What Do Non-Christian Sources Say about Jesus?

Roman, Jewish, and later writers who were not Christians mention Jesus, or mention the Christ his followers worshipped. They place a crucifixion under Pilate, a brother named James, and a movement already known to governors. They do not prove the resurrection, and they do not quote a Gospel. Did Jesus Really Exist? is the shorter case. This page is each notice on its own, with what it does not show.

Key points

• Tacitus, Annals 15.44, says Christus was executed under Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius. (1)
• Josephus, Antiquities 20.9.1, calls James the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ. (3) Antiquities 18.3.3 also tells a crucifixion under Pilate, inside a paragraph that confesses Jesus as the Christ. (2)
• Origen says Josephus did not believe Jesus was the Christ, which is why the confessing sentences in that paragraph are not treated here as Josephus’s own faith. (4)
• Pliny reports that Christians hymned Christ as a god. (5) Suetonius says Claudius expelled Jews from Rome at the instigation of Chrestus, and the edition does not decide that Chrestus is Jesus. (6)
• Mara bar Serapion writes of a Wise King and does not name Jesus. (7) Lucian says Christians worship a crucified man and does not name him. (8) Africanus cites Thallus on a darkness, and Thallus’s book is lost. (9)
• The Babylonian Talmud’s notice of Jesus the Nazarene is hostile, late, and unlike the Gospels on the manner of death. (10)

The notices in one table

Tacitus

Cornelius Tacitus explains why the people Nero punished were called Christians. Church and Brodribb’s translation of Annals 15.44CloseChristus, 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 Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in RomeTacitus, Annals 15.44 · Church and Brodribb, PerseusOpen source says Christus suffered the extreme penalty under one of “our procurators,” Pontius Pilate, in the reign of Tiberius, and that the movement broke out again in Judaea and in Rome. (1)

Tacitus is hostile. He calls the movement a mischievous superstition. He is not copying a sermon. He is accounting for a group in the city. The sentence does not say Christ rose, and it does not quote Mark 15. The title he uses for Pilate is procurator. A stone from Caesarea names Pilate as prefect, which Does Archaeology Confirm the Bible? reports from the academic page. The execution and the reign are the historical point. This page does not add a year for when Tacitus wrote the chapter.

Josephus on the crucifixion

William Whiston’s translation of Antiquities 18.3.3CloseNow 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.Josephus, Antiquities 18.3.3 · William WhistonOpen source is the paragraph called the Testimonium. It says there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, that Pilate condemned him to the cross at the suggestion of the principal men, and that he appeared to those who loved him alive again the third day. The same paragraph says “He was [the] Christ.” (2)

That surviving paragraph is not a clean Jewish notice. It mixes a crucifixion under Pilate with sentences a Christian would confess. Origen, Against Celsus 1.47CloseNow this writer, although not believing in Jesus as the Christ, in seeking after the cause of the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple, whereas he ought to have said that the conspiracy against Jesus was the cause of these calamities befalling the people, since they put to death Christ, who was a prophet, says nevertheless — being, although against his will, not far from the truth— that these disasters happened to the Jews as a punishment for the death of James the Just, who was a brother of Jesus (called Christ)Origen, Against Celsus 1.47 · Ante-Nicene Fathers, New AdventOpen source, says this writer did not believe in Jesus as the Christ, and that Josephus blamed the fall of Jerusalem on the death of James the Just, a brother of Jesus called Christ. (4) Origen’s report that Josephus did not believe Jesus was the Christ conflicts with the sentence “He was the Christ.” This page does not print a modern reconstruction of a shorter original. No such stripped paragraph was copied from a book opened here. The crucifixion clause lines up with Tacitus, Paul, and the Gospels. The confessing sentences are the disputed part. The James notice does not depend on them.

Josephus on James

The cleaner notice is Antiquities 20.9.1Closeso he assembled the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stonedJosephus, Antiquities 20.9.1 · William WhistonOpen source. After Festus’s death, and before Albinus arrived, the high priest Ananus assembled a council and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and delivered them to be stoned. (3)

The sentence identifies James by his brother. “Who was called Christ” tells a reader which Jesus is meant. It does not confess the resurrection. Paul, in Galatians 1:19CloseBut other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.Galatians 1:19 · King James VersionOpen source, also names James the Lord’s brother as a man he met. The two notices are not the same book. They pick out the same family relation.

Pliny

Pliny the Younger, governor of Pontus and Bithynia, wrote to the emperor Trajan about Christians on trial. Firth’s translation of Letters 10.96Closeon a stated day they had been accustomed to meet before daybreak and to recite a hymn among themselves to Christ, as though he were a god, and that so far from binding themselves by oath to commit any crime, their oath was to abstain from theft, robbery, adultery, and from breach of faith, and not to deny trust money placed in their keeping when called upon to deliver it. When this ceremony was concluded, it had been their custom to depart and meet again to take food, but it was of no special character and quite harmlessPliny, Letters 10.96 · J. B. Firth, ToposTextOpen source says that on a stated day they had met before daybreak and recited a hymn to Christ as though he were a god, and that their oath was to abstain from theft, robbery, adultery, and breach of faith. (5)

Pliny is not a Christian. He is describing what former Christians told him, and he has Christians killed. The letter shows that Christ was the one these people hymned as a god, and that the name already marked a group a governor had to ask about. It is not a birth narrative. Trajan’s reply, in the next letter on the same page, says Christians are not to be hunted out. This page does not assign the letter a year. An older page on this site once said “around the year 112.” That year was not taken from a catalog opened for this article.

Suetonius

The Loeb translation of Suetonius, Claudius 25.4CloseSince the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome.Suetonius, Claudius 25.4 · Loeb Classical Library, 1914Open source says that since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, Claudius expelled them from Rome. (6) The editor’s footnote says Chrestus is another form of Christus, and that it is uncertain whether Suetonius has the chronology wrong or is referring to some other Jew of that name.

The name in the sentence is Chrestus. This page does not assert that he is Jesus. Acts 18:2CloseAnd found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them.Acts 18:2 · King James VersionOpen source says Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome, which is a separate report of an expulsion. Suetonius does not narrate a crucifixion. The most the sentence can bear, if Chrestus is Christus, is a disturbance among Jews in Rome attached to that name. The edition itself leaves the identification open.

Mara bar Serapion

Pratten’s translation of Mara’s letterCloseOr the Jews by the murder of their Wise King, seeing that from that very time their kingdom was driven away from them? For with justice did God grant a recompense to the wisdom of all three of them. For the Athenians died by famine; and the people of Samos were covered by the sea without remedy; and the Jews, brought to desolation and expelled from their kingdom, are driven away into every land. Nay, Socrates did “not” die, because of Plato; nor yet Pythagoras, because of the statue of Hera; nor yet the Wise King, because of the new laws which he enacted.Mara bar Serapion, letter · B. P. Pratten, Ante-Nicene FathersOpen source asks what the Jews gained by the murder of their Wise King, and says that from that time their kingdom was driven away from them. It pairs him with Socrates and Pythagoras, and says the Wise King did not die, because of the new laws he enacted. (7)

The letter does not name Jesus. A reader can hear a crucifixion and a teaching in those lines. The page does not say that is who Mara meant, and it does not print a date for the letter. This page does not supply a first-century date the edition does not give. The notice is a possible outside allusion, not an identification.

Lucian

Fowler and Fowler’s translation of The Death of PeregrineCloseThe Christians, you know, worship a man to this day,—the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account.Lucian, The Death of Peregrine · H. W. Fowler and F. G. FowlerOpen source says the Christians worship a man to this day, the person who introduced their rites and was crucified on that account. (8) The work is a satire about Peregrinus Proteus. It does not name Jesus. It shows a second-century satirist, in the book as published, treating Christian worship of a crucified man as something his readers would recognize. This page does not add a year of composition. The crucifixion is assumed, not narrated, and the resurrection is not the point of the joke.

Thallus, through Julius Africanus

Thallus’s history does not survive. Julius AfricanusCloseThis darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.Julius Africanus, fragment 18 · Ante-Nicene Fathers, New AdventOpen source, a Christian writer, says that this darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls an eclipse of the sun, and that the call is without reason. Africanus says the Hebrew passover falls on the fourteenth day according to the moon, and that a solar eclipse cannot happen then, because an eclipse needs the moon under the sun. (9)

The fragment does not show Thallus naming Jesus. It shows Africanus arguing with a historian about a darkness at the passion. Thallus is not an eyewitness on this page, and this page does not assign him a century the fragment does not print. Africanus is the one who connects the darkness to the Saviour. Phlegon is cited in the same fragment. This page does not build a separate claim on Phlegon.

The Babylonian Talmud

The William Davidson Talmud on Sanhedrin 43aCloseOn Passover Eve they hung the corpse of Jesus the Nazarene after they killed him by way of stoning. And a crier went out before him for forty days, publicly proclaiming: Jesus the Nazarene is going out to be stoned because he practiced sorcery, incited people to idol worship, and led the Jewish people astray. Anyone who knows of a reason to acquit him should come forward and teach it on his behalf. And the court did not find a reason to acquit him, and so they stoned him and hung his corpse on Passover eve.Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a · William Davidson Edition, SefariaOpen source gives a baraita: on Passover eve they hung Jesus the Nazarene, a crier went out for forty days, the charge was sorcery and leading Israel astray, no grounds for acquittal were found, and they hung him on Passover eve. The running English includes the translator’s explanation in the same sentence, including that they killed him by stoning and then hung the corpse. (10) Ulla, on the next section of the same page, says Jesus was different because he had close ties with the government. The same discussion names five disciples, Mattai, Nakai, Netzer, Buni, and Toda, and puns on the names with verses.

This is a hostile rabbinic text. It is not a transcript from Pilate’s court. Stoning, a forty-day crier, and that disciple list do not match the Gospels, which tell a Roman crucifixion and name a different circle of followers. The baraita still knows a Jesus the Nazarene who was executed, on a Passover, on a charge of sorcery and apostasy. That is the limit of what it shows. Why Don’t Jews Believe Jesus Is the Messiah? is the later Jewish objection in its own words.

What the set can and cannot do

Together, the early hostile notices agree on a man called Christ, executed under Pilate, with a brother James, and on followers who worshipped him. 1 Corinthians 15:3–8Close^15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; ^15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: ^15:5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: ^15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. ^15:7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. ^15:8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.1 Corinthians 15:3–8 · King James VersionOpen source is the Christian summary Paul says he received: death, burial, resurrection, and named witnesses. The outside notices cover the death and the movement. They do not cover the rising. The Resurrection of Jesus is that further claim. A reader can grant the crucifixion and dispute the third day. Christians confess both, and confess that the crucified man is God. Is Jesus God? is that confession. Does God exist? is the prior question. What Do Atheists Believe? is the description of the people who often raise the mythicist claim.

Frequently asked questions

Do these writers prove Jesus rose from the dead?

No. Tacitus and Josephus report an execution, or a brother. Pliny reports worship. None of them says he left the tomb. The resurrection is argued from the Christian witnesses, in the resurrection article, not from these paragraphs.

Is the Testimonium Flavianum authentic?

The paragraph in Whiston mixes a crucifixion under Pilate with “He was the Christ” and an appearance alive on the third day. Origen says Josephus did not believe Jesus was the Christ. This page does not treat the whole paragraph as Josephus’s creed, and it does not invent a shorter text. Antiquities 20.9.1 does not carry those confessing sentences.

Why is Suetonius listed if Chrestus may not be Jesus?

Because the sentence is often quoted as if it were settled. The Loeb page prints Chrestus and says the identification is uncertain. Listing it with that limit is more honest than dropping it or forcing the name.

Did any of them meet Jesus?

This page does not claim that. Tacitus, Pliny, and Suetonius write as Roman officials and historians about a group and a founder. Josephus writes as a Jewish historian about James and, in the disputed paragraph, about a crucifixion. Mara, Lucian, Africanus, and the Talmud are later or undated on the pages opened here.

Keep reading

• Did Jesus Really Exist?
• When Was the New Testament Written?
• Does Archaeology Confirm the Bible?
• The Resurrection of Jesus
• Who Wrote Matthew, Mark, and Luke?
• Gospel of Mark
• Does God exist?
• What Do Atheists Believe?