"The Lost Tomb of Christ"

Historical Evidence for the Crucifixion

Pontius Pilate, Procurator of Judaea
            The Report of Pontius Pilate, Procurator of Judaea to Tiberius Caesar: "And when he had been crucified, there was darkness over the whole earth, the sun having been completely hidden, and the heaven appearing dark though it was day, so that the stars appeared, but had at the same time their brightness darkened, as I suppose your reverence is not ignorant of, because in all the world they lighted lamps from the sixth hour until evening. And the moon, being like blood, did not shine the whole night, and yet she happened to be at the full."  

Flavius Josephus
            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 wonders, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. he drew many after him both of the Jews and the Gentiles. he was the Christ. When Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among 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 then thousand other wonderful things about him, and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day (Antiquities 18:63-64).

Julius Africanus
            Julius Africanus was a Christian chronographer of the late second century.   In a comment on the darkness that fell upon the land during the crucifixion (Mark 15:33), Africanus states that "Thallus, in the third book of his histories, explains away this darkness as an eclipse of the sun."  Africanus stated his objection to the report arguing that an eclipse of the sun cannot occur during the full moon, as was the case when Jesus died at Passover time. The force of the reference to Thallus is that the circumstances of Jesus' death were known and discussed in the Imperial City as early as the middle of the first century.

Cornelius Tacitus
            Cornelius Tacitus, who was born about A.D. 52-54 is rated as the greatest of Roman historians.   In a  writing of the reign of Nero (A.D. 54-68) he states 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, (Jesus), 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.

Babylonian Talmud
            The Babylonian Talmud is an in-depth commentary on Jewish Law which was recorded in Babylon over a six-hundred-year period, from 100 B.C. to 499 A.D.  From the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin Text 43a., we learn that Jewish involvement in the trial was explained as a proper undertaking against a heretic.  "It has been taught (in a Baraitha): On the eve of Passover they hanged Yeshu, the Nazarene. And an announcer went out, in front of him, for forty days (saying): 'Yeshu, the Nazarene, is going to be stoned, because he practised sorcery and enticed and led Israel astray. Anyone who knows anything in his favour, let him come and plead in his behalf.' But, not having found anything in his favour, they hanged him on the eve of Passover.

Mara Bar-Serapion
            Mara Bar-Serapion, who was a Syrian philosopher, wrote the following paragraph in this letter to his son from prison sometime after 70 A.D.
            “What advantage did the Athenians gain from putting Socrates to death? Famine and plague came upon them as a judgment for their crime. What advantage did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras? In a moment their land was covered with sand. What advantage did the Jews gain from their executing their wise king? It was just after that their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: The Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea; the Jews, ruined and driven from their land, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Plato. Pythagoras did not die for good; he lived on in the statute of Hera. nor did the wise king die for good; he lived on in the teaching which he had given.”

Lucan of Samosata
            In 170 A.D., Lucan of Samosata, a Greek satirist, wrote a very informative statement in one of his letters regarding how and why the early Christians worshiped the way they did:
            “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.”

Eusebius
            The Fourth-century church historian Eusebius declares that the body of James, the brother of Jesus, was buried alone, near the temple mount and that his tomb was visited in the early centuries, making very unlikely that the Talipot tomb was Jesus' "family tomb".

Part 5
The Resurrection Reality

Talking Points and Links

A List of Quotes on the Documentary