Let\u2019s take another well-known death from history \u2013 Julius Caesar<\/span>. Shakespeare was really not the primary source for information about his death. Julius Caesar was a powerful figure in history and had advantages over a crucifixion in a far flung part of the Roman empire, but the records for his death are far less reliable by modern standards than for Jesus\u2019 crucifixion and resurrection.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n First, we will look at the early written reports.\u00a0 Reports written closer to an event are in general better than those written long periods later.\u00a0 Reports written by people positioned to potentially have real knowledge are generally more reliable than those written by people who had only late peripheral knowledge of the events described.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/A08-timelines-Caesar.mp4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n In the timelines here, data regarding Caesar\u2019s death is above the line and that for Jesus is below the line. On the \u201cnormalized version, the events are plotted as if they happened at the same time to make it easy to compare. Notice that the reports of Caesar\u2019s assassination come from 60 to 150+ years after the event. \u00a0There is uncertainty in when Nicolaus of Damascus wrote his account, but he did have some connections to the Roman government, though he was from Damascus.\u00a0 It is not known what his sources were or if he knew anyone with first-hand knowledge.\u00a0 The next account from Plutarch was written much later and describes the attack differently.\u00a0 He again had Roman connections and apparently did much research, but we don\u2019t know his sources.\u00a0 Suetonius is reported to have used Nicolaus\u2019 work and probably other sources.\u00a0 No other ancient accounts are reported.<\/p>\n For the resurrection, written reports began at least by 25 years after the event and can be traced to an oral tradition that was established no more than 7 years after the event, and perhaps stabilized within months of the resurrection. All of the gospels were likely written within 50 years of Jesus death and then in addition, there are non-Christian reports from 60-90 years after the death.\u00a0 Who wrote the reports?\u00a0 The NT accounts were written by eyewitnesses and by those personally acquainted with eyewitnesses.<\/p>\n How sure are we that we accurately have what was originally written?\u00a0 Could the original writing have been altered over time? Once again, the New Testament reports win overwhelmingly.\u00a0 In the last figure, you can see that the copies of the key reports of Caesar\u2019s death are from hundreds to 1400 years after they were written. By comparison the NT copies are much closer to when they were written. Certainly, there are textural variations between the various copies but with over 5,800 Greek manuscripts, plus other translations and quotations from the text in other writings, we can be confident that what we have is what was written.\u00a0 The few verses that are in question are clearly noted in modern Bible translations.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#FDF4B7″ custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n It is fair to ask why we should believe reports of Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection.\u00a0 However, if one digs into it, the documentation that we have is extraordinary.\u00a0 Any explanation for who Jesus is must use the primary sources and accept that they are remarkably early and well documented.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Were the New Testament (NT) documents written close enough to the events that they record to be used.\u00a0 In a recent Facebook discussion regarding the latest work on Josephus\u2019 report of Jesus, some claimed that Josephus\u2019 writings are not useful.\u00a0 Why? Because Josephus was not an eyewitness of Jesus, despite the fact that he knew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jesus-and-history","category-new-testament","category-new-testament-origins"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Jesus-vs-Caesar.png?fit=1288%2C722&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4634"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4640,"href":"https:\/\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4634\/revisions\/4640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jesusinhistoryandscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/06-NT-and-Caesar-02.png?resize=1024%2C742&ssl=1\")
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