Tacitus on the execution of Christus
A hostile Roman historian records the execution of Christus under Pilate in the reign of Tiberius, and the movement's spread to Rome within a generation.
Nombrado fuera de la BibliaAutor antiguoc. AD 116
Writing about Nero's blaming of the Christians for the fire of Rome, the Roman senator and historian Tacitus explains where the name came from. He is contemptuous of the movement — he calls it a pernicious superstition — which is precisely what makes the passage useful: he has no motive to confirm anything.
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.
- Hallado
- Transmitted in medieval manuscripts
- Se conserva en
- Laurentian Library, Florence (Medicean II)
- Lengua
- Latin
- Cómo llegó hasta nosotros
- Nunca enterrado: copiado a mano, generación tras generación, hasta la imprenta.
Qué muestra
The passage's authenticity is accepted by the overwhelming majority of classicists. Whether Tacitus drew on official records or on report is unknown, and he uses the later title procurator rather than prefect.
Cómo lo usan los historiadores
Routinely cited in secular ancient history as evidence for the historical existence and execution of Jesus.
En la Escritura
Se relaciona con
Fuentes
- Tacitus, Annals 15.44 — text and translation
- Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament (2000)
Por ahora estos textos están en inglés. Las traducciones llegarán.