Giuseppe wrote:And this is because the first gospel mentioning Pilate was written after Pliny and before Tacitus.
Wouldn't this require the exact opposite chronology?
Tacitus, Histories written ca. 100–110, likely in 109 CE
Pliny the Younger: Governorship of ca 110-112 CE.
DCH
the Annales of Tacitus, not the Histories, were written in 118 CE.
Ahh, I was thinking of Histories 5.1-13, where Tacitus gives a review of Judaic origins and a summary of its history to their subjugation after their revolt under Nero. This nowhere mentions Pilate or Christians, which was very prominent in his Annals of Nero's reign, which was indeed written after 116 CE. IIRC, some have questioned the account in Annals as contrary to Tacitus' normal view of Jews and anything Judean (that is, negative). He's not the kind of guy to pity those poor Christians, whom he would have despised. FWIW, he seems to have read either Josephus's War or a common set of sources about the period of the revolt. "One of our Procurators" (wrong title for period), etc., and the pity party seems to better reflect the POV of a Christian (copyist?).
