Written by Pliny in 112ad, this is the earliest mention, reference or allusion to anything barring the semblance of Christianity. Even so, Pliny is not at all forthcoming with direct information regarding Christ him/itself, remarking only that the Christians in his province come together before dawn, sing hymns to Christ, and worship him/it -- he is even vague in this regard -- as would they a god.
A few points to note regarding this testimony:They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so.
*Pliny's ignorance and inquiring for more information as to what these Christians are on about reveals that, contrary to the standardized idea of what it should have been by then, Christianity was still a fringe and marginal cult. This makes Tacitus's account of them in his Annals all the more questionable.
*Despite what the Apologetic or established academic beliefs are regarding the books of the New Testament, or even before a collecting of assorted texts together into a canon; Pliny's failure to simply read their own texts for information on Christian beliefs is almost a death blow to those who still want to argue that our texts were written in the first century, or at least were widespread.
*It is a rather curious coincidence that Pliny was governor of the region of Pontus, right where Marcion was later said to hail from, and that his vagueness as to the nature of this cult was actually referring to a Marcionite religion has not been lost on some.
The next witness is to be found in Lucian's De Morte Peregrinus, roughly 165 ad. While describing the many adventures of the Don Quixotic Peregrinus, what Lucian says about Christianity is perhaps the more interesting:
It was then that he learned the wondrous lore of the Christians, by associating with their priests and scribes in Palestine. And—how else could it be?—in a trice he made them all look like children, for he was prophet, cult-leader, head of the synagogue, and everything, all by himself. He inter preted and explained some of their books and even composed many, and they revered him as a god, made use of him as a lawgiver, and set him down as a protector, next after that other, to be sure, whom they still worship, the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world.
When comparing this two accounts of Pliny and Lucian, one is left with the clear observation that they are quite different in many ways. Lucian is knowledgeable at least of texts used by Christians; Pliny seems unaware of any texts. The Christians in Lucian's account appear to be of the Jamesian persuation--that Jesus was the leader of a community, divine only by proxy; the Christians in Pliny worship Chrestus as a God at dawn, emphasizing a solar/Logos theology; and lastly, Lucian's Christians are in the Syrian/Palestine region, while Pliny's Christians are in the northern Phrygia region.Furthermore, their first lawgiver persuaded them that they are all brothers of one another after they have transgressed once, for all by denying the Greek gods and by worshiping that crucified sophist himself and living under his laws.
In the eyes of Carrier and other mythicists, this would give credence to the argument that Christ was originally a god who was only Euhemerized and made more human over time. In the eyes of Ehrman and other historicists, this only serves to highlight the emerging nature of the religion, with information becoming more known over time.
But it is my own opinion and my own assessment of the available data, that leads me to believe that Pliny and Lucian are in fact talking about two different religions, or subsets of Judaism, at this point. The one, emphasizing a celestial Chrestus with possible ties to the surrounding cults of Attis and Sabazios; the other, a community in Palestine which was at one point lead by a someone who was believed to be crucified.