archeologia: Historicity of the Gospels

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The historical reliability of the Gospels is a subject of ongoing scholarly debate. Virtually all scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus of Nazareth existed in 1st-century Judaea in the Southern Levant, but there is much disagreement around specific accounts, such as his nativity and his resurrection; the only two events with almost universal assent are that he was baptised by John the Baptist and that he was crucified by order of Pontius Pilate, a Roman prefect. According to the majority viewpoint, the three Synoptic Gospels are the primary sources of historical information about Jesus and his religious movement. The fourth canonical gospel differs greatly from the other three; it has been…

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Judaea was a Roman province from 6 to 135 AD, which at its height encompassed the regions of Judea, Idumea, Peraea, Samaria, and Galilee, as well as parts of the coastal plain of the southern Levant. At its height, it encompassed much of the core territories of the former Kingdom of Judaea, which had been ruled by the Hasmonean and Herodian dynasties in previous decades. The name Judaea (like the similar Judea) derives from the Iron Age Kingdom of Judah, which was centered in the region of Judea. Since the Roman Republic's conquest of Judaea in 63 BC, which abolished the independent Hasmonean monarchy, Rome maintained a system of semi-autonomous vassalage in the region. After Hasmonean rule…

Evidence: 21 • authority: 88