More writings from thallus would help, but there are references outside of Christian writers. there are also non-canon books etc that strongly point to his physical existence. I think one of the issues is that only Christians believe he was a living embodiment of a single god. That is part and parcel to their faith.Originally Posted by Cataphract
the non Christian writers in no particular order are:
Thallus (54AD) (see Julius of Africa)
Julius of Africa (who references Thallus) wrote:
“On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.”
Josephus (1st Century AD) (Jewish scribe and historian) wrote:
About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he ... wrought surprising feats.... He was the Christ. When Pilate ...condemned him to be crucified, those who had . . . come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared ... restored to life.... And the tribe of Christians ... has ... not disappeared. (some of this text is admittedly considered to have been altered later by christian apologists in teh 3rd or 4th century, but even with the omission of what may have been altered, and as Josephus did not use roman records for his jewish histories, it is a good indication of the reality of Jesus as a man.
Tacitus(64AD) (Roman General) wrote:
Nero fastened the guilt ... on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of ... Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome.(There was no "bible" per se in the time of Tacitus. No uniform gospel etc. No Christianity as official Roman religion until centuries after him.)
Pliny the younger (112 AD)wrote:
They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food – but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.
Babylonian Talmud (about 70AD it was compiled) and had within it:
On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald ... cried, "He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy."
Not surprisingly, there are more references to Jesus and in particular, to his followers who were in fact still Jews although Gnostic up until about the time the Romans adopted the religion as official and they were no longer welcome in the Jewish temples due to the disruptive nature of their belief and faith in context to Judaism.
It's safe to say that when first century writers are talking about him in the same context as what we read in Paul or the gospels and hundreds of years before any sort of canon bible is formed, and written by mostly pagans, then...well, It looks like I did your homework for you.
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