The AD33 crucifixion detail in Judea

[Crispvs]

Ah - Mr Carotta - obviously a wiser man than me. I could not possibly have worked out with such precision the important reality that Jesus Christ never existed and was in fact made up as an allegory of Julius Caesar. I thought I was being so clever in relying on such shaky and unreliable evidence as (and I shall list them to demonstrate my ignorance)

Suetonius - Caesar LXXXIV
Plutarch - Caesar (sorry - I don't have the exact reference to hand)
Josephus - JA 18, 63-64
Tacitus - Annales XV
Mark 15 20-46
Matthew 27 22-56
Luke 23 21-53
John 18 6-41

And, speaking of Antoninus Pius, there is of course that mysterious document 'The Acts of Pilate' (no, not the fifth century AD forgery) quoted in AD155 to the said emperor by Justin the Martyr.
http://www.livius.org/pi-pm/pilate/pilat...ml#Diverse


Incidentally, to return to a topic more relevant to the original point of this thread, when I play the part of centurion in the 'Christ in the Centre' passion play in Leicester each year, I instruct any soldiers not actively involved in crucifying the three actors playing Christ and the two thieves to watch the crowd as if they were watching for zealots hidden amongst it armed with knives or slings who might be looking to score a blow for their cause by killing or injuring a Roman soldier in a public place, even if it meant sacrificing themselves.

Personally, I think security was probably an issue on the day. After all there had been numerous uprisings in the past, some within living memory, almost certainly aided by a popular longing for the Messiah to come and free the Jews from first Seleucid and then Roman rule. Jesus had been called the Messiah and even if no fault had been found in Him by Pilate, the execution of a man seen by the public as the Messiah might well attract unwanted trouble. The Romans must have been well aware that He had been attracting large crowds of followers and I am sure that there must have been more than just four soldiers there. After all, why would a centurion need to be present to supervise only four men - or eight for that matter? If only four men were required to crucify the three men, then the aforementioned Occam's razor would suggest that the rest of the soldiers under the centurion's command were there for security reasons.


Crispvs