historically most plausible date of birth of Jesus of 02:27.540 --> 02:32.660 Nazareth, which is now most historians agree that it's not going to be 1 AD, 02:33.000 --> 02:36.560 it's a different date, and I'll tell you about it, I'll justify it historically. 02:37.000 --> 02:40.780 And secondly, the most probable date of his actual crucifixion. 02:40.920 --> 02:43.140 And these are important for the following reason. 02:43.300 --> 02:47.100 Usually people who try to disprove the existence of historical Jesus use these 02:47.100 --> 02:48.120 two points of argument. 02:48.420 --> 02:53.240 The source materials that we are going to examine are not contemporary to his life. 02:53.460 --> 02:57.960 If such an important man was to be around, Roman authorities would have definitely 02:57.960 --> 02:59.960 said much more about him. 03:00.060 --> 03:03.960 Both statements are actually very interesting, but ultimately hold no water. 03:04.300 --> 03:06.300 And I'll justify this because of two reasons. 03:06.440 --> 03:11.740 First is the actual contextualization of when Jesus existed, which is very 03:11.740 --> 03:12.160 important. 03:12.500 --> 03:17.580 But secondly, it's also the real, historically accurate perspective of Roman 03:17.580 --> 03:18.700 central power. 03:18.860 --> 03:20.580 So again, make sure to watch until the end. 03:24.690 --> 03:28.190 First, we're going to use the surviving portions of Tacitus' two major works, 03:28.190 --> 03:31.830 the Annales and the Historiae, where he speaks about the reigns of 03:31.830 --> 03:36.850 several emperors, such as Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, basically after the death 03:36.850 --> 03:41.550 of the first emperor, Augustus in 14 AD, all the way up to 70 AD, which is roughly 03:41.550 --> 03:46.730 speaking the date of the first Jewish-Roman war, which dates from 66 to 03:46.730 --> 03:47.150 73. 03:47.490 --> 03:52.550 It's in his final work, Annals of Imperial Rome, Book 15, Chapter 44, that Tacitus 03:52.550 --> 03:54.030 talks about Christ. 03:54.030 --> 03:59.130 He talks about his execution by Pontius Pilatus, who was the fifth governor of 03:59.130 --> 04:04.550 Judea under Emperor Tiberius, and the presence and existence of early Christians 04:04.550 --> 04:05.750 in Rome. 04:05.970 --> 04:09.950 In this book specifically, he is chronicling the burning of Rome, 04:10.270 --> 04:11.750 which happened in 64 AD. 04:21.950 --> 04:27.050 But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiation 04:27.050 --> 04:31.990 of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the 04:31.990 --> 04:32.990 result of a noda. 04:45.110 --> 04:50.110 Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the 04:50.110 --> 04:55.670 most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians 04:55.670 --> 04:56.710 by the populace. 05:21.350 --> 05:25.450 Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty 05:25.450 --> 05:29.350 during the reign of Tiberius at the hand of one of our procurators. 05:29.570 --> 05:34.750 And a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke 05:34.750 --> 05:39.210 out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome. 05:39.210 --> 05:42.050 As a Roman historian, Tacitus had no Christian bias. 05:42.210 --> 05:44.210 In fact, he had no sympathy for the Christians. 05:44.350 --> 05:48.470 He speaks about their abominations, and he speaks of Christianity as the 05:48.470 --> 05:49.430 origin of evil. 05:49.590 --> 05:51.830 And when he uses the expression abomination, he's actually referring 05:51.830 --> 05:55.250 specifically to the early Christians believing that they were partaking, 05:55.290 --> 05:58.270 at least some early Christians believing that they were partaking, of the literal 05:58.270 --> 06:02.130 body and blood of Christ every time they were taking the sacrament, which sounded 06:02.130 --> 06:04.070 as an abomination to Roman ears. 06:04.310 --> 06:08.250 So what Tacitus is telling us here is that Jesus was executed by the governor of 06:08.250 --> 06:12.950 Judea, Pontius Pilate, for crimes against the state, and a religious movement of his 06:12.950 --> 06:15.590 followers sprang up in his wake. 06:15.710 --> 06:19.590 Remember, this is not seen by Roman authorities as a positive thing. 06:19.850 --> 06:21.350 It's seen as a negative thing. 06:21.590 --> 06:25.650 We could in fact refer to this as the first documented confrontation between 06:25.650 --> 06:28.030 early Christians and Roman authorities. 06:28.450 --> 06:32.610 Also, please notice that Tacitus never accused Nero of being the one who burnt 06:32.610 --> 06:32.970 Rome. 06:33.210 --> 06:37.230 Such accusation will come from Cassius Dio in the 3rd century, but what Tacitus is 06:37.230 --> 06:42.290 saying is that Nero, in his opinion, was using Christians as scapegoats. 06:42.490 --> 06:46.130 From this statement we learn that there were a sizable number of Christians in 06:46.130 --> 06:50.050 Rome at the time, that it was possible to distinguish between Christians and Jews in 06:50.050 --> 06:54.870 Rome, and that at the time pagans made a connection between Christianity in Rome 06:54.870 --> 06:56.830 and its origins in Roman Judea. 06:57.030 --> 06:58.590 Okay, so let's discuss the validity. 06:58.950 --> 07:03.470 Most scholars consider Tacitus' explanation and mentions of Jesus and his 07:03.470 --> 07:08.070 execution to be of high historical value, and it is generally considered to be an 07:08.070 --> 07:10.550 authentic independent Roman source. 07:10.890 --> 07:15.690 To add to that, we have to remember that when Tacitus wrote history, if he 07:15.690 --> 07:19.970 considered the information that he was presented to be not entirely reliable, 07:20.290 --> 07:24.930 such as hearsay or something that he hadn't witnessed himself, he would 07:24.930 --> 07:27.290 normally add indications for the readers. 07:27.430 --> 07:31.170 No such indication has been added to this specific mention. 07:31.490 --> 07:35.130 As a negative point, however, I do need to mention the fact that no original 07:35.130 --> 07:39.570 manuscript from Tacitus is preserved to this day, and the majority of what we have 07:39.570 --> 07:45.070 are copies, or we should say later copies, some of which were made by Christian 07:45.070 --> 07:45.510 monks. 07:45.970 --> 07:50.630 Now, were the contents of this message changed or altered in any way by the 07:50.630 --> 07:55.470 medieval monks that were copying this manuscript into their own abbey? 07:55.690 --> 07:57.330 Well, of course, we can't know for sure. 07:57.450 --> 08:00.290 Most historians agree that the message is authentic. 08:00.290 --> 08:05.190 However, I do need to point out that a spelling correction did happen. 08:05.410 --> 08:07.670 Some sort of alteration did occur. 08:07.990 --> 08:12.210 In fact, at the time, two kinds of spellings and two kinds of words to speak 08:12.210 --> 08:13.390 about Christians were used. 08:14.010 --> 08:17.290 Christianos with an I and Christianos with an E. 08:17.630 --> 08:23.070 The medieval version instead will always be Christianos with an I, and we notice 08:23.070 --> 08:29.010 that there is a space in one of the two manuscripts between the I used for Cri and 08:29.010 --> 08:32.930 the Stianos, and that is because originally probably was written with an E, 08:33.110 --> 08:36.490 which would have filled the gap, but that was removed as a form of 08:36.490 --> 08:38.090 correction by monks. 08:38.190 --> 08:43.350 So, yes, some alteration happened, but most scholars believe that the message 08:43.350 --> 08:44.210 is authentic. 08:48.480 --> 08:53.660 Now, let's talk about the very famous Testimonium Flavium written by Josephus, 08:53.680 --> 08:56.600 a very famous Romano-Jewish historian. 08:56.800 --> 08:58.860 But what do we mean by Romano-Jewish? 08:59.120 --> 09:04.180 You see, Josephus was born in Jerusalem, and he was the leader of the forces in 09:04.180 --> 09:05.700 Galilee that fought against the Romans. 09:05.780 --> 09:08.280 So, initially, he was an enemy to Rome. 09:08.380 --> 09:13.960 The thing is that when he faced the legions of Vespasianus in 67, he was 09:13.960 --> 09:15.160 defeated and captured. 09:15.560 --> 09:20.000 Now, the only reason why Vespasianus, or Vespasian, didn't kill him is because, 09:20.160 --> 09:25.060 supposedly, Josephus had prophesied that Vespasianus would become emperor. 09:25.240 --> 09:29.720 And, in fact, two years later, in AD 69, Vespasianus does become the 09:29.720 --> 09:33.160 emperor of Rome, and he likes Josephus because of this. 09:33.400 --> 09:37.600 So, he keeps him first as a slave, then as a translator, and eventually, 09:37.940 --> 09:42.420 when Josephus fully defected to the Roman side, he is granted Roman citizenship, 09:42.780 --> 09:46.260 which is what we mean by saying that he was Romano-Jewish. 09:46.440 --> 09:51.900 He even served as the translator when Titus, Vespasianus' son, led the siege of 09:51.900 --> 09:53.740 Jerusalem in AD 70. 09:53.960 --> 09:58.780 He wrote the Antiquities of the Jews, in which he mentions several biblical 09:58.780 --> 10:02.620 figures, including Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, James, the brother of 10:02.620 --> 10:06.660 Jesus, Pontius Pilate, the Sadducees, the high priests, and the Pharisees. 10:06.740 --> 10:08.980 So, all of this can be cross-referenced with the Gospel. 10:09.260 --> 10:13.660 At this time, there was a wise man who was called Jesus, and his conduct was so good 10:13.660 --> 10:15.060 and he was known to be virtuous. 10:15.460 --> 10:19.320 And many people from among the Jews and other nations became his disciples. 10:19.800 --> 10:23.720 Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die, and those who had become his 10:23.720 --> 10:26.320 disciples did not abandon his discipleship. 10:26.420 --> 10:30.880 They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that 10:30.880 --> 10:31.480 he was alive. 10:31.920 --> 10:36.040 Accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have 10:36.040 --> 10:37.120 recounted wonders. 10:37.220 --> 10:42.860 Now, of course, this is a very powerful testimony, but we are not 100% sure if we 10:42.860 --> 10:44.040 can fully trust it. 10:44.300 --> 10:49.360 Most of the testimony has very strong historical validity, but a Jewish man who 10:49.360 --> 10:54.960 had defected into Rome calling Jesus the Messiah, and specifically speaking about 10:54.960 --> 10:59.580 the resurrection after three days, are thought to be, maybe, Christian 10:59.580 --> 11:00.640 alterations. 11:00.800 --> 11:05.740 It is, however, widely accepted that this testimony originally consisted of an 11:05.740 --> 11:10.820 authentic nucleus, with a reference to the execution of Jesus by Pilate, which was 11:10.820 --> 11:13.020 then the subject to interpolation. 11:13.220 --> 11:17.340 Now, this is a very big discussion, and I can't really jump into it in 11:17.340 --> 11:23.480 details, because just from 1937 to the 1980s, 87 articles have been written about 11:23.480 --> 11:27.360 the validity of this, and there are people taking their stance in all sorts of 11:27.360 --> 11:27.760 positions. 11:28.000 --> 11:31.880 People that say it's completely useless, people that say it's 100% correct, 11:31.960 --> 11:33.740 and people that take a sort of middle ground. 11:34.100 --> 11:35.260 I take the middle ground. 11:35.260 --> 11:39.780 I believe that the nucleus, the core, speaking about Jesus and his execution, 11:40.300 --> 11:44.700 are correct, but it is possible that both the resurrection and the mention of the 11:44.700 --> 11:46.000 word Messiah were added. 11:46.340 --> 11:49.800 It is also interesting to see that there is another writer, a Christian writer, 11:49.860 --> 11:53.520 the very first one to speak about this testimony specifically, and it's Origen, 11:53.660 --> 11:54.600 and hear what he says. 11:54.600 --> 11:56.320 Origen said of Iosephus, 12:03.260 --> 12:07.960 Because of this, I believe that it's highly likely that he didn't actually 12:07.960 --> 12:11.580 mention Jesus Christ and the crucifixion, but he didn't mention the other two 12:11.580 --> 12:11.800 things. 12:11.960 --> 12:16.160 Otherwise, this Christian author wouldn't have even have any reason to complain. 12:21.030 --> 12:25.650 Let's now read the words of Magistrate Pliny the Younger, who was the governor of 12:25.650 --> 12:26.830 Bithynia in Asia 12:54.450 --> 12:55.850 Minor. 12:55.850 --> 13:01.510 Later, Pliny writes a letter to Emperor Traianus, and he specifically says that 13:01.510 --> 13:04.810 the teachings of the Christians were, open quotes, 13:07.970 --> 13:09.170 close quotes. 13:09.410 --> 13:14.410 He also says that Christians attracted people of all social classes, of all 13:14.410 --> 13:16.370 genders, and of all ages. 13:16.610 --> 13:19.170 Now let's read the reply from Emperor Traianus. 13:19.290 --> 13:24.170 The method you have pursued, my dear Pliny, in sifting the cases of those 13:24.170 --> 13:27.250 denounced to you as Christians, is extremely proper. 13:27.710 --> 13:32.470 It is not possible to lay down any general rule which can be applied as the fixed 13:32.470 --> 13:34.650 standard in all cases of this nature. 13:35.090 --> 13:36.930 No search should be made for these people. 13:37.190 --> 13:41.030 When they are denounced and found guilty, they must be punished, with the 13:41.030 --> 13:46.010 restriction, however, that when the party denies himself to be a Christian and shall 13:46.010 --> 13:51.310 give proof that he is not, that is, by adoring our gods, he shall be pardoned 13:51.310 --> 13:56.050 on the ground of repentance, even though he may have formerly incurred suspicion. 13:56.650 --> 14:00.630 Informations without the accuser's name subscribed must not be admitted in 14:00.630 --> 14:04.710 evidence against anyone, as it is introducing a very dangerous precedent, 14:05.110 --> 14:08.930 and by no means agreeable to the spirit of the age. 14:09.150 --> 14:11.350 Now this is extremely significant. 14:11.610 --> 14:16.430 First and foremost, what does the emperor mean when he says, the method you have 14:16.430 --> 14:20.250 pursued, my dear Pliny, in sifting the cases of those denounced to you as 14:20.250 --> 14:21.410 Christians, is extremely proper? 14:21.790 --> 14:25.890 Well, you have to understand one thing about both Pliny the Younger and Tacitus. 14:26.150 --> 14:32.130 Both of them had the duty of supervising trials of Christians, which is precisely 14:32.130 --> 14:33.830 why they documented it. 14:33.930 --> 14:38.490 So in this letter, Emperor Trajanus is saying, yes, very good, you're doing well, 14:38.770 --> 14:40.330 they need to be stopped. 14:40.470 --> 14:45.170 But even more interesting is what he says about his gods, and this really gives us 14:45.170 --> 14:49.890 the first perspective, as the first part of those two introductory lines that I 14:49.890 --> 14:52.290 mentioned at the beginning, the perspective of the Romans. 14:52.450 --> 14:54.470 Now this is the religious perspective of the Romans. 14:54.890 --> 14:59.590 When people tell you, why didn't the Romans do something if there was a man 14:59.590 --> 15:05.670 preaching in Judea, such as Jesus, why don't we have much more information 15:05.670 --> 15:06.290 about it? 15:06.350 --> 15:10.590 Well, the answer is, as you can read from the letter, the words of the emperor 15:10.590 --> 15:14.770 himself, from the point of view of the Romans, religious freedom was something 15:14.770 --> 15:15.910 that was always granted. 15:16.210 --> 15:21.310 In other words, the Romans didn't care what god you were worshipping in your 15:21.310 --> 15:25.310 lands, once it became a Roman province, all they wanted to make sure is that it 15:25.310 --> 15:26.690 remained under Roman control. 15:27.010 --> 15:31.330 But a certain degree of religious freedom was always given, so we shouldn't imagine 15:31.330 --> 15:35.690 that to the Romans it really meant much, that a preacher was going around preaching 15:35.690 --> 15:38.490 some doctrine that they thought was strange. 15:38.610 --> 15:42.490 To the point of view of the Romans, you can worship whatever god you want, 15:42.850 --> 15:47.550 we beat you in battles, our gods are more powerful than yours, and that's all that 15:47.550 --> 15:47.950 matters. 15:48.150 --> 15:50.710 So why does the situation change now? 15:51.050 --> 15:54.210 Well, the reason why the situation changes now is because we're talking about 15:54.210 --> 15:55.990 Christians in Rome. 15:56.370 --> 16:02.490 So it is only when these followers of Christ enter Rome and Greece, so very very 16:02.490 --> 16:07.170 close provinces to Rome, that the Roman authorities, the central power of Rome, 16:07.430 --> 16:09.690 starts to be actually interested in Christians. 16:09.690 --> 16:14.950 As far as Jesus was ministering in Judea, they did not care. 16:15.110 --> 16:19.210 Even the miracles, if you think about it, even if miracles were reported to Roman 16:19.210 --> 16:22.930 emperors or Roman authorities, they would have been shrugged off either 16:22.930 --> 16:27.930 as superstition, as we can see in fact the word is used, but even if they were to 16:27.930 --> 16:30.030 believe it, this is how it would go. 16:39.850 --> 16:40.750 What people? 16:41.090 --> 16:41.850 Who did he raise? 16:42.110 --> 16:44.330 Oh, a friend of his by the name of Lazarus. 16:44.450 --> 16:44.990 Is that it? 16:45.190 --> 16:45.950 He raised a man? 16:46.290 --> 16:48.130 Okay, good for him. 16:48.470 --> 16:52.470 The point I'm trying to draw here is the only miracle that could have really 16:52.470 --> 16:57.390 interested Roman authorities could have been, sir, this man made an entire legion 16:57.390 --> 17:01.390 disappear, or sir, this man can multiply swords and armour. 17:01.570 --> 17:06.670 In other words, from the perspective of the ancient Roman, if it doesn't directly 17:06.670 --> 17:11.550 threaten Roman military control, it does not matter. 17:11.750 --> 17:16.910 From a Roman point of view, Jesus' birth means absolutely nothing, because Judea 17:16.910 --> 17:21.370 was considered to be a backwater province in the fringes of the empire. 17:21.590 --> 17:25.450 And even his ministry, which, if we are to believe the Christian reports, 17:25.710 --> 17:29.390 was only three years, wouldn't have mattered much to the Romans, which 17:29.390 --> 17:32.630 explains why, if they heard of him, they would have called him either a 17:32.630 --> 17:36.250 magician, a superstitious wise man, which is exactly what we are finding in 17:36.250 --> 17:36.650 the letters. 17:36.810 --> 17:41.570 It only starts mattering for the Romans once the followers grow in numbers and 17:41.570 --> 17:42.970 enter Rome. 17:43.130 --> 17:48.510 As far as the validity of Pliny the Younger's testimony, it's complete general 17:48.510 --> 17:49.950 consensus that it's authentic. 17:50.150 --> 17:54.470 Also because we have the letter of response of Emperor Trajan, which again 17:54.470 --> 17:57.550 speaks about the same thing, so the two things can be double-checked and 17:57.550 --> 17:59.330 cross-referenced, it's authentic. 18:04.420 --> 18:09.240 Now let's talk about the words of Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, who was the chief 18:09.240 --> 18:11.720 secretary of Emperor Hadrianus. 18:11.920 --> 18:17.380 He says, Because the Jews of Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation 18:17.380 --> 18:21.060 of Crestus, Claudius expelled them from the city. 18:21.200 --> 18:26.320 After the great fire of Rome during Nero's reign, punishments were also inflicted on 18:26.320 --> 18:31.180 the Christians, a sect professing a new and mischievous religious belief. 18:31.460 --> 18:35.840 Again, notice both the negative approach and negative point of view of these 18:35.840 --> 18:39.380 mentions towards the Christians, but most importantly of historical 18:39.380 --> 18:44.980 significance, the mention of the instigator meaning Crestus, which is again 18:44.980 --> 18:48.900 a different spelling of Christus, both being a period for the time. 18:49.060 --> 18:53.720 Now the validity of these testimonies at the moment is not questioned in the 18:53.720 --> 18:57.140 academia, and that is because you have to remember that the Romans were particularly 18:57.140 --> 19:01.620 meticulous when it came to both records and these oral period. 19:07.040 --> 19:09.980 Now let's talk about non-Roman mentionings, and one of the most 19:09.980 --> 19:15.120 interesting ones is a letter written by Mara Barcerapion of Syria. 19:15.320 --> 19:18.920 To give you a little bit of context, at this time the writer was in prison and 19:18.920 --> 19:21.180 he was rewriting this letter to his son. 19:21.340 --> 19:21.900 He says, 19:32.120 --> 19:32.680 Pythagoras. 19:32.720 --> 19:35.540 In a moment their land was covered with sand. 19:35.760 --> 19:38.960 What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise king? 19:39.380 --> 19:42.100 It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished. 19:42.380 --> 19:45.340 God justly avenged these three wise men. 19:45.620 --> 19:46.980 The Athenians died of hunger. 19:47.340 --> 19:49.260 The Samians were overwhelmed by the sea. 19:49.560 --> 19:54.480 The Jews, ruined and driven from their land, live in complete dispersion. 19:54.800 --> 19:56.440 But Socrates did not die for good. 19:56.720 --> 19:58.240 He lived on in the teachings of Plato. 19:58.500 --> 19:59.900 Pythagoras did not die for good. 20:00.100 --> 20:01.880 He lived on in the statue of Hera. 20:02.120 --> 20:03.840 Nor did the wise king die for good. 20:04.220 --> 20:06.640 He lived on in the teaching which he had given. 20:06.760 --> 20:10.740 Now even though on this letter there is no mention of the word Christos, or the name 20:10.740 --> 20:14.760 Christos, or should we say title, Messiah, it is still interesting because 20:14.760 --> 20:19.500 it does call him the king of the Jews, which we know was not only an expression 20:19.500 --> 20:24.180 that was not used by the Christians, but it was an expression that is linked to 20:24.180 --> 20:28.840 what was written on top of the cross of Jesus with the letters INRI which 20:28.840 --> 20:32.180 translate Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judae. 20:32.500 --> 20:34.780 Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. 20:39.870 --> 20:44.690 But again beyond Rome we have got the satirist Lucian of Samosata. 20:44.950 --> 20:47.750 In his writing he is actually mocking the Christians. 20:48.110 --> 20:49.470 And here is what he says. 20:59.910 --> 21:04.090 ...start with a general conviction that they are immortal for all time, 21:04.210 --> 21:08.430 which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so 21:08.430 --> 21:09.770 common among them. 21:10.110 --> 21:14.050 And then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all 21:14.050 --> 21:18.410 brothers from the moment that they are converted and deny the gods of Greece, 21:18.670 --> 21:22.350 and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. 21:22.510 --> 21:26.370 All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all 21:26.370 --> 21:30.490 worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property. 21:30.730 --> 21:36.130 Now again this is one of those non-Roman mentions that do not use the term Christ 21:36.130 --> 21:39.170 specifically, but they do mention the crucifixion. 21:39.370 --> 21:41.470 They call him a sage and a lawgiver. 21:41.710 --> 21:46.010 And also further on in his writing Lucian mentions that the Christians were using 21:46.010 --> 21:47.310 sacred writings. 21:47.470 --> 21:48.530 But we still have more. 21:48.650 --> 21:53.910 In the Jewish Talmud we have a mention of the crucifixion which is again a 21:53.910 --> 21:55.210 non-Christian mention. 21:55.630 --> 21:56.280 It reads... 21:56.280 --> 21:59.660 On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. 21:59.700 --> 22:04.100 For 40 days before the execution took place a herald went forth and cried. 22:04.260 --> 22:09.300 He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel 22:09.300 --> 22:10.440 to apostasy. 22:10.560 --> 22:14.920 Anyone who can say anything in his favor let him come forward and plead on his 22:14.920 --> 22:15.340 behalf. 22:15.540 --> 22:20.020 But since nothing was brought forward in its favor he was hanged on the eve of the 22:20.020 --> 22:20.460 Passover. 22:20.840 --> 22:23.760 This was written between 70 and 200 AD. 22:24.160 --> 22:28.160 We already know that the majority of historians, scholars, and biblists all 22:28.160 --> 22:33.760 understand and agree that 1 AD, the traditionally accepted date of birth 22:33.760 --> 22:35.380 of Jesus, is incorrect. 22:35.540 --> 22:40.920 And it's because of a calculation error made during the creation of the Gregorian 22:40.920 --> 22:41.400 calendar. 22:41.520 --> 22:46.300 That is also strengthened by the testimonies that we have on the Gospels 22:46.300 --> 22:46.880 themselves. 22:47.180 --> 22:52.820 Both Luke and Matthew associate Jesus's birth with the time of Herod the Great. 22:52.900 --> 22:55.060 Now notice, the time of Herod the Great. 22:55.460 --> 22:58.760 Not his son, Herod the Great, who was the king of the Jews. 22:59.000 --> 23:03.160 Now Herod the Great historically, and that's a historically proven date, 23:03.520 --> 23:04.740 dies in 4 BC. 23:05.200 --> 23:08.800 So already we can see that the date of birth of Christ cannot be AD 1, 23:08.940 --> 23:12.300 but it has to be sometime before 4 BC. 23:12.500 --> 23:17.180 I know it sounds strange to say that Christ's birth was sometime before Christ 23:17.180 --> 23:21.180 Now another important event that can help us understand when exactly that happened 23:21.180 --> 23:22.920 is a Roman census. 23:23.180 --> 23:27.000 Because it is mentioned again in the Gospels and in other accounts. 23:27.300 --> 23:28.360 But what is a Roman census? 23:28.720 --> 23:33.100 In ancient Rome, a census was the act of counting the people and evaluating their 23:33.100 --> 23:36.120 property for taxation in a given province. 23:36.340 --> 23:39.180 Now, Roman censuses happened all the time. 23:39.480 --> 23:44.500 So a number of censuses were most likely performed throughout the Roman world under 23:44.500 --> 23:46.460 Centius Saturninus. 23:46.580 --> 23:51.100 We know that an important census happened in AD 6, but then again that one is no use 23:51.100 --> 23:51.480 for us. 23:51.560 --> 23:55.040 But we also know that another very important census happened exactly in that 23:55.040 --> 23:56.760 area in 8 BC. 23:56.980 --> 24:01.120 Now this helps us because then we understand that Jesus's birth most likely 24:01.120 --> 24:04.120 occurred between 8 BC and 4 BC. 24:04.380 --> 24:09.040 Given the information of the murder of the innocents that again we have at the hand 24:09.040 --> 24:13.700 of King Herod, so obviously before he's dead, when he wanted every child born 24:13.700 --> 24:18.900 between age 0 and age 2 to be killed, and that does happen around that time, 24:19.120 --> 24:23.780 I believe that the most historically probable date would be 6 BC. 24:23.980 --> 24:28.500 Now that's significant because if Jesus was born in 6 BC, then at what age was he 24:28.500 --> 24:29.280 actually crucified? 24:29.640 --> 24:33.700 Another event in Jesus's life that can help us pinpoint the date of the 24:33.700 --> 24:36.720 crucifixion is something that happened before, and it's very very important, 24:36.840 --> 24:38.400 that is the baptism of Jesus. 24:38.820 --> 24:42.960 And at the same time of the baptism, something else happens, that is the famous 24:42.960 --> 24:49.540 event, gospel event, whereby Jesus literally rebukes the merchants at the 24:49.540 --> 24:53.120 temple because they were selling animals and he didn't like that. 24:53.200 --> 24:54.840 It's a very famous gospel event. 24:54.940 --> 24:57.160 That event happened very closely to his baptism. 24:57.440 --> 25:03.700 The accounts tell us that that incident at the temple happened after 46 years from 25:03.700 --> 25:05.520 the building of said temple. 25:05.660 --> 25:10.520 Let's now cross this gospel reference and Jewish reference with, again, Josephus 25:10.520 --> 25:12.200 Flavius, the Roman historian. 25:12.300 --> 25:18.280 He tells us that, again, this specific temple was built in 20 BC, which means 20 25:18.280 --> 25:24.540 BC plus 46 years, we are in 26 AD, which would be the year of the actual 25:24.540 --> 25:25.500 baptism of Christ. 25:25.600 --> 25:30.040 Now connecting this with the previously explained information of Christ's actual 25:30.040 --> 25:35.440 date of birth being 6 BC, that would mean that his baptism occurred at age 32. 25:35.640 --> 25:39.320 This already creates a completely different story because it also tells us 25:39.320 --> 25:44.500 that most likely he didn't actually die at age 33, but he died older than that. 25:44.560 --> 25:48.560 And it is very possible that his death or crucifixion, even though I can't really 25:48.560 --> 25:53.640 give you a specific date, would have happened sometime before 37 AD, 25:54.060 --> 25:56.500 which is the death of Emperor Tiberius. 25:56.660 --> 25:59.340 This is interesting because it pushes everything a bit forward. 25:59.780 --> 26:02.400 It tells us that he was alive longer than we thought. 26:02.600 --> 26:05.020 It tells us that he was born before that we thought. 26:05.340 --> 26:09.020 And it also means that if you look at these two dates now, the historian 26:09.020 --> 26:14.440 Josephus Flavius that we are reading today was born specifically in AD 37, 26:14.820 --> 26:19.220 which means he would have been born sort of immediately after Jesus's crucifixion. 26:19.380 --> 26:22.020 So he would have been basically contemporary. 26:22.580 --> 26:27.440 And Publius Cornelius Tacitus himself, who was born in 55, it would have been 26:27.440 --> 26:32.540 very close to the very end of Jesus's life, and then the beginning of the 26:32.540 --> 26:33.840 ministry of his followers. 26:34.120 --> 26:37.400 All of this is interesting because it means that the majority, not all of them, 26:37.480 --> 26:41.500 but the majority of the accounts that we have read today would have happened within 26:41.500 --> 26:47.220 approximately 40-50 years from Jesus's death, which is extremely close, 26:47.360 --> 26:50.880 and we could say basically contemporary from a historical standpoint. 26:51.240 --> 26:54.520 I mean, when we talk about a lot of the information that we say about Alexander 26:54.520 --> 26:57.960 the Great, well, some of the things are actually 400 years after. 26:58.140 --> 27:01.280 Not everything, but some of the things are 400 years after, and they are still 27:01.280 --> 27:02.060 considered valid. 27:02.440 --> 27:06.260 So I would say that these events and the testimonials that we have read, 27:06.340 --> 27:08.400 the majority are relatively contemporary. 27:08.740 --> 27:13.960 So, with all being said, in conclusion, what is my conclusion about the historical 27:13.960 --> 27:16.740 figure of Jesus or Yeshua? 27:17.220 --> 27:22.200 We have enough historical information to state confidently that Jesus of Nazareth 27:22.200 --> 27:25.060 existed and was a historically proven figure. 27:25.320 --> 27:28.800 His appeal extended beyond the Jews and included Greeks. 27:29.040 --> 27:32.000 Jewish leaders of the day had an unfavorable opinion of him. 27:32.140 --> 27:37.620 He was mostly ignored by Roman authorities until his followers started preaching, 27:38.080 --> 27:43.320 which justifies the reason why we don't have more information about him while he 27:43.320 --> 27:44.300 was still alive. 27:44.420 --> 27:48.620 He was then crucified when Pontius Pilate was prefect of Judea. 27:48.780 --> 27:53.440 And that concludes our journey, historical journey, into the life of Jesus 27:53.440 --> 27:55.840 as far as his historical figure is concerned. 27:55.840 --> 27:57.920 If you liked this video, please thumbs up. 27:58.020 --> 28:02.140 And if you want me to continue this and make it into a series, we could discuss, 28:02.260 --> 28:07.380 for example, what he would have probably looked like and sort of examine early art 28:07.380 --> 28:13.520 and modern art and see what gets closer to a more historically probable appearance 28:13.520 --> 28:16.120 and look, and many other interesting topics. 28:16.280 --> 28:18.700 So let me know what you think in the comments below. 28:18.860 --> 28:22.160 Thank you so much for all of you who have watched up to this point, because, 28:22.260 --> 28:23.760 I mean, this is a very long video. 28:24.280 --> 28:25.020 Thank you so much. 28:25.240 --> 28:27.880 And remember, the Metatron has spread his wings. 28:29.040 --> 28:29.280 Goodbye.