Originally Posted by Gamera

This is exceedingly tendentious. The NT authors purport to be eyewitnesses or claim access to eyewitnesses. This is no different from the claims of the authors concerning Alexander. The difference lies in the ms history. Christian mss are simply closer in time and better attested to than the mss refering to Alexander, which if I remember correctly, aren't within a 1,000 of the Macedonian's life, and whose origins are obscure.

Originally Posted by Gamera

By the way, a 600 year old tradition is hardly unusual in that area of the world. We have longer traditions than that concerning Jesus' tomb, etc. The point isn't whether the tradition is true, but that it exists at all.