An earthquake occurred in Bythinia and overthrew a great part of the city of Nica." [4] We know that Jesus was crucified in the Spring, at the time of the Passover. Note that I am oversimplifying a number of calendar complications that are worked out in Humphrey's book. Last month: Next month: new 11:37 32/06/26 UTC : 1: 32-06-27/28: Noumenia kata Selene : 2: 32-06-28/29: Agathos Daimon : 3: 32-06-29/30: Athene : 4: 32- . Certainly, other ancient writers, most notably Pliny the Elder (23 79 AD), would have written of a three hour darkness had it really happened. The answer is a resounding yes.Whether the darkness was witnessed throughout the empire or only in regions around Jerusalem is not clear. But consider how do we know anything about history? Jesus baptism was apparently not long after the beginning of John the Baptist's ministry. 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? Therefore, the reason the apostles could confidently mention a three hour darkening of the sun is because it was an actual occurrencealready knownto many in their audiences either by firsthand experience or by word of mouth. This information augments Phlegons credibility as a historian; citing sources that preceded his lifetime and were thus out of his control, as they would have recorded the event about a century before he was writing. Martinus Nijhoff. On the subject of unusually long eclipses of the sun, Pliny states the following: Eclipses of the sun also take place which are portentous and unusually long,such asoccurred when Csar the Dictator was slain, and in the war against Antony, the sun remained dim for almost a whole year(Pliny the Elder,Natural History,II, 30) [Italics added]. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. And with regard to the eclipse in the time of Tiberius Caesar, in whose reign Jesus appears to have been crucified, and the great earthquakes which then took place . document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Age of Isaiah Scroll Scientifically Predates Jesus, Earliest Records of the Gospel Accounts of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Corroborate the Modern Text, http://www.numachi.com/~ccount/hmepa/calendars/202.html, http://www.deadseaquake.info/was-there-really-an-earthquake-on-the-day-that-jesus-died/, Mara Bar Serapion Confirms Early Reference to Jesus, Rome Confirms the Existence of Christianity, Phlegon of Tralles Scientifically Established as a Credible Source on Jesus. . Next, let us consider the argument with regard to theGospel of Mark. This Is A Perfect Picture Of The Gospel, The Crown Of Thorns, And The Mocking Of Jesus, The Wound Between The 5th And 6th Right Ribs, The Fulfilment Of Prophecy Concerning The Unbroken Bones, The Anatomical And Physiological Details Of Death By Crucifixion, The Rejection Experienced By Jesus On The Cross, The Discovery By Ron Wyatt In 1982 Of The Ark Of The Covenant, A Brief Overview Of The New Covenant In The Blood Of The Messiah, And The Biblical Support For The Blood On The Mercy Seat. The Biblical Astronomer, 8(84). There are few historical records that are actually from the time of Christ but there are some records from historians from the second century AD. Thank you, Ive just been looking for information about this (below) says it took place in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, which was 33 A.D. - which can be verified by clicking on the link following Phlegon's quote in red below. So, we know that when Jesus was crucified had to be a year between AD 26 and 36 in which Nisan 14 or Nisan 15 occurred on a Friday. The 12 Foundation Stones in New Jerusalem. However, these are all unlikely candidates as their timing is off from the Olympiad calendar. (Mark 15: 33), And it was almost the sixth hour; and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. We also know from the New Testament that at that time Caiaphas was the Jewish High Priest (Caiaphas is mentioned in Jewish writings) and Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea. It should then not come as a surprise to us that Pliny, who scorned the idea of God and religion (cfNatural HistoryI, 5), would pass over in silence this world-portent now claimed by and associated with the Christian religion, which wasat that time he wrotea portent of a persecuted, criminal and maligned sect. Thus, a solar eclipse, which happens when the moon passes between the earth and sun cannot be a valid explanation for the Crucifixion darkness. The placement in time within the text is just too precise. Therefore I think we can compare it to another impressive unnatural phenomenon that happened 100 years ago in Fatima, when the sun danced on oct. 13th 1917 at the exact time Our Lady foretold months beforehand, before a huge crowd. Phlegon provides powerful confirmation, identifying the year and the exact time of day. If your sunset occurs later than sunset in Athens, the event may occur on the previous day . I will also point out that the Roman historian Thallius also recorded these events. These aspects of the problem are critical and it shows the Jewish mindset about the calendar and counting days was quite different than our modern mindset. Thus, if the quote is accurate, and Phlegon's eclipse has . The dates of the Olympic Games, recorded in Phlegon's Olympiad 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. Bugnolan Conclave in surprise move, elects Bergoglio! 2. Phlegons citation is a fragment from Olympiades he Chronika 13, ed. Sure, its certainly possible to wildly claim an earthquake happened somewhere, at some time, as they occur on Earth all the time; I could generalize that a major earthquake hit San Francisco in 1900, as I was born approximately 80 years later and have no direct source, but would I be inaccurate in claiming that? In order to make it, the skeptic must demonstrate that the other surviving ancient sources we do havecertainlywould have mentioned the darkness if it had happenedandthat there is no sufficient reason why these sources excluded it. The Date by Deduction Now, if the darkness was disputable, we might have expected Matthew to have gone into greater detail about it, perhaps as he did in relation to his account of the guards at the tomb of Jesus. We have no need to be dogmatic about precise numbers regarding His age at the time of His crucifixion. . (LogOut/ Every person needs to deal with the questions of who Jesus is and what his death means. "[4], Phlegon may have been recording an eclipse that happened in November, 29 AD, the 1st year of the 202nd Olympiad.[5]. Otto Keller, Rerum Naturalium Scriptores Graeci Minores, 1 (Leipzig Teurber, 1877), p. 101., 2 Julius Africanus, Extant Writings, XVIII in The AnteNicene Fathers, ed. This firmly connects Jesus and the gospels to Roman history. Well, for starters, it places a high degree of scientific precision for a writing that could considered to be hearsay or speculative because of its inference from another source. Phlegon would have had no way to misreport an actual earthquake that hit in the region, because the region has the history to confirm the account passed to him. This is done carefully in Humphreys book [1]. Being written within a dozen years of the Crucifixion, many of Matthews readers would have been witnesses to the three hour darkness which had fallen over the earth (cf Matthew 27: 45) years before. The facts were recorded in a historical account of Tiberius. Again, modern science has corroborated that not only is the Persian Gulf was a seismically-active area, but that a major earthquake did hit the region between 26-36AD: source :http://www.deadseaquake.info/was-there-really-an-earthquake-on-the-day-that-jesus-died/. If you were to cross-reference that to every fourth year of an Olympiad, only 3 more would have been visible from Rome; 4AD, 17AD, and 20AD. This blatantly religious appeal seemed odd and out of place. He can be contacted at StevenOReilly@AOL.com. 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. Conservative Christian speakers were a rarity on their campus and they wanted to make it rarer. Little is known about Phlegon, but he made reference to Christ. The terms "day" and "night" sort of overlapped in their way of thinking. Properly working out the Jewish calendar shows this to work for AD 33 (see C. Humphreys). And it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, that is, at their junction: how then should an eclipse be supposed to happen when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun? An unknown, massive astronomical body passing through the solar system or on long period orbit, transiting between the earth and sun? He made a famous statement to explain how days were counted for certain ceremonial purposes. Moon phase and solar year events are shown on the day in Athens. But what has an eclipse in common with an earthquake, the rending rocks, and the resurrection of the dead, and so great a perturbation throughout the universe? I believe Colin Humphreys is probably correct that the date of the crucifixion of Christ was Friday April 3, A.D. 33. Phlegon was a Greek historian who wrote an extensive chronology around AD 137. When the Moon "lines up" with the Sun it is referred to by astronomers as being at conjunction (which is the New Moon). To recap, according to Eusebius' Chronicon tables, the 2nd year of the 202nd Olympiad is equated alongside the 16th year of Tiberius. Here, the skeptics case isseeminglymore plausible on first glance. Second, though the Passover week celebrations of the Jews are well understood, no written records exist regarding the calendar and New Moon from the time of Christ, as the Jews used them. First, is what I would call deduction from all available information. At His own free-will, He with a word dismissed from Him His spirit, anticipating the executioners work. The darkness and earthquake were evident not just in Jerusalem but also in Nicea which is over 300 miles away from Jerusalem! However, we might venture to reasonably speculate why Plinyif he had known of the Crucifixion darknesschosenot to include it in his examples. source:http://www.numachi.com/~ccount/hmepa/calendars/202.html. There is only one period of darkness lasting for three hours in the history of the world. In Rome,Peter spokeas he had to the Jews of Jerusalem (cf Acts 2:14-24)to an audience that hadpriorknowledge of the three hour darkness. He lived up to the death of the emperor Augustus in 14CE and we know from Luke that his ministry began in the 15th year of Augustus successor, Tiberius. Phlegon Darkness occurred when Christ was crucified, an eclipse of the sun cannot occur during a full moon since the moon would be on the opposite side of the earth. The Romans and Jews could have falsified Peters claimhad it been false. A great earthquake occurred during Christs death. It is an important event to all Christians. Now let us consider how he might have categorized the Crucifixion darkness. [1] There are two books credited to his name:Chronicles and the Olympiads. And accurate. There too, nobody could give a plausible explanation. Here, too, we see an Apostle feared not to mention the event precisely because it was already widely known among his readers. To me it seems the place to start with deduction from all the available information is with John the Baptist. Even more fascinating is the mention of an earthquake. Phlegon's greatest work was the writing of a history book, called The Olympiades. There is more historical evidence to support the three hour period of darkness, and therefore of the Crucifixion, in 33 AD than almost any other ancient event in history! If your sunset occurs later than sunset in Athens, the event may occur on the previous day . Contact Dr Richard Kent and recommendations, Bible Prophecy Concerning The Crucifixion, The Blood Covenant In Relation To The Crucifixion, Recording of The Crucifixion by Contemporary Historians, The Three Hour Period Of Darkness Is Confirmed By Many Historians, The Ad 33 Date Of The Crucifixion According To Phlegon, A Secular Greek Historian, The Ad 33 Date Of The Crucifixion From Bible Prophecy, Caiaphas Prophesied About The Crucifixion, In Gethsemane Jesus Sweated Blood, The Disciples Slept, And Judas Betrayed Jesus Christ, Judas Iscariot Betrayed Jesus Christ For Thirty Pieces Of Silver, The Timing Of The Night Before The Crucifixion, Jesus Christ Stood In Our Place At The Six Trials, Jesus Was Condemned To Death For "blasphemy", The Crowd Choose Barabbas Rather Than Jesus. April 3 would be the Julian Calendar date; the same day on today's Gregorian calendar is April 1, 33 A.D. Julian dates are usually used by historians and Bible scholars for events in this time in history. The Text Widget allows you to add text or HTML to your sidebar. On this basis the Fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad would commence in July A.D.32 and finish in June A.D.33. The timing of this "eclipse" referred to by Phlegon is similar to the event described in the Gospels. What about all the other earthquakes that have hit California in the first part of the 20th century? He quotes Phlegon as stating it was the 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad, conflicting with Africanus who quotes Phlegon as stating it was the 2nd year; He asserts this occurred at the Passover both in the 18th year of Tiberius (spring 32AD) and in Olympiad 202.4 (spring 33AD); Within each olympiad, time was reckoned by referring to its 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year. Jerome (4th century) is quoting Phlegon's 13th book which is a translation of a historical chronicle on the 202nd Olympiad by Eusebius. But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke to them: Ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you, and with your ears receive my words. Clearly, Peter and his hearers had seen the sun darken. College Press Publishing Co. Joplin, Missouri. (LogOut/ Emma Southon: "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them". For example the first Olympiad happened in 776 and the second occurred in 772 BC. In the same hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Steven OReilly is a graduate of the University of Dallas and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Historical Testimony AD 33 is too early for his crucifixion, surely. subject for a long time and yours is the best Ive discovered till now. 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. 26:61, Matt. If his ministry was for 3 years, then he was crucified aged 36, and the darkness and earthquake would have occurred in that year of 36CE. Euse-bius, in his records of the year A.D. , quotes at length from Phlegon, who says that, in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, there was a great and remarkable eclipse of the sun, above any that had happened before. This sediment outcrop is a distinctive one-foot thick mixed layer of sediment that is tied strongly to the Qumran earthquakes onshore ground ruptures of 31 B.C. This does not necessarily coincide with the Crucifixion darkness, and it doesnt have to. event bed is another distinctive mixed layer less than one inch thick. The fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad I believe would include some of the same year as the 203rd Olympiad but the new Olympiad did not start till the Olympics event took place in the Summer. He inadvertently dated the darkness at noon on the day of Crucifixion in his work, The Olympiades. (31 B.C. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This is a text widget. Africanus refutes the attempt of Thallus to explain away this darkness as being a regular solar eclipse. [The word Christ in Hebrew is Messiah.] Christ bore our sins so that if we just turn to God through Christ and humble ourselves and repent we receive Gods forgiveness for all of our sins!! 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad. The skeptics objection is an argument from silencethat other writerswouldhave said something if the darkness had really happened. At some time during that twelve months occurred the darkness over Asia in which lay Bithynia and Nicea to which Phlegon refers. Luke clearly goes out of his way to be specific about when this year was, by relating it to six different important officials. The astronomical science tells us there was no solar eclipse over Bithynia in that year. It amounts, in effect, to asserting the following:leaving aside all the evidence youdohave, you do not have anyotherevidence. Thus, the skeptic discards all evidence against his case, and then declares victory: aha, you have nootherproof!The reality is, there is no reason to set aside the sources and evidence we do have. . Origen, Against Celsus, Book 2.33, Phlegon mentioned the eclipse which took place during the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, and no other (eclipse); it is clear that he did not know from his sources about any (similar) eclipse in previous times . [citation needed]. And I will shew wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath: blood and fire, and vapour of smoke. The Crucifixion is widely reported by numerous ancient writers. This earthquake did not center near Jerusalem exactly but it was strong enough to be very noticable in effects at Jerusalem if it did damage in Nicea. The gospel of Luke mentions that John the Baptist began his ministry in the 15th year of Ceasar Tiberius (Luke 3:1-3). Part II: The Role of the Church, Roma Locuta Est Considers: Benepapism and the Munus vs. Ministerium (EpisodeV), Is the Culture of Death creating the Remnant: Part 1 Declining births and life expectancy, Roma Locuta Est Considers: Benepapism and the Munus vs. Ministerium (EpisodeIV), Roma Locuta Est Considers: Benepapism and the Munus vs. Ministerium (EpisodeIII), 10th Anniversary of Benedict XVIs Renunciation of the Papacy, A Rebuttal of Dr. Mazzas book on Pope Benedicts Resignation, Valid? On the Circumstances Connected with Our Saviours Passion and His Life-Giving Resurrection). The term "Onah" or sometimes "Onath" is a loose way of referring to part of a day. Only the Nov. 24, AD 29 eclipse over Asia Minor can match that, and Joel's prophecy (Acts 2, 14-21) that ``the sun will be turned to darkness and moon to blood." 13Th book quoted in Jeromes translation of Eusebius Chronicle, 202 Olympad Olympiad in... 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Of Luke mentions that John the Baptist sun darken `` night '' sort of in. A historical account of Tiberius, and Phlegon & # x27 ; s eclipse.. He with a word dismissed from Him his spirit, anticipating the executioners work credited! Jesus is and what his death means of thinking to Find Them '' Luke 3:1-3 ).... By relating it to six different important officials Resurrection ) what I would call deduction all... The Roman historian Thallius also recorded these events categorized the Crucifixion of Christ was Friday April 3, A.D..! Later than sunset in Athens 776 and the Georgia Institute of Technology using your account. There is only one period of darkness lasting for three hours in the year. Also point out that the date of the 20th century of overlapped in their way referring... Had seen the sun darken history book, called the Olympiades Plinyif had... A famous statement to explain how days were counted for certain ceremonial purposes am oversimplifying a number calendar. 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