Ancient non-Christian writings referring to Jesus
Did you know about these ancient non-Christian writings that seem to refer to Jesus?
Flavius Josephus (AD 37-100), a Jewish historian
“Now around this time lived Jesus, a wise man. For he was a worker of amazing deeds and was a teacher of people who gladly accept the truth. He won over both many Jews and many Greeks. Pilate, when he heard him accused by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, (but) those who had first loved him did not cease (doing so). To this day the tribe of Christians named after him has not disappeared”
Read the writings of Flavius Josephus here:
Link option 1: penelope.uchicago.edu (writings of Flavius Josephus)
Link option 2: biblestudytools.com (writings of Flavius Josephus)
Tacitus (AD 56-120), a Roman historian and politician
“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.”
Read the writings of Tacitus here:
Link option 1: classics.mit.edu.html (writings of Tacitus)
Link option 2: earlychristianwritings.com (writings of Tacitus)
Mara Bar-Serapion (AD 70), a Syrian philosopher
“What benefit did the Athenians obtain by putting Socrates to death? Famine and plague came upon them as judgment for their crime. Or, the people of Samos for burning Pythagoras? In one moment their country was covered with sand. Or the Jews by murdering their wise king?…After that their kingdom was abolished. God rightly avenged these men…The wise king…Lived on in the teachings he enacted.”
Read the writings of Mara Bar-Serapion here:
Link option 1: earlychristianwritings.com (writings of Mara Bar-Serapion)
Link option 2: newadvent.org (writings of Mara Bar-Serapion)
Pliny the younger (AD 61-113), a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome
“They [the Christians] were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food—but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.”
Read the writings of Pliny the younger here:
Link option 1: gutenberg.org (writings of Pliny the younger)
Link option 2: attalus.org (writings of Pliny the younger)
Suetonius (AD 69-122), a Roman historian
“Therefore, to scotch the rumour, Nero substituted as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians [Chrestianos]. Christus, the founder of the name [auctor nominis], had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator [procuratorem] Pontius Pilatus.”
Read the writings of Suetonius here:
Link option 1: stoa.org (writings of Suetonius)
Link option 2: gutenberg.org (writings of Suetonius)
Lucian of Samosata: (AD 115-200), a Greek satirist
“The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day—the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account….You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property.” (Lucian, The Death of Peregrine. 11-13)
Read the writings of Lucian of Samosata here:
Link option 1: sacred-texts.com (writings of Lucian of Samosata)
Link option 2: gutenberg.org (writings of Lucian of Samosata)
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