The Death of Christ: The Bible and Popular Culture vs Archaeological and Historical Evidence

By Steven Rutledge

What was the world like, and what was going on in it, around the time of Jesus’ death? This study examines this very question, and also seeks to place Jesus in his larger historical context, as a non-citizen resident of the Roman Empire living in Judaea and Galilee in the 20s and 30s AD. The book explores the larger background and context to some of the major power-brokers of the Roman Empire in Jesus’ day, including the emperor Tiberius, his ambitious Praetorian Prefect Sejanus, Judaea’s governor Pontius Pilate, and the client king who governed Galilee, Herod Antipas. It further explores some of the larger historical and cultural context and background of some of the characters who parade through the gospel accounts, including the treacherous informant Judas Iscariot, the tax collector turned apostle, Matthew, and the gruff centurion whose servant Jesus was said to have healed. The study also considers the nature of Jesus’ radical resistance to the Roman Empire, and seeks to contextualize it through comparison with other resistance movements. Attempts to recover the historical Jesus have sought to put him in his immediate context of ancient Galilee, Judaea, and the Jewish community to which he belonged. Instead this book gives the Roman historical background to the time and place of his ministry and death. Cast into relief against the much larger picture of the greater Roman world of which he was a part, the ministry of Jesus is quite radical indeed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781399088787

Book preview

The Death of Christ

The Death of Christ

The Bible and Popular Culture vs Archaeological and Historical Evidence

Steven Rutledge

First published in Great Britain in 2022 by

Pen & Sword History

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire – Philadelphia

Copyright © Steven Rutledge 2022

ISBN 978 1 39908 877 0

eISBN 978 1 39908 878 7

Mobi ISBN 978 1 39908 878 7

The right of Steven Rutledge to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Pen & Sword Books Limited incorporates the imprints of Atlas, Archaeology, Aviation, Discovery, Family History, Fiction, History, Maritime, Military, Military Classics, Politics, Select, Transport, True Crime, Air World, Frontline Publishing, Leo Cooper, Remember When, Seaforth Publishing, The Praetorian Press, Wharncliffe Local History, Wharncliffe Transport, Wharncliffe True Crime and White Owl.

For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact

PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED

47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England

E-mail: [e-mail]

Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Or

PEN AND SWORD BOOKS

1950 Lawrence Rd, Havertown, PA 19083, USA

E-mail: [e-mail]

Website: www.penandswordbooks.com

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements

List of Abbreviations of Ancient Works and Sources

List of Illustrations, Maps, and Family Trees

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Tiberius: The Man on the Coin

Chapter 3 The Praetorian Prefect: Lucius Aelius Sejanus 40

Chapter 4 A Roman Governor: Pontius Pilate

Chapter 5 The Tetrarch: Herod Antipas

Chapter 6 The Resistance

Chapter 7 The Collaborators: Informants, Tax Collectors, and Centurions

Chapter 8 Epilogue

Appendix A: Maps

Appendix B: The Families of Tiberius and of Herod Antipas

Glossary

Notes

Bibliography

Preface and Acknowledgements

Much always goes into writing a work such as this and it is often difficult to know where to begin to credit those who have been of such great assistance along the way, but before I express my gratitude, just a brief note to the reader. First, in my citation of Biblical passages I have used almost exclusively the King James version of the Bible, simply because of a personal love of the majesty of its language and its style. For translations of Josephus and Philo I have relied primarily on the Loeb editions by H. St. J. Thackeray (for The Jewish War), Louis H. Feldman (for Jewish Antiquities), and C. D. Yonge (for Against Flaccus and The Embassy to Gaius); similarly for translations of Cassius Dio I have relied on Earnest Cary’s translation of his Roman History. Latin translations are for the most part my own, and I have tried, probably as with any translator, with varying degrees of success to navigate between being faithful to the author’s grammar and syntax but also trying to convey what I believe the sense of the Latin is attempting to communicate as well, never an easy task and one that carries with it a number of problems. Any infelicities of translation or factual errors rest solely with me. As to those to whom I owe a debt of thanks, Professor Robert Wagoner (emeritus Juniata College), an old and dear friend, is perhaps first and foremost. Many years ago he steered me away from all manner of prejudices and presumptions concerning not just Christianity but religion in general, and I could never thank him enough for the myriad of different ways in which he has helped me to view the complicated subject of religion and its place in human culture over time. I would also like to thank Professor Thomas Mertes (History, Linfield University) who lent me encouragement and had helpful suggestions on a draft of this work. Brennen Guillory, a minister at a local combined Methodist and Lutheran Church (McMinnville, Oregon), is also owed a debt of gratitude, first for inviting me initially to speak to his congregation on this subject, and then for generously looking at my manuscript with numerous suggestions from the perspective of someone of theological background in this area. Above all, as always, I owe my greatest debt to my life partner, Lori, who has now been a help and a support for nearly four decades, and who has suffered through every word of my writing, from my early undergraduate essays to the current work at hand. There simply is no greater love.

List of Abbreviations of Ancient Works and Sources

With a few exceptions, almost all abbreviations of ancient authors and works in this history follow the Oxford Classical Dictionary or the Oxford Latin Dictionary usage.

Abbreviations of Roman Names:

A. = Aulus

C. = Gaius

Cn. = Gnaeus

D. = Decimus

L. = Lucius

M. = Marcus

P. = Publius

Q. = Quintus

Ser. = Servius

T. = Titus

List of Illustrations, Maps, and Family Trees

Illustrations

Fig. 2.1: A silver denarius of Tiberius struck at the Lugdunum (Lyon) mint in Gaul between

AD

15 and 18. Observe: TI[berius] CAESAR DIVI AVG[vsti] F[ilvs] AVGVSTVS (Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus), laureate head. Reverse: PONTIF[ex] MAXI[mus], Livia (as Pax or Peace) seated on a chair holding a sceptre and olive branch. (RIC I 26; Lyon 144; RSC 16; BMCRE 34; cf. BN 14 [aureus]). (Attribution by Classical Numismatic Group, www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5, [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/], via Wikimedia)

Fig. 2.2: A seated statue of Tiberius in marble from the Chiaramonte Museum in the Vatican. (Attribution by © Marie-Lan Nguyen [user: Jastrow]/Wikimedia Commons, Vatican Museums CC BY 2.5 [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 2.3: Remains of Tiberius’ villa at Sperlonga with a view of the grotto. (Attribution by Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany [Villa of Tiberius, Sperlonga] CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 2.4: The theft of the Palladium by Odysseus and Diomedes, Sperlonga. (Attribution by Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany [Villa of Tiberius, Sperlonga] CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 2.5: The Scylla Group, Sperlonga. (Attribution by Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany [Villa of Tiberius, Sperlonga] CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 2.6: The Blinding of Polyphemus, cast reconstruction of the group, Sperlonga. (Attribution by Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany [Villa of Tiberius, Sperlonga] CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 2.7: The Apoxyomenos, a Roman marble copy from the first century

AD

after a bronze original by Lysippos, ca. 320

BC

, found in Trastevere in Rome in 1849, now in the Pio-Clementino Museum in the Apoxyomenos Hall in the Vatican collection. (Attribution by Marie-Lan Nguyen, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 2.8: The Temple of Concordia on a sesterces issued by Tiberius. Kampmann 5.15, RIC 55. (Attribution by Hermann Junghans, Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 2.9: The Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California. (Attribution by Bobak Ha’Eri, Own Work, CC BY-SA 3.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 2.10: Remains of the villa of Tiberius on Capri. (Attribution by Izoe Kriv, Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 [https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49362334], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 2.11: View of the villa of Tiberius on Capri looking south towards Anacapri, the southern part of the island. (Attribution by Mister No, originally posted to Panoramio, https://web.archive.org/web/20161031161140/http://www.panoramio.com/photo/126319466, CC BY 3.0 [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 3.1: A Tiberius as (bronze penny) from the Bibilis mint, celebrating Sejanus’ consulship in

AD

31. The coin reads: TI CAESAR DIVI AVGVSTI F AVGVSTVS; laureate head/ MV (ligate); the obverse reads: AV(ligate)GVSTA • BILBILIS • TI • CÆSARE • V [L ÆL] IO • [SEIAN]O, large COS within wreath. (RPC I 398; NAH 1079–80; SNG Copenhagen 620). (Attribution by Classical Numismatic Group Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, [https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2385731], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 3.2: The so-called Grand Cameo of France. A sardonyx cameo of the first century

AD

. From the collection Cabinet de Médailles; originally purchased by King Louis IX (St. Louis) in 1247 from Constantinople and deposited to Sainte-Chapelle; deposited in the Cabinet de Médailles by Louis XVI in 1791. (Attribution GFDL © Marie-Lan Nguyen (user:Jastrow) / Wikimedia Commons; source/photographer Janmad based on photo by Jastrow and Cabinet des Médailles, CC BY-SA 3.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/], or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 4.1: The inscription recording Pilate as prefect of Judaea; it reads (restored), [DIS AVGVSTI]S TIBERIEVM … PONTI]VS PILATVS/ [ … PRAE]FECTVS IVDA[EA]E/[ … FECIT D]E[DICAVIT] which translates: ‘To the Divine Augustus (this) Tibereium Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judaea, has built (and) dedicated’. The Tibereium referenced is likely a temple to Tiberius. Dedicatory inscription found reused in the staircase of the theatre at Caesarea, Israel Museum, Jerusalem. (Attribution by Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, GERMANY Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0 [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 4.2: A scene from Trajan’s Column in which Roman troops arrive at the scene of a sacrifice, including standard bearers. (Attribution by Apollodorus of Damascus, graphics by Conrad Cichorius [1863–1932], Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 4.3: Caesarea Maritima, Israel, with an aerial view including the hippodrome. (Attribution by Abraham Gracier, Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 4.4: A paleochristian sarcophagus belonging to Marcus Claudianus (

AD

330–335) with scenes from the Old and New Testament from the Via della Lungara next to S. Giacomo in Settimania, Rome. (Attribution by Jean-Pol Grandmont, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, CC BY-SA 3.0 [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 5.1: Salome holds a silver platter as the executioner places the head of John the Baptist on it, Caravaggio, National Gallery, London. (Attribution, Caravaggio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 5.2: Tomb of the Baptist in the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus. (Attribution by James Gordon [L.A. California, USA], CC BY 2.0 [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 6.1: The Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy. The Arrest of Christ (Kiss of Judas), by Giotto. (Attribution by Giotto di Bondone, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 6.2: Mass suicide of the Dacian leadership, from Trajan’s Column, attributed to Apollodorus of Damascus. (Attribution by Apollodorus of Damascus, graphics by Conrad Cichorius [1863–1932], Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 6.3: A suovetaurilia (a purification sacrifice of a bull, ram, and pig) from the Louvre. (Attribution by Daderot, Own work, CC0, [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.envia], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 6.4: Queen Boudicca statue, Westminster. (Attribution by Paul Walter, CC BY 2.0 [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 7.1: The Calling of Saint Matthew, Caravaggio. From the Contarelli Chapel, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome. (Attribution by Caravaggio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 7.2: The tomb of Titus Calidius Severus. The inscription reads: T[itus] Calidius / P(ublii filius) Cam[ilia tribu] Sever[us]/ eq[ues] item optio/ decur[io] coh[ortis] I Alpin[orum] / item [centurio] leg[ionis] XV Apoll[inaris] / annnor[um] LVIII stip[endorium] XXXIIII / h[ic] s[itus] e[est] / Q [uintus] Calidius fratri / posuit = CIL III 11213 (Attribution by User:MatthiasKabel, Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 7.3: The tomb of Marcus Caelius with two of his freedmen. Rheinisches Landesmuseum CIL XIII 8648 = AE 1952, 181 = AE 1953, 222 = AE 1955, 34. (Attribution by Agnete, Own work, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 7.4: Mosaic with fishing scene; ca. early third century from a Roman house, Sousse (Tunisia). (Attribution by © Ad Meskens, Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Fig. 8.1: The Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio, 1606 in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. (Attribution by Web Gallery of Art, by Caravaggio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Maps

Map 1: A Map of the Mediterranean in the High Roman Empire, ca.

AD

100. (Reprinted from A Tacitus Reader, Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2014.)

Map 2: A Map of Britain during the Revolt of Boudicca,

AD

60–61. (Reprinted from Pax Romana. War, Peace, and Conquest in the Roman World, by Adrian Goldsworthy, with permission of Yale University Press.)

Map 3: A Map of Germany and Gaul during the first century

AD

. (Reprinted from 69

AD

. The Year of the Four Emperors, by Gwyn Morgan, with permission of Oxford University Press)

Map 4: A Map of Judaea during the Revolt of

AD

66–70. (Reprinted from Pax Romana. War, Peace, and Conquest in the Roman World, by Adrian Goldsworthy, with permission of Yale University Press)

Family Trees

1.The Family of Augustus and Tiberius. (Reprinted from A Tacitus Reader, Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2014.)

2.The Family of Herod Antipas. (Reprinted from Herod Antipas. A Contemporary of Jesus Christ, with permission from Zondervan Publishing House via Harper Collins.)

Chapter 1

Introduction

Tacitus, the greatest and perhaps most moralistic of ancient historians, makes no mention of the most singular event in human history, the crucifixion of Jesus. How could this be? How could this most stentorian voice of liberty, virtue, and justice from pagan antiquity fail to take notice of the greatest event in humanity’s most dramatic epoch? It remains possible that the response to that question was made by a pious but destructive copyist somewhere amidst Europe’s dark scriptoria in late antiquity or the early Middle Ages: It cannot be. It must not be. And thus was history suppressed, deleted, and erased.

Tacitus’ Annals (Annales in Latin) breaks off just a few chapters into Book V, in

AD

29, not resuming until the winter of 31. His historical masterpiece encompassed the period from

AD

14 until

AD

68, covering a grand sweep of Roman history including some of its most colourful characters: the brooding and morose Tiberius, his mad nephew Caligula, the inept, pathetic, and alcoholic Claudius (Caligula’s uncle), Claudius’ voraciously adulterous empress Messalina, and the knavish yet murderous artist-actor-poet-charioteer-champion-wannabe, Nero. The break at Book V, however, is odd because of how ancient manuscripts were written and how ancient authors, in turn, structured their works: Tacitus himself had organized his Annals into what were known as hexads, with every six books (what we would consider the equivalent of perhaps several modern book chapters) covering the reigns of one or two emperors. Hence, the first six books represent a discrete section of the period covering the reign of Tiberius, from

AD

14 until 37. The next six covered the reigns of Caligula and Claudius, and although roughly half of this second hexad survives, the loss of the first half represents one of the most egregious losses of antiquity. We miss the history of the whole of Caligula’s reign from a master historian, an incalculable loss. We also miss about half of Claudius’ reign, including what was doubtless a fabulous treatment of the absurd succession of Claudius after he was discovered cowering behind a tapestry in the imperial palace after Caligula’s assassination. However, the manuscript does resume in time for us to catch up with the shocking fall of Messalina and the rise of Nero, whose reign completes the third of what were almost doubtless three hexads. Almost, because the reign of Nero breaks off about half way through Book XVI, in the year

AD

66 – another wrenching loss, since sometime in that year was the start of the Jewish rebellion against Rome that was to lead not just to the defeat of the Jews but the destruction of the Temple in

AD

70. It is not peculiar that we have lost the first part of one hexad – the reign of Caligula and part of Claudius’, and the last part of another – that about Nero. Because of the nature of how ancient manuscript scrolls were handled on a purely physical level, it is not unusual to miss the beginning and the conclusion to works whose survival was precariously based on fragile materials – the ends of manuscripts on scrolls would often receive the most wear and tear, and it is not particularly remarkable to be missing the beginning of works here and there, such as the opening of Caesar’s Civil War Commentaries (De Bello Civili). But to miss a large segment in what would have been somewhere in the middle of a manuscript is not, generally speaking, the norm. The loss in this instance means that we are missing the violent and dramatic fall of Sejanus, Tiberius’ praetorian prefect who possibly tried to overthrow his emperor, something to which Tacitus had been building since his introduction of the prefect at the very opening of Book IV. We will never know with certainty why we have lost it, and it means that we miss from his hand events from about the late spring of

AD

29 until the winter of

AD

31. It has been suggested, however, rather conspiratorially, that there was a nefarious theological reason behind the loss.

The inspiration for the subject and focus of this book is based in part on a theory suggested some forty years ago that posited that Tacitus’ fifth book was deliberately suppressed by a scribe in the late antique or Medieval period since it did not mention Jesus’ crucifixion.¹ Sceptical scholars have duly noted the difficulties with the argument. Among the most effective arguments against wilful suppression is that the loss of Book V was due to other more plausible factors, likely accidental and certainly not intentional.² Yet that begs another question: since this portion of the work is missing, how can we in fact be so sure that Tacitus indeed did not discuss the Christians and the crucifixion?

The answer to that is that Tacitus appears to first introduce the Christians and Jesus in Book XV of his Annals where he discusses Nero’s persecution of the Christians after the Great Fire of

AD

64 in Rome.³ The argument, exemplified here by Van Voorst’s, is a compelling one: Tacitus was nothing if not economical, and his language in the passage about the Christians and their persecution in the wake of the Great Fire indicates that he had not yet mentioned them elsewhere in his work:

There was no human effort, no bestowal of imperial largesse, no appeasements of the gods whereby the malicious talk could be made to stop the belief that Nero had ordered the fire. Therefore, to abolish the rumour, Nero put up as fake defendants those who the commonality called Christians – people hated for their disgraces – and afflicted them with the most exquisite punishments. Christ was the originator of this name who, under Tiberius’ rule, had been put to death by the procurator Pontius Pilate; the destructive superstition, repressed for the moment, again burst to the surface not only throughout Judaea, the origin of this evil, but even Rome, where everything from everywhere that is horrible and disgraceful converges. (Tac. Ann. 15.44).

There are a number of things that are noteworthy about this particular passage: first, Tacitus feels compelled to explain to his audience who Christ is, what his origins are, and where this religion first emerged. It is doubtful that he would have felt the need to explain to his audience who these Christians and Christ were, had he mentioned them in a previous book of the Annals. He almost certainly would not have felt compelled to rehearse the history of the religion, mentioning the governor, Pilate, and the emperor under whom Christ conducted his ministry had he mentioned them before, and he has absolutely no mention of Pilate or his governance of Judaea, much less his recall in

AD

36 by Tiberius, a year he covers in Book VI of his Annals. It is hard to argue, given all of this, that this is not quite possibly the single existing mention of Christians in the entire Tacitean corpus. Indeed, it is quite telling that Tacitus, writing this passage probably sometime between

AD

110 and 120, feels compelled to explain to his Roman audience who the Christians were even during the early decades of the second century

AD

. Pliny the Younger, Tacitus’ friend and contemporary, had to do the same when corresponding with Trajan, even going into details about how benign the practices of the early Christians appeared as they merely broke bread together, sang hymns, and swore to keep faith to God’s law (see pp. 68–72).

In fact, it bears noting that we simply do not know the precise year Christ died, although there are plenty of theories.⁴ That is rather remarkable. One of the individuals who introduced the most profound changes in terms of religion, culture, ethics, even the shape of history, from the introduction of Jewish-based ethics into the bloodstream of a pagan empire, to the monastic movement, to the Reformation and attendant development of the nation state, and we know little of his life. He himself left nothing behind. No poems, memoirs, letters – absolutely nothing. In this, he shares something with Socrates, who believed knowledge fluid, and something that could not be committed to writing. And yet the legacy of his ministry is profound.

There are numerous theories and possibilities, of course, for the date of Christ’s death, the most likely candidates ranging from

AD

29 to

AD

33. However, it is not my intention to resolve this or even attempt to resolve it, despite the subject of the book. The purpose of this history, rather, is to give a snapshot of the world at approximately the time of Christ’s death, with a sharp focus on the politics, personalities, and world between roughly the early twenties to late thirties

AD

, with some necessary breaking of this tidy chronological delimitation, since history is never a hermetically sealed box but rather a seemingly limitless and ever-expanding web of connections. Hence, some of this chronological snapshot will naturally leak through the semi-permeable membrane of this period in order to elucidate some of the events and characters who parade through the pages of the New Testament. These were years that were eventful not only for Rome, but, needless to say, subsequently for the entire world.

The further inspiration for this study stretches back to several years ago, when I was asked by a local church during Advent to discuss some basic background to the world and story of the New Testament in a series of conversations with the pastor in front of his congregation. The intent of this work is to give those interested in the life of Jesus a larger context of the world as it was at the time of his death. What forces shaped the personalities who governed the Roman Empire? Who were the major players that shaped the world at the time during which Jesus lived, preached, and was executed? Who were the significant personalities that impacted and influenced policy from Rome to Judaea and beyond? Where does Jesus’ ministry fit in the larger context of the Roman world and its values system? From that perspective it is designed to be a snapshot of the events that occurred during his life and a few years after, and the personalities who were both at the forefront and in the background of Roman political life. It is, therefore, intended to give a macro context to the political culture of the Roman Empire during the time in which he ministered. It is certainly not intended to be a history of Roman Judaea, or Jesus’ life per se, but rather of those who governed the empire in which he lived and who influenced and assisted in its governance – from the imperial head of state, Tiberius, to the Roman centurion and local tax collector. And while it will deal with a number of personalities grounded in Roman daily life, it is not its intention to rehearse the quotidian details of the Romans’ existence.

The first chapter is a sketch of the man whom fate had appointed as the ruler of the Roman Empire during Jesus’ ministry, the emperor Tiberius, one of ancient history’s more tragic and enigmatic figures. Of necessity this chapter will have a long chronological scope that surveys Tiberius’ personality and his life that spanned some 78 years. Over his reign loomed a creature of limitless and, as it happened, disappointed ambitions, Lucius Aelius Sejanus, his praetorian prefect, a personality perhaps best described, at least as presented in our sources, as Richard the Third in a toga and sandals, but with greater charm and sex appeal. Sejanus, his meteoric rise and precipitous and dramatic fall in one of the years proposed for Jesus’ crucifixion, is the subject of the second chapter of this history. Sejanus is also significant, since he may have been responsible for the appointment of Pontius Pilate to his position as prefect of Judaea. Pontius Pilate will be the subject of the third chapter of this work, and we will seek to put him in his larger overall historical context not just as the governor of Judaea but also as a Roman governor of a typical, albeit small, Roman protectorate, and to further put him in his context as a Roman provincial administrator in general; the chapter also seeks to put him in his larger cultural and political milieu in the early decades of the first century

AD

. The local client ruler of Galilee, known officially as a tetrarch, under whose jurisdiction Jesus lived and conducted his ministry, Herod Antipas, a significant figure in the history of the gospel accounts, will be the subject of Chapter 4. The fifth chapter will attempt to understand and contextualize Jesus’ activities as a resistance movement, not so much in its Jewish milieu but in its much larger context of rebellions against Roman power: it will attempt to understand the nature of resistance to Rome, specifically resistance that could possibly be understood as having a religious element in its inspiration, motives, or leadership. If we accept the gospel accounts, Jesus’ movement can be understood as a markedly radical form of resistance that is both shocking and unique in terms of its messages of peace and inclusion, with no comparable text in the Greek or Roman world of which he was a part. The final chapter will consider collaborators drawing on three examples from the New Testament: the centurion who asks Jesus to cure his servant; the publicanus (tax collector) Matthew; and the informant Judas Iscariot. Each of these was an important civic functionary in Roman society, essential for the governance and maintenance of order and stability for the empire, and starting from each one we will expand to consider their larger roles in Roman society and governance.

There is, of course, no shortage of studies – ranging from articles to massive tomes – on Jesus, ancient Judaea, Pilate, Herod Antipas, Tiberius, Sejanus, or any of the other topics and individuals the current work will explore, although they have not yet been drawn together in such a way as to set Jesus’ life and times in their larger historical or political context. Any scholar, theologian, or writer approaches the subject, as they should, with a numbing humility before the sheer volume of works that have explored the life and times of this heretical rabbi. Yet while Jesus’ life has often been understood