As several of the early Fathers quoted Phlegon, there seems no reason to doubt his word. They were not myths or literary devicesas skeptics or modernist biblical scholars might now suggest. The 202nd Olympiad has been calculated to run from July AD 29 to June AD 33. The evidence for Christ's resurrection is also historical evidence of a miracle. [CDATA[*/ var d = new Date(); var n = d.getFullYear(); document.getElementById('getYear').innerHTML = n; /*]]>*/ Christian Evidence. From the direct quote above, it is clear Phlegons source is an observer in Bithynia (in modern day Turkey), which is well over 500 miles away from Jerusalem. All rights reserved. Astronomical calculation will help with this, but we first need to answer the day of the week question. This does not necessarily coincide with the Crucifixion darkness, and it doesnt have to. I wonder too, hypothetically, what might a natural cause include. and this is shown by the historical account of Tiberius Caesar. Philopon, De. Between 3 PM and sunset the Jews had to prepare the body and get it into the tomb, because the Sabbath started Friday evening around sunset. Those issues do not change the conclusion for various reasons. AWESOME I had read so many "time lines" and prophetic explanations. Each year of an Olympiad began on 1st July. The mention of three nights in this verse has prompted some to propose the crucifixion was on a Wednesday or a Thursday. The writings on the crucifixion of the historians from the first and second centuries is very interesting. Some of the students had come just to harass the speakers. However, history provides a sufficient answer as to why such documentary evidence has not survived on these topics of great interest. Tertullian, Apologeticus, Chapter 21, 19, Christian Evidence was created to enable Christians to defend their faith, and to open their eyes up to the overwhelming evidence for Christianity. We have no need to be dogmatic about precise numbers regarding His age at the time of His crucifixion. GO TO Mobile Home, http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/2000-May/011873.html, http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/newton.html, http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2004/daniel.html, http://www.neverthirsty.org/pp/historical-secular-quotes-about-jesus/phlegon.html, http://www.ichthus.info/CaseForChrist/Archeology/intro.html. The skeptics objection is an argument from silencethat other writerswouldhave said something if the darkness had really happened. So that means there has been at least some investigation of it by geologists though I do not know how much. The darkness during the crucifixion. 4th year: Begins 32-06-27/28: Hekatombaion 29 Metageitnion 30 Boedromion 30 Puanepsion 29 Maimakterion 30 Poseideon 29 Poseideon-2 30 Gamelion 29 . The time from Friday 3 PM to sunset was counted as one day. In ancient Greece the Olympic Games were held in the July of the first year of each Olympiad, which was a 4 year period running from July to June of each succeeding year. Passover occurred on either Nisan 14 or 15 about two weeks after the New Moon. Moon phase and solar year events are shown on the day in Athens. [3]. This is a clear Bible prophecy foretelling that God would cause the punishment for our sins to fall upon Jesus. Thus the New Moon is not visible. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives. (Tertullian, Apologia 21) (Emphasis added). From the work of Phlegon we can work out the date of the Crucifixion. Moon phase and solar year events are shown on the day in Athens. Since Passover took place in the Spring before the Olympics, I think the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad would be Summer 32 AD to Summer 33 AD. AD 33 is too early for his crucifixion, surely. This firmly connects Jesus and the gospels to Roman history. Thus, the Christian apologist Tertullian (155-240 A.D) could still say to the Romans in the late second century A.D. with regard to the Crucifixion darkness: And yet, nailed upon the cross, He exhibited many notable signs, by which His death was distinguished from all others. The sedimentation rate puts this second earthquake about 65 years after the 31 B.C. 776 BC = Olympiad 1, not 0. Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell, as it was impossible that he should be holden by it. (Acts 2: 14-24)[Emphasis and formatting added]. ? someone heckled from the back row. There was a great earthquake in Bithynia, and many things were overturned in Nicaea.'"1 Evidence from Africanus This year would be AD 29 from Roman historical sources. Then the other speaker, also a minister, stepped forward. To me it seems the place to start with deduction from all the available information is with John the Baptist. There were Jewish, Christian, and Roman writers from the first and second centuries that refer to Christ and the crucifixion. Now consider if this were either all fake or unauthentic; Christian historians have used this writing to cite as an extra-biblical account of the Gospel accounts and opponents have used the writing to discredit the theory as contrived. The Crucifixion darkness could certainly have been one of these excluded eclipses. However, whether there was or was not a Crucifixion darkness, it can not be proven from Pliny. whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. There was a great earthquake in Bithynia, and many things were overturned in Nicaea.' Annular (ring) eclipse. Required fields are marked *. All Rights Reserved. Phlegon was a Greek historian who wrote an extensive chronology around AD 137. Created With Love By Bright Mark Media LLC. Check it out for yourselfhttp://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEcat5/SE0001-0100.html. Next, let us consider the argument with regard to theGospel of Mark. With this principle in mind, let us now consider the evidence. But consider how do we know anything about history? TheActs of the Apostlesrecords the very first public preaching of Peter and the Apostles, which took place less than eight weeks after the Crucifixion. The year given by Phlegon for this eclipse is the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (i.e., 33 A.D.), which is consistent with one of the possible dates of the Crucifixion (i.e., April 3, 33 A.D.). Read more . Then you can go through a process of elimination to to rule out all these years except AD 33. The darkness and earthquake were evident not just in Jerusalem but also in Nicea which is over 300 miles away from Jerusalem! (Jerome) [4]. Phlegons citation is a fragment from Olympiades he Chronika 13, ed. And finally, if the crucifixion was on 3rd April AD 33 (Julian) then it is 490 years (70 . Tradition informs us that Marks gospel derives directly from Peters oral preaching in Rome (seehere). Phlegon's ``Olympiads" (2nd century) says that Christ's crucifixion was in the 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad (AD 29-33), when a total solar eclipse occurred in the 6th hour. "In the 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad, there was a great eclipse [Greek EKLEIPSIS] of the Sun, greater than had ever been known before, for at the 6th hour the day was changed into night and the stars were seen in the heavens. At His own free-will, He with a word dismissed from Him His spirit, anticipating the executioners work. Since Marks written gospel contains an account of the Crucifixion darkness, it follows that Peter included this event in his oral preaching. Does this necessarily mean that Phlegon was referencing the seismic activity, if you dare to call it that, that occurred during the Crucifixion in the Gospel accounts? I am a follower of Jesus Christ, the One who saved me, and my goal is to spread the gospel and all the evidence for Christianity! . Thus geological data seem to confirm the 33 AD date. We have already seen there is strong reason to believe a record of the Crucifixion darkness was held in the Roman archives. Is there historical evidence for the darkness & earthquake at the crucifixion? The speaker continued The 53rd chapter of Isaiah, written over 700 years before the birth of Christ, describes the most important aspect of the ministry of Jesus Christ!! EARTHQUAKE AND DARKNESS THAT OCCURRED AT JESUS DEATH WAS RECORDED IN SECULAR HISTORY. We do not know what other sources that Africanuswho established a library for Severus Alexander might have had at his disposal with regard to Phlegons writings. However, if the crucifixion were on a Wednesday or Thursday this does not seem to fit the proper timing in the Jewish Passover week. Sect 257 f16, c, p. 1165. Peter reminds his hearers these things were done in the midst of you, as you also know. Clearly, Peter referenced an eventthe three hour darkening of the sunwhich waspreviouslywitnessed by all hearing him that day. Every person needs to deal with the questions of who Jesus is and what his death means. source:http://earthquaketrack.com/il-06-jerusalem/recent. Last month: Next month: new 02:44 32/07/26 UTC : 1: 32-07-26/27: Noumenia : 2: 32-07-27/28: Noumenia kata Selene Agathos Daimon: Herakleia? Two short works by him are extant. Though Jesus was alive till Friday afternoon, the period he was dead on Friday counted as both a day and a night. We believe that the event referred to by Phlegon is the same event that is recorded in the New Testament. In either case, many would have witnessed it. In Wadi Zeelim, located above the southwestern shore of the modern Dead Sea exists an outcrop of laminated Dead Sea sediment. Rome had a Jewish community, and it is probable that word of the darkness would have reached and been known within it. 196-7, College Press Publishing Company, 1996., 4 Tertullian, Apologeticus, Chapter 21, 19 cited in Bouw, G. D. (1998, Spring). (31 B.C. The onah concept applies to part "days" and whole "days" so that they counted the same. The Olympiades can be used as a useful means of establishing a time-line. I have wondered if an astronomical body accounted for some aspects of the Deluge, such tidal effects on the waters. Change). But it is a challenging issue to unravel. The gospel references where Jesus predicted he would rise in three days are Matt. Then from Saturday evening after sunset till early in the morning on Sunday was a portion of a 24 hour cycle so it also counted as a day and a night, even though Jesus apparently resurrected before Sunrise. In the fourth year, however, of Olympiad 202, an eclipse of the sun happened, greater and more excellent than any that had happened before it; at the sixth hour, day turned into dark night, so that the stars were seen in the sky, and an earthquake in Bithynia toppled many buildings of the city of Nicaea. Phlegons 13th book quoted in Jeromes translation of Eusebius Chronicle, 202 Olympad. When the Moon "lines up" with the Sun it is referred to by astronomers as being at conjunction (which is the New Moon). Or has it been changed and contaminated by ambitious Christian defenders? Julius Africanus elsewhere makes the point that what was sometimes referred to as an eclipse of the Sun by Roman writers could not possibly be a solar eclipse because it happened at the wrong time of the month [5]. Yet there has not been a good consensus among scholars about the exact date of the crucifixion. In 70 A.D., just forty years after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the city of Jerusalem and the Temple were utterly destroyed by the Romans and the surviving population carried off into captivity. Unfortunately, Africanus does not quote Phlegon directly. However, what concerning the bottom line? Certainly, other ancient writers, most notably Pliny the Elder (23 79 AD), would have written of a three hour darkness had it really happened. There are also complicated issues about various calendar systems in use at the time of Christ that create confusion. Those who heard Peter preach in Rome would have previously known about this darkness in several ways, including: (1) having witnessed it firsthand in Rome if it had been a universal darkness; (2) hearing of it from travelers to Rome; and or (3) through letters or official reports received from the provinces, the latter of which were kept in the Roman archives. In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (i.e., AD 33), there was 'the greatest eclipse of the sun' and that it became night in the sixth hour of the day [i.e., noon] so that stars even appeared in the heavens. Why has it been so difficult to determine the exact date of Jesus' death and the dates of the last week of his life? He inadvertently dated the darkness at noon on the day of Crucifixion in his work, The Olympiades. This information was considered reliable at the time because Origen (in 248 CE) quoted it to refute Celsus (Against Celsus II:14,33,59), a Greek philosopher very critical of Christianity but familiar with history. , let us consider the evidence for the darkness would have witnessed it i have wondered an... In Rome ( seehere ) among scholars about the exact date of the Deluge, such tidal effects on day... God hath raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell, it! 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