Dating the execution of John the Baptist and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ
- Autores: Nikishin V.O.1
-
Afiliações:
- Lomonosov Moscow State University
- Edição: Volume 17, Nº 3 (2025): Antiquity in the Mediterranean Region and pre-Columbian America
- Páginas: 337-355
- Seção: LAW AND POWER IN ANCIENT ROME
- URL: https://journals.rcsi.science/2312-8127/article/view/332266
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.22363/2312-8127-2025-17-3-337-355
- EDN: https://elibrary.ru/SNPCRQ
- ID: 332266
Citar
Texto integral
Resumo
The study is devoted to clarifying the chronology of such significant events of gospel history as the execution of John the Baptist and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The author tries to reconcile the conflicting indications of the sources, primarily the texts of the canonical Gospels and such works of Josephus as “Antiquities of the Jews” and “The Jewish War”, in order to build an internally coherent chronological version of the sequence of events from the beginning of the relationship between Herod Antipas and Herodias until the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that attempts to reconcile the data reported by the evangelists, without criticizing them and accepting as unconditionally true the testimonies about the lives of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, with the calculations of astronomers and the achievements of archaeologists have reached a dead end today. In this regard, there is a pressing need to once again, as impartially as possible, analyze the entire range of sources in order to finally bring clarity to this long-discussed issue. As a result of the undertaken analysis of sources and literature, the author came to the following conclusions: the romance of Herod Antipas and Herodias began in 34 or a little earlier, John the Baptist was executed in 35, and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ took place on Friday, March 30, 36 AD. The author proceeds from the fact that Christ was born in September 12 BC, when the biblical wise men could observe Halley’s Comet - the most likely prototype of the Star of Bethlehem. In this case, at the time of the crucifixion, Christ should have been 46 full years old, which is indirectly confirmed in two places by the Evangelist John.
Palavras-chave
Sobre autores
Vladimir Nikishin
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Autor responsável pela correspondência
Email: cicero74@mail.ru
ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2209-5357
Código SPIN: 8961-2880
PhD in Historical Sciences, Associate professor, Department of History of the Ancient World, Faculty of Historical Sciences
27 Lomonosovsky Avenue, bldg. 4, Moscow, 119234, Russian FederationBibliografia
- Klausner JG. History of the Second Temple. Vol. 5. Jerusalem: Ahiassaf; 1952.
- Rappaport U. Josephusʼ personality and the credibility of his narrative. Making History. Josephus and Historical Method. In: Rodgers Z, editor. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, 110. Leiden; Boston; 2007. P. 68–81.
- Schwartz DR. Composition and sources in Antiquities 18: The Case of Pontius Pilate. Making History. Josephus and Historical Method. In: Rodgers Z, editor. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, 110. Leiden; Boston; 2007. P. 125–146.
- Mason S. Contradiction or counterpoint? Josephus and historical method. The Review of Rabbinic Judaism;2003;6(2):145–158.
- Mason S. Figured speech and Irony in T. Flavius Josephus. In: Edmondson J, Mason S, Rives J, editors. Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome. Oxford, 2005. P. 243–288.
- Jensen MH. Josephus and Antipas: a case study of Josephusʼ narratives on Herod Antipas. Making History. Josephus and Historical Method. In: Rodgers Z, editor. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, 110. Leiden; Boston, 2007. P. 289–312.
- Jensen MH. Herod Antipas in Galilee: friend or foe of the historical Jesus? Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus;2007;5(1):7–32.
- Smith MJ. The political context of the Gospels. In: Harding M, Nobbs AM, editors. The Content and Setting of the Gospel Tradition. Grand Rapids, Michigan; Cambridge, 2010. P. 79–104.
- Chancey MA. The Myth of a Gentile Galilee. In: Society for New Testament Studies monograph series, 118. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
- Chancey MA. The ethnicities of Galileans. In: Fiensy DA, Strange JR, editors. Galilee in the Late Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods. Vol. 1. Life, Culture, and Society. Minneapolis, 2014. P. 112–127.
- Jensen MH. Herod Antipas in Galilee: The Literary and Archaeological Sources on the Reign of Herod Antipas and its Socio-Economic Impact on Galilee. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006.
- Neklyudov KV. The problem of Galilee in the early Roman period as a cultural and political context for the proclamation of Jesus (based on materials from Western historiography of the 19th — early 21st centuries). Ch. 2. Hristianskoe chtenie. 2016;(2):123–166. (In Russ.). EDN: VUECCP
- Reed JL. Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus: A Re-examination of the Evidence. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International, 2000.
- Chancey MA. Greco-Roman Culture and the Galilee of Jesus. In: Society for New Testament Studies monograph series, 134. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
- Aviam M. First century Jewish Galilee: an archaeological perspective. In: Edwards DR, editor. Religion and Society in Roman Palestine: Old Questions, New Approaches. New York, 2004. P. 27–47.
- Hoehner HW. Herod Antipas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972.
- Shillam MW. Imperial Matchmaker: The Involvement of the Roman Emperor in the Arrangement of Marriages between Client Kings. PhD thesis. University of New England, 2016.
- Neklyudov KV, Tkachenko AA. Irodiada Pravoslavnaya enciklopediya. T. XXVI. Moscow; 2011:651–654. (In Russ.).
- Krieger KS. Geschichtsshreibung als Apologetik bei Flavius Josephus. In: Berger Hrsg von K, Klinghardt M, Röhser G, Schreiber S, Vogel M. Texte und Arbeiten zum neutestamentlichen Zeitalter. Bd. 9. Tübingen; Basel: Francke Verlag, 1994.
- Gillman FM. Herodias: At Home in That Foxʼs Den. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2003.
- Griger MV. The social aspect of East-West interaction in Roman Judea (37 BC — 135 AD). Uchyonye zapiski Kazanskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye nauki. 2007;149(4):193–202. (In Russ.). EDN: JJWKRR
- Tkachenko AA, E.P.L., Lisovoi NN, Artyuhova TA, Korolyov AA, Turilov AA, Ustinova YuV, Ivanova YuV. Ioann Predtecha [Ioann Predtecha]. Pravoslavnaya enciklopediya. T. XXIV. Moscow; 2010:528–577. (In Russ.).
- Gvozdeva IA, Nikishin VO. Salome’s dance: on the question of family relations in Ancient Judea. In: Dmitrievskaya GA, Strogetskii VM, editors. Chuvstva dobrye ya liroi probuzhdal… : sb. dokl. Mezhdunar. nauch. konf. «Usadebnye kompleksy Rossii kak tsentry kul’tury i khraniteli material’noi i nematerial’noi kul’tury» i «XLVIII Dobrolyubovskie chteniya». Nizhnii Novgorod; 2024:198–207. (In Russ.). EDN: RVLQWK
- Nikishin VO. Rome and Judea: three episodes from the history of relations. In: Mahlayuk AV, editor. Professor Evgenii Aleksandrovich Molev i sovremennye problemy antikovedeniya: materialy nauchnoi konferentsii «Istoriko-arkheologicheskii simpozium pamyati professora Evgeniya Aleksandrovicha MolevA», Institut mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii i mirovoi istorii NNGU im. N.I. Lobachevskogo, Nizhnii Novgorod, 22 yanvarya 2022 g. Nizhnii Novgorod; 2023;187–207. (In Russ.). EDN: PKBFMV
- Schürer E. The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. — A.D. 135). Vermes G, Millar F, editors. Vol. 1. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1973.
- Bond HK. Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation. In: Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series, 100. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
- Iisus Hristos v dokumentah istorii [Jesus Christ in the documents of history]. Sost., st. i komm. Derevenskogo BG. Saint Peterburg: Aleteiya publ., 2013. (In Russ.). EDN: QUFFBR
- Humphreys CJ, Waddington WG. The Jewish calendar, a lunar eclipse and the Date of Christʼs crucifixion. Tyndale Bulletin. 1992;(43):331–451.
- Reznikov AI. Halley’s comet: demystifying a Christmas legend? Istoriko-astronomicheskie issledovaniya. 1986;(18):65–78. (In Russ.).
- Meshorer Y. A Treasury of Jewish Coins: From the Persian Period to Bar Kokhba. Jerusalem; New York: Amphora, 2001.
- Fribus TYu. Julio-Claudius through the eyes of Romans and barbarians. Antichnyi mir i arheologiya. 2002;(11):117–123. (In Russ.).
- Nikishin VO. The institution of hostage-taking in Roman political practice at the end of the Republic and at the beginning of the Empire. RUDN Journal of World History. 2024;16(3):304–315. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.22363/2312-8127-2024-16-3-304-315 EDN: JRKYAY
Arquivos suplementares
