Adamczewski on the Testimonium Taciteum confirming the authenticity of the Testimonium Flavianum
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2022 9:53 am
Quoted from
Hypertextuality and Historicity in the Gospels, p. 93-94:
Hypertextuality and Historicity in the Gospels, p. 93-94:
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a friend of Pliny the Younger. His main work, Ab excessu divi Augusti (Annales), was probably written somewhat later than Pliny’s letters, namely c. AD 115-116. In his historical works, Tacitus used various sources. In particular, the Roman historian in a creative way used the works of Flavius Josephus as the sources of information concerning Jewish matters.91 It was possible because after the publication of Bellum Judaicum, as well as Antiquitates with the support of Epaphroditus, the works of Josephus, who was at least in AD 70-80 regarded as an imperial ‘specialist’ on Jewish matters in the Roman Empire, were certainly known to the intellectual elite of Rome. In Hist. 5.11.3, Tacitus used Josephus’ evidently exaggerated description of Jerusalem as located high on two hills of immense height with precipitous slopes (B.J. 5.141). In Hist. 5.12.3-4, Tacitus relied on Josephus’ description of three, and subsequently two, competing zealot parties, which were led by Simon, John, and Eleazar at the beginning of the Jewish War, but which were of necessity brought to concord (concordia / ὁμόνοια) because of the ‘external war’ (bellum externum / ὁ ἔξωθεν πόλεμος) led by the approaching Romans (B.J. 5.5-26, 71- 72, 98-105). In Hist. 5.13.1-2, Tacitus borrowed Josephus’ idea of the appearance of signs of a bloody combat in heaven and of God’s departure from his Temple, facts which did not prevail over the spiritual blindness of the Jewish people, who believed in a Judaean Messiah and not in the rule of Vespasian (B.J. 5.412; 6.288-299, 312-313). Likewise, in Hist. 5.13.3, Tacitus used Josephus’ rhetorically exaggerated reference to a great number of the inhabitants of Jerusalem (B.J. 6.425).92 Moreover, Tacitus’ dating of the implausible in itself expulsion of the Egyptians and of the Jews from Italy for religious reasons to AD 19 (Ann. 2.85.4), and not to c. AD 26-30 (cf. Philo, Legat. 159-161), was probably influenced by Jos. Ant. 18.33-84, which could be understood as suggesting that the expulsion had taken place a few years after Tiberius’ rise to power, soon after Germanicus’ death (so in AD 19: cf. esp. Jos. Ant. 18.54-84 and Tacitus, Ann. 2.82-85). This inference is corroborated by the presence of the striking combination of the motifs of licentious high-ranking Roman women and of Egyptian and Jewish rites in both Jos. Ant. 18.65-84 and Tacitus, Ann. 2.85. For these reasons, Tacitus’ reference to Christ (Ann. 15.44.3) should also be regarded as dependent on the works of Josephus.93 Indeed, Tacitus’ remark concerning Christ’s death during the rule of Pontius Pilate in Judaea (Ann. 15.44.3) was most probably based on the original version of the testimony of Josephus (Ant. 18.63-64). Several particular, correlated elements of Tacitus’ remark (Ann. 15.44.2-3) were most likely borrowed from Josephus’ account (Ant. 18.63-64): (a) the non-Latin title Christus; (b) the reference to Pontius Pilate, a governor of Judaea under Tiberius, as the one who condemned Christ to a terrible death;9 (c) the name ‘Chrestians’95 as deriving from Christ; and (d) the passage of the new religion apparently directly from Judaea to Rome, with no mention of any other stages or regions of its propagation.96 Likewise, the reference to crosses on which the Christians died (Ann. 15.44.4) could have originated from Josephus’ reference to the cross of Christ.97 On the other hand, Tacitus’ mocking reference to Christianity as an evil superstition (superstitio: Ann. 15.44.3) resembles that of his friend Pliny the Younger (Ep. 10.96.8). Consequently, Tacitus’ remark concerning Christ (Ann. 15.44.3) should not be regarded as an independent testimony to the historical Jesus. However, this remark indirectly confirms the authenticity of at least a part of Josephus’ reference to Jesus Christ (Ant. 18.63-64).