For sceptics
What non-Christian writers of the first and second centuries said about Jesus, and what the ground in Jerusalem has given back.
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Roman and Jewish writers
None of these authors were Christians. Several were openly hostile. That is what makes them useful.
| Source | Date | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Tacitus, Annals 15.44 | c. AD 116 | “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.” |
| Josephus, Antiquities 20.200 | c. AD 93 | Records the stoning of “the brother of Jesus who was called Christ, whose name was James.” |
| Josephus, Antiquities 18.63-64 | c. AD 93 | The Testimonium Flavianum. Most historians hold that Josephus wrote a core passage about Jesus and that a later Christian copyist added to it. |
| Pliny the Younger, Letters 10.96 | c. AD 112 | Writing to Emperor Trajan, he reports that Christians met before dawn on a fixed day and sang a hymn “to Christ, as to a god.” |
Archaeology
- The Pilate Stone. Found at Caesarea Maritima in 1961, this inscription names “Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judaea”, the governor the Gospels say condemned Jesus.
- The Caiaphas ossuary. A bone box found in Jerusalem in 1990, inscribed “Joseph son of Caiaphas”, the high priest at Jesus’ trial.
- The Pool of Siloam. Uncovered in 2004 in Jerusalem, matching the setting of John 9.
- The Pool of Bethesda. Excavated near St Anne’s Church, with the porticoes John 5 describes.
Still to write
- The empty tomb: the historical arguments, laid out for and against.
- Thallus and Mara bar Serapion, with the debates around them.
- Peer-reviewed sources for each archaeological find above.