Person
Publius Cornelius Tacitus
c. 56-c. 120
Roman historian, non-Christian source on Jesus
Hostile source. Calls Christianity 'a most mischievous superstition'.
Attested. Widely accepted as authentic; a minority disputes it.
Writing c. 116, Tacitus says Nero blamed the fire of Rome on the 'Christians', named after 'Christus', who 'suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of the procurator Pontius Pilate'.
Bases
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- Rome · senator and historian · c. 75-120 · attested
Authentic?
Authentic (near-consensus)
- John P. Meier
- John Granger Cook
The Christus sentence is an interpolation
- Richard Carrier (2014)
Pilate is wrongly called 'procurator' (he was prefect); the only main manuscript (Medicean II, 11th c.) shows 'Chrestianos' corrected to 'Christianos'.
Places
Councils
No council in this list names them as a participant.
Sources
Catalog editions
No edition in the preview catalog is linked.