before he was allegedly born?
Osiris, Dyonisus, Adonis etc come to mind.....
Was Jesus real?
2007-06-08 20:52:40 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Barbie,
I have researched. The only roman historians (around the time I'm talking about) who wrote anything of significance about Jesus were Pliny, Tacitus and Suetonius. But they were all from the 2nd century (a whole century later!) and none of them mention him by name.
2007-06-08 21:01:19 · update #1
Walked,
Ah! good that you mentioned Josephus. Were you aware that the passages that mention Jesus in Josephus works were forged by the 4th century Bishop Eusebius?
It was proved that he added those passages and that in no way Josephus would have considered Jesus the messiah since he was himself an orthodox Jew.
2007-06-08 21:05:24 · update #2
no roman historian has ever mentioned jesus directly as an individual, just the followers of christ, (they even spell the name wrong even though greek was spoken by most educated romans, so they didn't get the messiah thing). the josephus mention in antiquities of the jews is a suspected fake. and that's about it no direct mentions. i have seen that people keep saying that the romans do mention him and they give the names of historians but not the texts. so i guess they have been told this but not bothered to research it themselves.
2007-06-08 21:08:14 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Why didn't historians write about him? The reasons are simple:
-> Jesus was barely known in his time outside of a very small area around Jerusalem. News traveled quite slowly those days.
-> At his time, he wasn't that important (from the history or politics point of view). He was "just another prophet". His importance was enhanced and communicated by his followers after him. You can be sure that there were many more prophets we will never hear of as they didn't get such a good "marketing team".
-> The same reason as why most people today are not really covered by historians. They haven't made history yet.
The reasons why his stories are similar to pagan mythology:
-> If you want to ensure someone is a god, you have to make sure that person fits with what people believe a god should be like. So associating pagan stories to Jesus will validate him as a god in the eyes of the people of the time. It has happened like that for centuries; the romans did it with the Greek gods, we do it today with so called saints and so on.
He was real. Most people agree he was a human being born around what we called the beginning of the current era; from that to being a God... big leap.
2007-06-09 04:18:16 · answer #2 · answered by ayante01 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
are you asking why no historians mentioned Jesus before he was born? Why would someone who mentions history (aka past events) mention something that was to happen in the future?? Plenty of historians make mention of Jesus and his followers including the caesar of the time. They mention over 500 people witnessing him post-resurrection and not only witnessing that, but dying bc/ they would not testify against his resurection. Yes, Jesus was real, and his prophesies were around before or at the same time of pagan religions so who's to say they didn't borrow some of their stories from Him?
2007-06-09 03:59:25 · answer #3 · answered by christie 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Because Jesus is a fictional character. Historians usually mention real people, not fairy tales characters.
2007-06-09 09:21:00 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are a lot of historical reports on Jesus more than most other figures in history. Josephus wrote about Him. As well as a few others.
2007-06-09 03:57:25 · answer #5 · answered by Jason 3 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Jesus himself was probably real, but there is nothing new in Christianity. Even the flood can be dated back to a totally different religion. The "image" we see when thinking of God is much like Zeus. Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun - but Christians think their religion is so unique. Meh. Oh well.
2007-06-09 03:58:49 · answer #6 · answered by Wings 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Josephus, a non Christian wrote many things about Jesus. And is considered historically accurate in his writings
2007-06-09 03:58:47 · answer #7 · answered by walked365 2 · 2⤊ 3⤋
How come you have never researched Roman history?
The Roman historians (who weren't Christian) wrote a lot about Jesus.
Read harder, try Gibbon's references.
2007-06-09 03:57:11 · answer #8 · answered by great gig in the sky 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Jesus wasn't real. Just a copycat version of older gods.
2007-06-09 03:56:47 · answer #9 · answered by gelfling 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Yes he was real. Historians, and Christains, and even Non-Christain have pretty much proven that he existed.
2007-06-09 03:57:43 · answer #10 · answered by uiop b 3 · 2⤊ 3⤋