One of the difficulties in studying the history of Christianity is the fact that very little direct contemporary evidence for the formation of early Christianity exists. The oldest buildings and artwork that are identifiably Christian date from the late 2nd century at the earliest. Jesus himself did not write anything that survives, and the earliest writings from the Christian community come from New Testament authors such as Paul (50-64 C.E.) or the writers of the Gospels (66-110 C.E.) several years after Jesus’ death. Aside from these “insider” accounts, we have only a little evidence of what the Roman world saw when it looked at the developing Christian religion.
Fractio Panis 2nd c fresco from the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome – Unknown author. Photographer: André Held, akg-images. One of the earliest Christian images from this catacomb.
In Early Christianity: A Brief History, historian Joseph Lynch poses the question, “if those non-Christian sources were all that survived, what would we know?” 1 Please think about his question while reading the following primary source excerpts.
Josephus (37 – c. 100 C.E.)
These first two excerpts come from Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews. 2 Josephus was a Jewish historian who wrote his histories after having been captured and enslaved by the Roman Emperor Vespasian during the First Jewish War. The Antiquities, written around 94 C.E., was a history of the world from a Jewish perspective, and it offers us our earliest glimpses of a non-Christian view of the new religion and its followers.
“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.” (Book 18, Ch. 3)
“Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; . . . he assembled the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, or, some of his companions; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned.” (Book XX, Ch. 9)
The first mention of Jesus above is often considered somewhat suspect as Josephus was Jewish, but not a known follower of Jesus. The pro-Christian tone has been interpreted as being a later adjustment to Josephus’ text by a scribe from the time after Christianity had become the dominant religion in the West, likely during the third century. 3 Such changes in texts by copyists were made frequently during later antiquity and the early Middle Ages in order to make the text fit a Christian interpretation of events. The second mention of Jesus above is mainly given as a reference point to identify James.
Pliny the Younger ( 61-113 C.E.)
While serving as the Roman governor of Bithynia-Pontus (in present-day Turkey), Pliny wrote to the Emperor Trajan in about 112 C.E. To ask what he should do about Christians who were anonymously denounced to him. This exchange between Pliny and Trajan serves as our second-oldest mention of Christ and the Christians.
”It is my invariable rule, Sir, to refer to you in all matters where I feel doubtful; for who is more capable of removing my scruples, or informing my ignorance? Having never been present at any trials concerning those who profess Christianity, I am unacquainted not only with the nature of their crimes, or the measure of their punishment, but how far it is proper to enter into an examination concerning them. Whether, therefore, any difference is usually made with respect to ages, or no distinction is to be observed between the young and the adult; whether repentance entitles them to a pardon; or if a man has been once a Christian, it avails nothing to desist from his error; whether the very profession of Christianity, unattended with any criminal act, or only the crimes themselves inherent in the profession are punishable; on all these points I am in great doubt. In the meanwhile, the method I have observed towards those who have been brought before me as Christians is this: I asked them whether they were Christians; if they admitted it, I repeated the question twice, and threatened them with punishment; if they persisted, I ordered them to be at once punished: for I was persuaded, whatever the nature of their opinions might be, a contumacious and inflexible obstinacy certainly deserved correction. There were others also brought before me possessed with the same infatuation, but being Roman citizens, I directed them to be sent to Rome. But this crime spreading (as is usually the case) while it was actually under prosecution, several instances of the same nature occurred. An anonymous information was laid before me containing a charge against several persons, who upon examination denied they were Christians, or had ever been so. They repeated after me an invocation to the gods, and offered religious rites with wine and incense before your statue (which for that purpose I had ordered to be brought, together with those of the gods), and even reviled the name of Christ: whereas there is no forcing, it is said, those who are really Christians into any of these compliances: I thought it proper, therefore, to discharge them. Some among those who were accused by a witness in person at first confessed themselves Christians, but immediately after denied it; the rest owned indeed that they had been of that number formerly, but had now (some above three, others more, and a few above twenty years ago) renounced that error. They all worshipped your statue and the images of the gods, uttering imprecations at the same time against the name of Christ. They affirmed the whole of their guilt, or their error, was, that they met on a stated day before it was light, and addressed a form of prayer to Christ, as to a divinity, binding themselves by a solemn oath, not for the purposes of any wicked design, 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 eat in common a harmless meal. From this custom, however, they desisted after the publication of my edict, by which, according to your commands, I forbade the meeting of any assemblies. After receiving this account, I judged it so much the more necessary to endeavor to extort the real truth, by putting two female slaves to the torture, who were said to officiate’ in their religious rites: but all I could discover was evidence of an absurd and extravagant superstition. I deemed it expedient, therefore, to adjourn all further proceedings, in order to consult you. For it appears to be a matter highly deserving your consideration, more especially as great numbers must be involved in the danger of these prosecutions, which have already extended, and are still likely to extend, to persons of all ranks and ages, and even of both sexes. In fact, this contagious superstition is not confined to the cities only, but has spread its infection among the neighboring villages and country. Nevertheless, it still seems possible to restrain its progress. The temples, at least, which were once almost deserted, begin now to be frequented; and the sacred rites, after a long intermission, are again revived; while there is a general demand for the victims, which till lately found very few purchasers. From all this, it is easy to conjecture what numbers might be reclaimed if a general pardon were granted to those who shall repent of their error.” (Letter to Trajan XCVII) 4
Th following was Trajan’s response.
”You have adopted the right course, my dearest Secundus, in investigating the charges against the Christians who were brought before you. It is not possible to lay down any general rule for all such cases. Do not go out of your way to look for them. If indeed they should be brought before you, and the crime is proved, they must be punished; with the restriction, however, that where the party denies he is a Christian, and shall make it evident that he is not, by invoking our gods, let him (notwithstanding any former suspicion) be pardoned upon his repentance. Anonymous informations ought not to be received in any sort of prosecution. It is introducing a very dangerous precedent, and is quite foreign to the spirit of our age.” (Letter from Trajan XCVIII)note that the numbering of the letters in the Project Gutenberg edition is off by one in comparison with other more recent editions
Tacitus (c. 56 – c. 120 C.E.)
Tacitus was a historian and senator who lived from around 56 C. E. to around 120 C. E. He produced two well-known works, portions of which survive, known as the Annals (c. 109 C.E.) and the Histories (c. 105 C.E.). His are the third set of references we have to Christians or Christianity, though they recount events that occurred over 40 years before Pliny’s exchange with Trajan. This first excerpt comes from the Annals and might seem, at first, to have little to do with Christianity.
“Pomponia Graecina, a distinguished lady, wife of the Plautius who returned from Britain with an ovation, was accused of some foreign superstition and handed over to her husband’s judicial decision. Following ancient precedent, he heard his wife’s cause in the presence of kinsfolk, involving, as it did, her legal status and character, and he reported that she was innocent. This Pomponia lived a long life of unbroken melancholy. After the murder of Julia, Drusus’s daughter, by Messalina’s treachery, for forty years she wore only the attire of a mourner, with a heart ever sorrowful. For this, during Claudius’s reign, she escaped unpunished, and it was afterwards counted a glory to her.” (Book XIII, Ch. 32) 5
Over time, some historians have taken the description of Pomponia being “accused of some foreign superstition” to be an obscure reference to her being a Christian. This idea was perhaps most prominently put forward by the 19th-century scholarship of archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi when he discovered the Catacombs of Callixtus in 1854. These catacombs contained inscriptions linking later members of Pomponia’s family to the site. Rossi identified Pomponia with Saint Lucia (which was believed to be her baptismal name), a donor of the oldest part of the catacombs, though this identification is impossible to prove definitively.
This second set of excerpts from the Annals is far more famous and contains a much more direct reference to Christianity. Here Tacitus is recounting the history of Emperor Nero’s rule, and he begins with the following description of the horrendous fire that burned in the city of Rome for over five days.
”A disaster followed, whether accidental or treacherously contrived by the emperor, is uncertain, as authors have given both accounts, worse, however, and more dreadful than any which have ever happened to this city by the violence of fire. It had its beginning in that part of the circus which adjoins the Palatine and Caelian hills, where, amid the shops containing inflammable wares, the conflagration both broke out and instantly became so fierce and so rapid from the wind that it seized in its grasp the entire length of the circus. For here there were no houses fenced in by solid masonry, or temples surrounded by walls, or any other obstacle to interpose delay. The blaze in its fury ran first through the level portions of the city, then rising to the hills, while it again devastated every place below them, it outstripped all preventive measures; so rapid was the mischief and so completely at its mercy the city, with those narrow winding passages and irregular streets, which characterized old Rome. Added to this were the wailings of terror-stricken women, the feebleness of age, the helpless inexperience of childhood, the crowds who sought to save themselves or others, dragging out the infirm or waiting for them, and by their hurry in the one case, by their delay in the other, aggravating the confusion.” (Book XV Ch. 38)6
Tacitus’s description goes on to detail how Nero was absent from the city and did not return to Rome until the fire neared his own palace. This was, in fact, destroyed and Nero later rebuilt on a much more grandiose scale over ground cleared by the fire. Tacitus recounts multiple rumors circulating about this unpopular emperor including that the emperor appeared on a private stage during the destruction of the city, singing songs comparing the fire in Rome to the destruction of ancient Troy and that he actually had a hand in setting the fire in order to help clear the city for his new construction. In the face of these rumors, Nero felt the need to find another person or group upon which to cast blame.
”But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures 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 one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”
”Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man’s cruelty, that they were being destroyed.” 7
Suetonius (c. 69 – after c. 122 C.E.)
Finally, the historian Suetonius, in Lives of the Caesars very briefly recounted an event during Claudius’ reign that also shows Christians as potential scapegoats, this time as the cause of quarrels and contention between groups living in Rome. Suetonius was writing about these events in the 120s C.E. about 70 years after they happened.
”He banished from Rome all the Jews, who were continually making disturbances at the instigation of one Chrestus.” (Claudius Ch. 25) 8
Now that you have seen the main non-Christian, Roman sources that mention Christ or Christians in the earliest century after Jesus’ death, what conclusions can you draw about Jesus, what he taught, or what his followers do or believe? What would your outline for a story of early Christianity look like if these were the only sources you could rely on?
Assignment
- Using text, pictures, maps, timelines, or any other way of presenting information that seems useful to you, make a representation of the history of early Christianity revealed in these primary sources.
- Be sure to put the information we do have into context and point out where the information comes from and how it relates internally (to other pieces of information in the sources) and externally (to information about the classical Roman world) to other pieces of information about the time.
- For now, leave aside information from known Christian sources such as the writings in the Bible or from early Christian believers. We will do another history based on these sources soon.
- Finally, note both the strengths and weaknesses in this documentary record. What questions does it leave you with? What other ways of examining the past (archaeology, art history, other?) might be useful to answering these questions?
Notes
- Joseph H Lynch, Early Christianity: A Brief History (New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2010). ↩
- Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, (Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg, 2009), retrieved from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm#link182HCH0003 ↩
- Joseph Lynch, Early Christianity: A Brief History, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010) p. 1-2. ↩
- Pliny, The Letters of Pliny F.C.T. Bosanquet ed, William Melmoth translator, (, 2001) accessed Project Gutenberg [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2811/2811-h/2811-h.htm#link2H_4_0206]. ↩
- Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brodribb ed. (New York: Random House, Inc., reprinted 1942) accessed at Persius Project http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0078%3Abook%3D13%3Achapter%3D32 ↩
- Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brodribb ed. (New York: Random House, Inc., reprinted 1942) accessed at Persius Project http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0078%3Abook%3D15%3Achapter%3D38 ↩
- Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brodribb ed. (New York: Random House, Inc., reprinted 1942) accessed at Persius Project http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0078%3Abook%3D15%3Achapter%3D44 ↩
- Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Cesars: An English Translation, J. Eugene Reed ed., Alexander Thompson, (Philadelphia, Debbie & Co. 1889), accessed at Persius Project http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0132%3Alife%3Dcl.%3Achapter%3D25 ↩
Except where otherwise noted, Documentary Evidence and the History of Early Christianity by Nicole V. Jobin is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
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