Tacitus talks about Chrestiani, and the Chrestianity was in essentia anti-demiurgist.
True or false, the leaders of anti-demiurgist Chrestianity were believed to be prevalently of Samaritan origin: Dositheus, Simon Magus, etc. Their common trait was the claim of being Jesus, or being possessed by Jesus.
The Samaritan false prophet slain by Pilate was unnamed, the scholar Samuel Krauss identified him with the heresiarch Dositheus: true or false, the confusion was possible, between the Samaritan false prophet slain by Pilate and the presumed Samaritan leaders of Chrestianity.
When Tacitus wrote Annals 15:44, the Earliest Gospel was not still written.
What preceded the Earliest Gospel was only "oral tradition".
Tacitus derived the information about Chrestianity from an "oral tradition" circulating among Chrestians.
Hearding about the (true or false) Samaritan origins of their leaders, Tacitus knew from Josephus the only significant riot by a Samaritan rebel, and the only name connected with him: Pilate.
In addition: the legend of Simon Peter slain by Nero was associated ab initio with the legend of Simon Magus slain in Rome under Nero. This legend, beyond if historically true or false in its kernel, would make surely more strong the first point above.
schillingklaus wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 11:56 pm
The whole Tacitus drivel is medieval forgery and fraud.
No most certainly not, the whole Christos-Chrestian shuffle attests to a much earlier date, around 400-ish.
Have a look at viewtopic.php?p=149469#p149469, it's been a long night for me - or rather, an awfully short one
schillingklaus wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 11:56 pm
The whole Tacitus drivel is medieval forgery and fraud.
No most certainly not, the whole Christos-Chrestian shuffle attests to a much earlier date, around 400-ish.
True. The great implication of the authenticity of the Testimonium Taciteum is not the historicity of Jesus (obviously), and not even that the Earliest Gospel was written before Tacitus, but that the connection Jesus/Pilate has been made after the real origins of the cult and before the fabrication of the Earliest Gospel.
Giuseppe wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 10:58 pm
A plausible case to think so:
Tacitus derived the information about Chrestianity from an "oral tradition" circulating among Chrestians.
Just by the way -- I find it hard to imagine how one such as Tacitus ever came to be exposed to oral teachings of Christians/Chrestians. Have you come across any plausible explanation for how this might have happened?
