Peter Kirby wrote:MrMacSon wrote:I'm also interested in the links among (i) the Tacitus, Pliny-the-Younger, and Seutonius references to Christians; and (ii) the alleged-Hadrian reference to Christians. All four were intimately link by inter-personal relationships.
You took the bait.
The Hadrian reference is 4th century. The Suetonius connection was just a red herring.
??
The alleged original 2nd century Hadrian passage is reported to have been reproduced in the 3rd or 4th century ...
DM Murdock/Acharya S discusses the alleged original Hadrian passage in
Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection and said the letter was "reproduced by the Sicilian writer of the 3rd C Vopiscus (
Vita Saturnini 8), who claimed to have taken it in turn from a writer named Phlegon." She discusses others who mention the passage as genuine, including DH Tscirhner; Bishop Dr J G Lightfoot, who considers it then (ie. 143 AD) to be mocking Christians; and mentions in several 'relatively reliable' publications [top p 280]. She does allude to others who dismiss it.
Her passage is on this is worth a read -
Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection, via Google Books
There is also reference here
Biblical Repository and Classical Review which says
All the productions of Hadrian have persished except one letter written to Servianus, which Vopiscus transcribed from the works of Phlegon, a freed man of Hadrian, and inserted in the life of Saturninus [Vita Saturnini 8]
and cites "c. 8. p. 485 of 'the book' cited"; which I presume is "Vita Hadriani. Scriptorium historiae Augustae. ed Lips"
There are also vague references to 'Giles 1986' in some passages that refer to Hadrian's passage, but they don't clarify 'Giles 1986' further