Church History · About AD 116

Tacitus Writes About Christ

Around AD 116 the Roman historian Tacitus wrote that Christus was executed by Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius. He was no friend of Christians, which makes his note one of the strongest witnesses to Jesus outside the Bible.

Read it in the Bible: Luke 23:1 John 19:6 1 Corinthians 15:3-6

About AD 116, the Roman senator and historian Cornelius Tacitus wrote that a man named Christus was put to death by Pontius Pilate while Tiberius was emperor. The line is in his Annals, book 15, chapter 44, in a section about the great fire of Rome in AD 64. Tacitus disliked Christians and had no reason to help their story. That is exactly why his short note is so valuable. It confirms the basic facts of the Gospels from a hostile Roman source.

Who Was Tacitus?

Tacitus lived from about AD 56 to about 120. He was a senator, a consul in AD 97, and later governor of the province of Asia, in what is now western Turkey. Most historians rank him as the greatest Roman historian. His Annals covered the emperors from Tiberius to Nero and was written near the end of his life, around 115 to 117.

He was careful, sharp and often grumpy. He was not writing church history. He was writing about Rome, and Christians only show up because Nero blamed them for a fire.

What Exactly Did Tacitus Write About Jesus?

After the fire of AD 64, rumors said Nero had started it himself. To shift the blame, Nero turned on the Christians. Tacitus explains who they were. In the classic English translation by Church and Brodribb, the passage says:

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. Tacitus, Annals 15.44

He goes on to describe how Christians were covered in animal skins and torn by dogs, nailed to crosses, or burned as torches at night in Nero's gardens. He even admits that people began to feel sorry for them, because they seemed to be dying for one man's cruelty and not for the public good.

What Does Tacitus Confirm About the Gospels?

In one sentence, Tacitus agrees with several key facts in the New Testament:

Christianity is named after a real person called Christ.
He was executed, and the extreme penalty in Roman terms meant crucifixion for a non citizen.
It happened under Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea.
It happened during the reign of Tiberius, who ruled from AD 14 to 37.
The movement started in Judea and spread to Rome within about 30 years.
Large numbers of Christians lived in Rome by AD 64.

Luke tells the same story from the inside.

Then the whole council rose and led Jesus away to Pilate. Luke 23:1

Is the Tacitus Passage Real or a Christian Forgery?

Almost all historians, Christian and non Christian, accept the passage as genuine. The style is pure Tacitus, and the tone is far too nasty for a Christian to have invented it. No Christian forger would call the faith a most mischievous superstition.

Skeptics raise a few points. Tacitus calls Pilate a procurator, but Pilate's real title was prefect. We know this from the Pilate Stone found at Caesarea in 1961. Most scholars think Tacitus simply used the title that was normal in his own day. Others ask where he got his information. He may have used Roman records, or he may have heard what Christians themselves said. Either way, a top Roman official treated the execution of Christ under Pilate as an established fact.

Our oldest copy of this part of the Annals is an eleventh century manuscript in Florence. That is normal for ancient Roman books. Many classical works survive only in medieval copies.

Who Else Outside the Bible Mentions Jesus?

Tacitus is not alone. Other early sources include:

Josephus, a Jewish historian writing about AD 93, mentions Jesus twice. One passage mentions James, the brother of Jesus who was called Christ. A longer passage was likely touched up by later Christian copyists, but most scholars believe Josephus wrote a core version of it.
Pliny the Younger, a governor who was a friend of Tacitus, wrote to Emperor Trajan about AD 112. He said Christians met before dawn and sang a hymn to Christ as to a god.
Suetonius, about AD 121, mentions unrest among Jews in Rome over someone he calls Chrestus. Many scholars think this is a garbled reference to Christ.

These writers were not believers. Together they give a picture that matches the Gospels in its basic outline. The FAQ on this site called Did Jesus Really Live goes through each of these sources in more detail, and it comes with a free PDF you can save and share.

Why This Matters for You Today

Some people online claim Jesus never existed. Historians who study the ancient world almost all reject that idea. Tacitus is one big reason why. He was a Roman insider who looked down on Christians, and he still recorded that Christ was executed by Pilate under Tiberius.

Of course, Tacitus only takes us to the cross. He does not tell us what happened three days later. For that, we have the eyewitness testimony the apostles passed on, which Paul wrote down within about 25 years of the event.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. 1 Corinthians 15:3 to 5

History can tell you Jesus lived and died. Faith is trusting that He rose, and that He did it for you.

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Questions People Ask

What did Tacitus say about Jesus?

In Annals 15.44, written about AD 116, Tacitus said that Christus, the founder of the Christians, suffered the extreme penalty under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius. He then describes how Nero blamed Christians for the fire of Rome in AD 64 and had many of them killed.

Is the Tacitus reference to Jesus authentic?

Nearly all historians accept it as genuine. The Latin style matches Tacitus, and the passage is so hostile to Christians that a Christian forger would never have written it. Debate focuses on where Tacitus got his information, not on whether he wrote it.

Why does Tacitus call Pilate a procurator?

Pilate's actual title was prefect, as the Pilate Stone found in 1961 shows. By the time Tacitus wrote, governors of Judea were called procurators. Most scholars think he used the title that was common in his own day.

Which non Christian writers mention Jesus?

The main early ones are the Jewish historian Josephus about AD 93, the Roman governor Pliny the Younger about AD 112, Tacitus about AD 116 and Suetonius about AD 121. Later Jewish writings in the Talmud also contain references that many scholars connect to Jesus.

Sources

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