Chrestus was a person who was active in Rome under Tiberius, who was "collecting" money to go to Jerusalem, which actually went to his followers (the "poor" in Jerusalem). He was aided in this by his closest disciples (Peter, James, and John). He was killed in Rome and got all the Jews expelled under the emperor Tiberius. His story was rewritten in the Gospels, in a myth of his innocence and willing suffering on the cross, influenced by the preaching of Paul regarding him.
We have his real story in Josephus (Antiquities 18.3.5), with all the names withheld. Perhaps Josephus himself left them anonymous. We have another reference to an expulsion of the Jews under Claudius at the instigation of Chrestus, in Suetonius. If these were the same event, then Suetonius gives us the name of the character in Josephus: i.e., Chrestus. Given that Dio Cassius avers that the Jews were not expelled under Claudius (60.6.6-7 - "did not drive them out"), saying that the action of Claudius was limited to restricting their meetings in Rome, there may have been only one expulsion under Tiberius, not two under each emperor. If there were only one expulsion under Tiberius, it seems probable that Suetonius has mistakenly transposed Chrestus to a later date. Accordingly, then, it seems probable that the Chrestus of Suetonius is the same character described by Josephus, and Suetonius split across two emperors (Tiberius and Claudius) what was an event under Tiberius, influenced by the knowledge (as per Dio Cassius) that something similar happened with the Jews in Rome under Claudius.
Most Christian descriptions of where Jesus is active on Earth are influenced by the Gospels, but there is one reference (Revelation 11:8) placing his death in Rome, if "their lord" refers to Christ (as is a natural reading) and the "great city" (as it likely does) refers to Rome.
Antiquities 18.3.5 is sandwiched between the stories about Pilate and another story of impropriety in Rome.MrMacSon wrote: ↑Fri Jan 14, 2022 5:15 pm Suetonius Tiberius XXXVI /36 and Josephus Antiquities. xviii. 5 have Tiberius expelling Jews from Rome
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-18.html
There are several interesting parallels between the "man who was a Jew" and the NT figure (Chrestus / Christ):1. [A.D. 27.] But now Pilate, the procurator of Judea, removed the army from Cesarea to Jerusalem: to take their winter quarters there; in order to abolish the Jewish laws. So he introduced Cesar’s effigies, which were upon the ensigns, and brought them into the city: whereas our law forbids us the very making of images. ...
2. [A.D. 28.] But Pilate undertook to bring a current of water to Jerusalem; and did it with the sacred money: and derived the origin of the stream from the distance of two hundred furlongs. However, the Jews (7) were not pleased with what had been done about this water: and many ten thousands of the people got together, and made a clamour against him; and insisted that he should leave off that design. ...
4. [A.D. 33.] About the same time also another sad calamity put the Jews into disorder: and certain shameful practices happened about the temple of Isis that was at Rome. I will now first take notice of the wicked attempt about the temple of Isis; and will then give an account of the Jewish affairs. There was at Rome a woman whose name was Paulina: one who on account of the dignity of her ancestors, and by the regular conduct of a virtuous life, had a great reputation. She was also very rich. And although she were of a beautiful countenance, and in that flower of her age; wherein women are the most gay; yet did she lead a life of great modesty. She was married to Saturninus: one that was every way answerable to her in an excellent character. Decius Mundus fell in love with this woman: who was a man very high in the equestrian order. ...
5. There was a man who was a Jew; but had been driven away from his own country by an accusation laid against him for transgressing their laws, and by the fear he was under of punishment for the same: but in all respects a wicked man. He then living at Rome, professed to instruct men in the wisdom of the laws of Moses. He procured also three other men, entirely of the same character with himself, to be his partners. These men persuaded Fulvia, a woman of great dignity; and one that had embraced the Jewish religion, to send purple and gold to the temple at Jerusalem. And when they had gotten them, they employed them for their own uses, and spent the money themselves: on which account it was that they at first required it of her. Whereupon Tiberius, who had been informed of the thing by Saturninus, the husband of Fulvia, who desired inquiry might be made about it; ordered all the Jews to be banished out of Rome. At which time the consuls listed four thousand men out of them, and sent them to the island Sardinia: but punished a greater number of them, who were unwilling to become soldiers: on account of keeping the laws of their forefathers. Thus were these Jews banished out of the city by the wickedness of four men.
1. [An. 36.] But the nation of the Samaritans did not escape without tumults. The man who excited them to it was one who thought lying a thing of little consequence: and who contrived every thing so, that the multitude might be please. So he bid them to get together upon mount Gerizzim: which is by them looked upon as the most holy of all mountains: and assured them, that when they were come thither, he would shew them those sacred vessels which were laid under that place; because Moses put them there. (9) So they came thither armed; and thought the discourse of the man probable. And as they abode at a certain village, which was called Tirathaba, they got the rest together to them, and desired to go up the mountain in a great multitude together. But Pilate prevented their going up, by seizing upon the roads, with a great band of horsemen, and footmen: who fell upon those that were gotten together in the village: and when it came to an action, some of them they slew; and others of them they put to flight; and took a great many alive. The principal of which, and also the most potent of those that fled away, Pilate ordered to be slain.
2. But when this tumult was appeased, the Samaritan senate sent an ambassy to Vitellius; a man that had been consul, and who was now president of Syria; and accused Pilate of the murder of those that were killed. For that they did not go to Tirathaba in order to revolt from the Romans; but to escape the violence of Pilate. So Vitellius sent Marcellus, a friend of his, to take care of the affairs of Judea; and ordered Pilate to go to Rome, to answer before the Emperor to the accusations of the Jews. So Pilate, when he had tarried ten years in Judea, made haste to Rome: and this in obedience to the orders of Vitellius; which he durst not contradict. But before he could get to Rome, Tiberius was dead. [A.D. 37, Mar. 16.]
(1) "an accusation laid against him for transgressing their laws" (Mark 14:58, Mark 15:3, John 19:7)
(2) "by the fear he was under of punishment for the same" (Mark 3:6 and the opposite of Mark 14:49 where Jesus submits)
(3) "living at Rome" (Revelation 11:8, Suetonius' Claudius 25, Acts 18:2)
(4) "professed to instruct men in the wisdom of the laws of Moses" (Mark 7:10, Mark 10:3, Mark 12:19, John 5:46, 1 Cor 7:10)
(5) "in all respects a wicked man" (Mark 2:16, Mark 2:24, Mark 3:22, Mark 7:5, Luke 7:34, John 10:20, John 10:33)
(6) "procured also three other men" (Mark 1:16-20, Mark 5:37, Mark 9:2, Mark 14:33, Gal 2:9)
(7) "to send purple and gold ... to ... Jerusalem ... spent the money themselves" (1 Cor 16:3, 2 Cor 8:10, 2 Cor 9:2, Gal 2:10, Rom 15:26)
Naturally, Josephus gives a tendentious account. Probably this "wicked man" did some nice things and had some nice teachings. But Josephus' description does align with the way that the Gospels describe how his Jewish opponents viewed Jesus while he was active. It also agrees much more closely with the later traditions regarding Jesus, in its negativity, found in the Talmud.
Galatians 2:9-10 specifically connects the three "pillars" (Peter, James, and John) with the request for a collection to aid Jerusalem, forming a tight connection with the story here in Josephus of three men who are recruited to make a collection for Jerusalem, under the pretense of it being for the Temple.
The fact that the woman was "one that had embraced the Jewish religion" also forms a connection with the actions of the apostles in the New Testament, which under Tiberius would have appeared as if they were a movement that were drawing non-Jews into the Jewish religion. Suetonius' reference to an expulsion under Tiberius, likewise, specifically makes mentions of proselytes being expelled from Rome, as follows: "dismissed from the city all the rest of that nation as well as those who were proselytes to that religion" (Tiberius 36).
It's not completely clear if the charges against these men are accurate. It could be that they were accused because they were not paying the temple tax and because they were collecting for the poor in Jerusalem, causing other Jews to accuse Chrestus and the pillars of the crime of misleading a woman under fraudulent pretenses. The woman could have known it wasn't going to the temple, but her husband Saturninus and others in the community could have disapproved of her use of the money on these men and have drummed up the accusation. This group of men could have shared with other Jews (such as the Essenes) a distrust of the Temple worship and its priesthood.
This is no anodyne "about this time there was a" credal Christ. It has a shot of being the real Testimonium. Truly, this could be the account of Chrestus we've all been overlooking. Granted, I have only sketched it out just now, and there may be difficulties I haven't uncovered. But of all the crazy theories that I've seen offered of "finding Jesus" (or Chrestus) in different passages of Josephus, this is the only one that seems like it jumps off the page as being potentially related to Christianity, has a significant amount of detail that meaningfully lines up with the New Testament description, and explains some real conundrums elsewhere (especially the references in Revelation 11:8 and Claudius 25), which otherwise are swept under the rug as anomalies.