Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus:Flavian Signature Edition (64 page)

PLINY THE YOUNGER -
Governor of Pontus / Bithynia 111 to 113 C.E. His correspondence with the Emperor Trajan on how to treat Christians survives. The problem, as he defined it, was that the contagion of this “superstition” had gotten out of control and had already spread beyond Judea, not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms, although he still thought it possible to check its further spread. The Emperor Trajan, however, instructed him that Christians were not to be sought out.

QUIRINIUS -
Governor of Syria. He attempted to conduct a census in 6 C.E. to facilitate tax gathering. This led directly to the revolt by the Zealot Judas the Galilean. In the Gospel of Luke, the depiction of Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem to register for the census is a satirical counter to this revolt. The Gospel depicts Jews who cooperate in paying their taxes.

C. I. SCOFIELD -
Christian writer (1843–1921) who produced an edition of the Bible that popularized premillennial teachings.

SENECA -
Stoic philosopher and tutor to the Emperor Nero. Some of his attitudes are reflected in the Gospels.

SIMON PETER -
A character from the Gospels whose name is originally “Simon,” before he is renamed
petros
, meaning “a stone.” At the end of John 21 he is told that he will be bound and taken off to die. The character parodies the rebel Simon in
Wars of the Jews
, who was seized at the siege of Jerusalem and taken to Rome for execution.

SUETONIUS -
Roman historian and secretary to the Emperor Hadrian. He is remembered  chiefly  as  the  author  of 
The Lives of the Twelve Caesars
,
produced  around 120 C.E.

TACITUS -
Cornelius Tacitus (55–117 C.E.), a Roman historian known for his
Histories
,
Annals of Imperial Rome
, and a biography of his father-in-law Agricola.

TERTULLIAN -
Christian theologian born about 160 C.E. The first theologian to write in Latin.

TIBERIUS ALEXANDER -
A nonpracticing Jew, who was son of the richest man in the world, the customs collector of Alexandria. He was brother-in-law to Titus’ mistress Bernice and one of the generals supporting the Romans in the siege of Jerusalem. He put down a riot in Alexandria, slaughtering 50,000 Jews. He can be identified through a logic puzzle in
Wars of the Jews
as one of those who initiated the idea of creating the Gospels.

TITUS FLAVIUS SABINUS -
Became consul in 82 C.E., married Domitian’s sister Domitilla, and was executed by Domitian.  Supposedly the father or uncle of Clemens.

TITUS -
Titus Flavius Vespasianus (39–81 C.E.), the elder son of Vespasian. After serving in Britain as a legate, he went as legate of the 15th legion to Judea under his father’s command. After Vespasian returned to Rome to be crowned emperor, Titus was left in command of the campaign in Judea. He directed the building of the siege wall that surrounded Jerusalem and led to the fall of the city. On his return to Rome he shared in his father’s administration, and became emperor on Vespasian’s death in 79 C.E. Historians regard him as an efficient, frugal administrator like his father.

THEOPHRASTUS -
Greek philosopher and botanist. Died in 287 B.C.E. Was chosen by Aristotle to succeed him in running the Lyceum. Several of his unique botanical words were used by the first-century C.E. Romans, probably by the botanist Pedanius Dioscorides, to create aspects of the Flavian satire.

VESPASIAN -
Titus Flavius Sabinus Vespasianus (9–79 C.E.). Born the son of a tax collector, he commanded a legion during the invasion of Britain and developed expertise in siege warfare.  This was why he was asked by Nero to lead the force to put down the revolt in Judea. On Nero’s death the army united behind Vespasian to support him as emperor. He became emperor in December 69 C.E. and is presented by historians as a fair and hard-working administrator. From 71 C.E. until his death in 79 C.E. he governed with the assistance of his son Titus, who succeeded him as emperor.

WILLIAM WHISTON -
English clergyman, mathe-matician and classical scholar (1667–1752). Succeeded Newton as Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge. Translated the works of Josephus into English. Concluded that the various prophetic fulfillments in Josephus proved that Jesus was the Messiah.

ZACHARIAS -
The son of Baruch. A minor character in
Wars of the Jews
parodied in Matthew 23:35 as Zechari’ah, son of Barachi’ah, who dies in a similar fashion.

ZACCHAI -
Rabbi Yohanan ben Zacchai, described in the Talmud as leaving Jerusalem at the time of the siege in a coffin, and standing up to acclaim Vespasian, who awarded him the town of Jamnia, or Yavneh, in order to establish Rabbinical Judaism. Supposedly he applied the “star prophecy,” or world-ruler prophecy, to Vespasian exactly as Josephus also did.

ZEALOTS -
Originally a Maccabean group, they organized against Herod the Great (74–73 B.C.E.), and again under Judas of Galilee c. 6 C.E. to resist a Roman census. After the destruction of the temple, the Zealots retreated to Masada where, according to Josephus, many committed suicide to avoid capture.

A Timeline of Jesus’ and Titus’ Lives

LIFE OF JESUS

1 C.E.  Purported birth of Jesus.

30 C.E.  Ministry begins.

• At the Lake of Galilee Jesus begins his ministry by calling followers to become “fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19 and parallels).

• At Gadara, Jesus expels 2,000 demons from a man. The demons migrate into pigs that then jump off a cliff into the river (Mark 5:1–20).

33 C.E.  Jesus goes to Jerusalem
(Luke 19:28 and parallels).

• A naked young man escapes at the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:51–52).

• Jesus predicts that Jerusalem will be surrounded by a wall (Luke 19:43).

• Three men are crucified at the Hill of the Skulls (Golgotha), one man is taken down from the cross by Joseph(us) (ben) AriMathea, and later appears alive (Matt. 27:33, 27:57–58 and parallels).

• At the end of the last Gospel, Jesus declares that John (the beloved disciple) will live, but that Simon (Peter) will be bound and taken where he does not want to go, to be killed (John 21:18).

LIFE OF TITUS

39 C.E.  Titus Flavius Vespasianus (hereafter Titus) is born.

66 C.E.  His father, Vespasian, is appointed to put down the revolt in Judea, and takes Titus with him.

67 C.E.  Roman campaign begins in Galilee.

• At the Lake of Galilee Titus begins his campaign with a battle in which Jews fall into the water and are fished out (
Wars
3,10,5–9).

68 C.E.  Emperor Nero dies.

• At Gadara, rebels are forced to rush like beasts into the river (
Wars
4,7,1–6).

69 C.E.  In July, the army in Judea, Egypt, and Syria backs Vespasian for emperor.

• Vespasian arrives in Rome, quells civil war, and is made emperor, leaving Titus to complete the war in Judea.

70 C.E.  Titus goes to Jerusalem.

• Titus, “naked”—without his armor—escapes attack at the Garden of Gethsemane (
Wars
5,12).

• Titus builds a siege wall around Jerusalem (
Wars
5,12). Titus pitches camp at Jerusalem exactly forty years from the start of Jesus’ ministry.

• Three men are crucified at the Village of the Inquiring Mind (Thecoe/a). One man is taken down from the cross by Josephus ben Matthias and miraculously survives (Josephus
Life
, 75, 420-421).

• John is captured but allowed to live (
Wars
6,9,4) but Simon is seized and is taken to Rome to die (
Wars
7,2,1).

71 C.E.  Titus and Vespasian have a joint triumph in Rome. Titus is given various honors and begins sharing control of the administration.

73 C.E.  The massacre at Masada occurs exactly forty years from Jesus’ resurrection.

79 C.E.  Josephus writes the authorized history
Wars of the Jews
, which is dedicated to Titus.

71-79 CE  Gospels are probably written.

79 C.E.  Following Vespasian’s death, Titus becomes emperor.

80 C.E.  Titus establishes an imperial cult to worship Vespasian as a god.

81 C.E.  Titus dies in September, and an imperial cult is created to worship him as a god. Arch of Titus is constructed posthumously in Rome, acclaiming him as “the son of a god.”

• His younger brother Domitian becomes the third Flavian emperor.

94 C.E.  Josephus publishes his
Jewish Antiquities
in twenty volumes, written in Greek and containing the “Testimonium Flavianum,” which supposedly testifies independently to the historic existence of Jesus.

Endnotes

1.   Michael Goulder,
Type and History in Acts
, William Clowes and Sons,
.
London, 1963, pp 2–4

2.   Eusebius Pamphilius,
Ecclesiastical History
, Book III, Ch. 7:7

3.   Flavius Josephus,
Wars of the Jews,
V, xii, 499 (William Whiston)

4.   Josephus,
Wars
VII, i, 1

5.   Daniel 7:13

6.   Josephus,
Wars
V, ix, 395-396

7.   Josephus,
Wars
Preface II, 5

8.   Josephus,
Antiquities of the Jews,
XVIII, i, 23

9.   4QD 17 6–9

10. Matthew 15:30

11. Josephus,
Wars
VI, v, 312-313

12. 4Q547

13. Damascus Covenant (CD) 19.5–13, 32–20.1

14. Targum,
Pseudo-Jonathan
on Gen 49:10–12

15. 1 Clem Prologue:1

16. Cyprian,
ed. Princeps,
66, 8, 3

17. Josephus,
Wars
III, viii, 400-402

18. Josephus,
Wars
III, viii, 354

19. Brian Jones,
The Emperor Titus
, St. Martin’s Press, 1984, p 152

20. Suetonius,
Lives of the Caesars
, Titus paragraph. 4

21. Suetonius,
Lives of the Caesars
, Titus paragraph. 3

22. Tacitus,
The Histories
, Book IV

23. Suetonius:
De Vita Caesarum—Divus Vespasianus
, XXIII

24. Pliny,
Pan
11.1

25. Juvenal,
Satire VI
, 155

26. Juvenal,
Satire X
, 365

27. Juvenal,
Satire XIII

28. Juvenal,
Satire VI
. The haybox was used to keep food warm for the Sabbath, to avoid cooking. The reference to the tree is uncertain but possibly a reference to the menorah, the seven-branched candelabrum.

29.
The Catholic Encylopedia
, “Clement”

30. Jerome,
De viris illustr,
x

31. Tertullian,
De Praesor. Haer,
c. xxxii

32. G.A.Wells,
The Jesus Legend,
Open Court Publishing, 1996, p 228

33. G.A.Wells,
The Jesus Legend
, p 228

34.
The Catholic Encyclopedia
, “Flavia Domitilla”