Bible Question: Do Roman police reports or documentation exists of the crucifixion of Christ and absence of his body after burial? |
Bible Answer: Extant Roman documentation is scant, but here is a mention by the Roman historian 'Tacitus.' 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 'Chrestians' 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 Pilate, 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. - Tacitus, Annals 15.44.2-8, c. 64 AD. Peace in Christ, Machaira |