toykilla

I have seen the Penn and Teller Bullshit episode where Michael Shermer states the glaring similarities between Jesus and Apollonius. However, I can't seem to find the source of these statements.

Some of the things claimed to be attributed to Apollonius are:
* was a messiah to his followers
* healed the sick
* raised the dead
* walk through walls
* persecuted for his beliefs
* brought to trial and crucified by Roman courts
* ascended to heaven
* returned again

Do any of these claims hold ground? If so, where would one research these ideas more?

mountainman

The calumnifying literature sponsored by Constantine,
and written by his brilliant rhetorician,his minister for
"new and strange" religious propaganda, Eusebius, was
a prelude to Constantine's succession of organised
executions of Hellenic priests and destruction of a number
of temples, near Antioch, c.325 CE. All this activity being
the normal settling run of a malevolent despot towards
the (military supremacist) council of Nicaea.

Here are some resources on
Apollonius of Tyana

Best wishes,


Pete

andrewcriddle

We know that from the time of Philostratus Apollonius was very widely accepted as a historical figure.

Hence an inscription about Apollonius from c 300 CE (nearly 200 years after his death) really doesn't add much to the evidence for his historicity.

Andrew Criddle

mountainman

I think of historicity only as a useful relative concept,
and that that historicity can be reduced to a percentage value.

The relative historicity between Apollonius and the figure
who appears first bound within the Constantine Bible
is an interesting comparison, because we are talking
about two people who presumably lived at the same
epoch in time.

See: comparitive historicity (Apollonius of Tyana c.f. Jesus of Nazareth)

In this post I used Carrier's criteria for Historicity,
which are the best I have seen anywhere so far,
to run the comparison.

At that time, I was not aware of this inscription.
Thus the assessment must necessarily be incremented
even further towards the historicity of Apollonius.

Here are Carrier Criteria:

1. Were these people an author of writings?

2. Were they a subject of biographies or hagiographies?

3. Are there inscriptions, coins, statues or other physical archeological
evidence to substantiate their existence?

4. Are they the subject of, or mentioned by extant historians?

5. Are they the subject of, or mentioned by extant writers?






Pete