Plebe

Interesting paper put forth by Roger Viklund gives more scholarly insight to the strange sayings/allusions in the New Testament.

<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JesusMysteries/files/A%20New%20Paper%20by%20Roger%20Viklund" target="_blank">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JesusMysteries/files/A%20New%20Paper%20by%20Roger%20Viklund</a>
"The Jesus Character Critically Examined and the Exploration of the Gnostic Creation of the Jesus Myth" By Roger Viklund
.." Although some will date the Gospel of Mark before the Jewish war, I consider Mark 13 to be a reference to the destruction of the temple,[xxxiv] which occurred in 70 CE. And it is also obvious that the story of the evil spirits whose name is Legion and whom Jesus casts into 2000 pigs that drown in the lake,[xxxv] refers to the 2000 men strong Roman tenth legion that was left to guard Jerusalem after the war.[xxxvi] It also had the pig as its emblem.[xxxvii]
So all of the Gospels were probably written after 70 CE."

Peter Kirby

William Harwood writes in Mythology's Last Gods: "Since the fall of the city a few months earlier [in 70 C.E.], Jerusalem had been occupied by the Roman Tenth Legion [X Fretensis], whose emblem was a pig. Mark's reference to about two thousand pigs, the size of the occupying Legion, combined with his blatant designation of the evil beings as Legion, left no doubt in Jewish minds that the pigs in the fable represented the army of occupation. Mark's fable in effect promised that the messiah, when he returned, would drive the Romans into the sea as he had earlier driven their four-legged surrogates."

Does anyone know what ancient evidence supports the claims that (A) the tenth legion had the emblem of a pig or (B) the size of this legion was 2000 men?

I am aware that the tenth legion was in the area in this time period from Josephus, but I haven't tracked down the original source for these specific claims about the occupying legion.

best,
Peter Kirby

Plebe

There are some text references available here and you can also find a photo of the flag with the pig emblem on it once you get to this web page.
<a href="http://www.mystae.com/restricted/reflections/messiah/christians.html" target="_blank">http://www.mystae.com/restricted/reflections/messiah/christians.html</a>
3)The Demoniacs at Gerasenes

The Drowning of the "Legion"
A possible argument in support of the theory that Mark is ex eventu of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E. is the passage in Mark 5:8-13. According to Mark, Jesus encountered a wild man in Gerasa, city of the Gerasenes (some manuscripts Gadarenes, other manuscripts Gergesenes) - across the lake from Galilee) possessed by unclean spirits.

"For Jesus had said to him, 'Come out of this man, you evil spirit!' Then Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?'
'My name is Legion,' he replied, 'for we are many.' And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, 'Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.'
He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned."
- Mark 5:8-13 (Matthew 8:20-32 // Luke 8:28-33)

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus exorcises two demoniacs at Gadara, city of the Gadarenes (some manuscripts Gergesenes; others Gerasenes) and the demons don't call themselves "Legion". Luke retains the Gerasa location, the single demoniac and the name "Legion" but calls the swine "a large number" and doesn't mention how many.

"...He [Vespasian] sent away the rest of his army to the several places where they would be every one best situated; but permitted the tenth legion to stay, as a guard at Jerusalem, and did not send them away beyond Euphrates, where they had been before."
- Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, Bk XII, Ch I, Sn 3

"Since the fall of the city a few months earlier [in 70 C.E.], Jerusalem had been occupied by the Roman Tenth Legion [X Fretensis], whose emblem was a pig. Mark's reference to about two thousand pigs, the size of the occupying Legion, combined with his blatant designation of the evil beings as Legion, left no doubt in Jewish minds that the pigs in the fable represented the army of occupation. Mark's fable in effect promised that the messiah, when he returned, would drive the Romans into the sea as he had earlier driven their four-legged surrogates."
- William Harwood, Mythologies Last Gods: Yahweh and Jesus

"While the eagle was common to all legions, each unit had several of its own symbols. These were often associated with the birthday of the unit or its founder or of a commander under whom it earned particular distinction, and took the form of the signs of the Zodiac. Thus the bull signifies the period 17th April to 18th May, which was sacred to Venus the goddess mother of the Julian family..."
- Graham Webster, The Roman Imperial Army (1979), p.137


XX Valeria
"X Fretensis, like XX Valeria, has, in addition to the bull and trireme, the boar as one of its emblems."
"Neptune the emblem of legion IX, and a trireme as an additional emblem to the bull on the standard of X Fretensis implies that these legions took part in the war against Sextus Pompeius..."
The explanation of the boar is unknown.
- H. M. D. Parker, The Roman Legions (1928), p. 262-263

"While the boar is not a symbol from the Zodiac panoply, there is some evidence that it was used as a symbol in this legion. This includes tile antefixes from Holt bearing a boar above the inscription 'LEG XX', and a bronze decoration in the French National library..."
- Daniel Peterson, The Roman Legions Recreated in Colour Photographs (1992), p. 54

X Fretensis later assaulted and took the cliff top fortress of Masada, where the Sicarii, the most extreme of the Zealots, had taken refuge. (It is interesting to note that six decades after the war following the Bar Kochba revolt., the emblem of the garrison legion - a boar - decorated Jerusalem's gateways.)

Parallels between Josephus and Barnabas
The normal operating strength of a legion was 5,000 not 2,000 men. While the initial reference to the wild man in Mark 5 may refer to a notable event in or around Gerasa, a gentile city in the Decapolis, the part about the legion was likely a later addition. Gerasa was not near the sea of Galilee (the lake into which the pigs supposedly rushed and drowned) but lay a distant 30 miles away. In addition, Gerasa was one of the few Hellenic cities which did not fall upon and destroy its Jewish inhabitants after the uprising began. Those who wanted to leave were actually conducted to safety (Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, Bk II, Ch XIII, Sn 5).

"The placing of this episode in Gerasa...led to several 'corrections' in the manuscript tradition. The story is one of Mark's longest and provides a good example of his rambling descriptive style. (Matthew and Luke retell the story just as effectively with many fewer words)."
- The Complete Gospels, Robert J. Miller (Ed.), p.23

"The story is strange on all counts. It is by far the most dramatic exorcism attributed to Jesus, and it combines exorcism with 'nature' - the swine. One of its details renders it unlikely. Gerasa is about thirty miles south-east of the Sea of Galilee, and there is no other large body of water around. Matthew shifts the scene to Gadara, six miles from the sea, perhaps thinking that this reduces the problem - though a six mile leap is just as impossible as one of thirty miles. I am at a loss to explain the story in the sense of finding a historical kernel."
- E.P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus (1993) p. 155

Unlike Gerasa, Gadara was the scene of a a great massacre of Jewish rebels by the Roman troops in 69 C.E. Like the pigs, the fleeing rebels were driven into the water.

"Vespasian sent Placidus with 500 horse and 3000 foot to pursue those who had fled from Gadara..." (Sn 4)
"Placidus, relying on his cavalry and emboldened by his previous success, pursued the Gadarenes, killing all whom he overtook, as far as the Jordan. Having driven the whole multitude up to the river, where they were blocked by the stream, which being swollen by the rain was unfordable, he drew up his troops in line opposite them. Necessity goaded them to battle, flight being impossible... Fifteen thousand perished by the enemy's hands, while the number of those who were driven to fling themselves into the Jordan was incalculable; about two thousand two hundred were captured..." (Sn 5)
- Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, Bk IV, Ch 7

Josephus reports that as a result of the battle "the Jordan was choked with dead", and "even the [Dead Sea] was filled with bodies." (War of the Jews, Bk IV, Ch 7 Sn 6)
The story of the demoniacs and the pigs also appears in the pseudo Gospel of Barnabas. The gospel, which may also have been written in the 1st century, does not use material from the New Testament. Here the location of the story is Capernaum and the number of the demons is given as "six thousand six hundred and sixty-six".

"Jesus went up to Capernaum, and as he drew near to the city behold there came out of the tombs one that was possessed of a devil, and in such wise that no chain could hold him, and he did great harm to the man. The demons cried out through his mouth, saying: 'O holy one of God, why are you come before the time to trouble us?' And they prayed him that he would not cast them forth.
"Jesus asked them how many they were. They answered: 'Six thousand six hundred and sixty-six.' When the disciples heard this they were affrighted, and prayed Jesus that he would depart. Then Jesus said: 'Where is your faith? It is necessary that the demon should depart, and not I.' The demons therefore cried: 'We will come out, but permit us to enter into those swine.' There were feeding there, near to the sea, about ten thousand swine belonging to the Canaanites.
"Thereupon Jesus said: 'Depart, and enter into the swine.' With a roar the demons entered into the swine, and cast them headlong into the sea. Then fled into the city they that fed the swine, and recounted all that had been brought to pass by Jesus. Accordingly the men of the city came forth and found Jesus and the man that was healed. The men were filled with fear and prayed Jesus that he would depart out of their borders. Jesus accordingly departed from them and went up into the parts of Tyre and Sidon."
- Barnabas 21:1-3

Cliff Carrington, "The Flavian Testament", has identified some interesting similarities between the story in the Gospel of Barnabas and an account in Josephus' Jewish War (below). In 69 C.E. the Roman general Vespasian and his son Titus recovered much of the territory lost to Jewish rebels a year earlier. During the campaign, Titus' forces assaulted the fortified city of Taricheae on the shores of Lake Gennesareth in Galilee. Josephus (Jewish War, Bk III, Ch X Sn 8) states that this area locally was known as Capharnaum. As the Roman soldiers poured into the city, many of the rebels, who were led by Jesus, son of Shaphat, attempted to escape.

"...Some of those that were about Jesus fled over the country, while others of them ran down to the lake, and met the enemy in the teeth, and some were slain as they were getting up into the ships, but others of them as they attempted to overtake those that were already gone aboard." (Sn 5)
- Flavius Josephus, Jewish War, Bk III, Ch X

Titus' forces sailed after the rebels who had managed to flee by boat and decisively defeated them in a pitched naval battle.

"Now those which were driven into the lake could neither fly to the land, where all was in their enemy's hand...One might see the lake all bloody, and full of bodies, for not one of them escaped...The number of the slain...was six thousand and five hundred." (Sn 9)
- Flavius Josephus, Jewish War, Bk III, Ch X


A Proof of Conversion?
George M. Lamsa advances a different explanation based on the Aramaic origins of the story.

"The demons begged Jesus, 'If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.'
He said to them, 'Go!' So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water."
- Matthew:8:31-32

"The Aramaic al means 'enter into,' 'attack,' 'chase'; but it has been exclusively translated 'enter into,' so as to imply...that the demons entered into the swine. According to the context and the style of Aramaic speech, the word al here means that, not the demons but the lunatics attacked the swine. These lunatics were Syrians or Gadarenes, whose people kept swine, which were an abomination to the Jews....As a mark of appreciation of what Jesus was doing for them and as a proof of their conversion, these lunatics were willing to destroy the herd of swine which belonged to their people. This was doubtless one reason why the owners of the swine got into a panic and urged Jesus to leave their land, lest their business be completely destroyed by more conversions to the Jewish faith. On the other hand, the demons did not need the permission of Jesus to enter into the swine any more than they needed any permission to enter into the lunatics."
- George M. Lamsa (translator), The Four Gospels : According to the Eastern Version (1933) p. xiv

(4) Masada

The Sicarri
The strategies of the Sicarii "were classical terrorist ones...The ideology was always elitist and urban, the purview of learned teachers. It is only Josephus' deliberate attempt to lump all unapproved insurgents into one great bandit mass that could mislead David Rhoads [Israel in Revolution, 1976] to conclude that 'the Sicarii were lower-class revolutionaries from the Judean countryside'."
- John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus, The Life of a Mediterranean Peasant (1991)

Yet they share a common origin with the Zealots, a lower class movement of Galilean freedom fighters formed in 6 C.E. to oppose a new tax census by Quirinius, the Roman governor of Syria.

"It was one Eleazar [son of Jairus, who was of kin to Manahem], a potent man, and the commander of these Sicarii, that had seized upon it [Masada]. He was a descendant from that Judas who had persuaded abundance of the Jews, as we have formerly related, not to submit to the taxation when Cyrenius was sent into Judea to make one..."
- Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, Bk VII, Ch VIII, Sn 1

Then, after a four decades of relative inaction, the Sicarii began a campaign of terror against Roman collaborators in the mid-fifties C.E.

"The sicarii seized it [Masada] from a Roman garrison in A.D. 66, long before the siege of Jerusalem had begun, and conducted raids from it on neighboring territories, which Josephus carefully describes. Various participants in the rebellion, including Menahem ben Judah, his nephew Eliezer ben Yair and others, and a band under Simon be Giora, repaired there from Jerusalem before or during the siege. When the capital fell to the Romans, great numbers of the Jews fled, three thousand of whom were slain in the otherwise unknown forest of Jardes, evidently as they tried to make their way to Masada."
- Norman Golb, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?, (1995) p. 131

Death over Surrender

Massada
"According to Josephus the death of the 960 inhabitants of Masada and the destruction of the palace and the possessions were the premeditated acts of all the people acting in unison. But the archaeological remains cannot be reconciled with this view. Josephus says that all the possessions were gathered together in one large pile and set on fire but archaeology shows many piles and many fires (in various rooms of the casemate wall in some of the storerooms in the western palace etc.). Josephus says that Eleazar ordered his men to destroy everything except the foodstuffs but archaeology shows that many storerooms which contained provisions were burnt. (In addition Josephus reports that the Romans found arms sufficient for ten thousand men as well as iron brass and lead -- why weren't these valuable commodities destroyed?) Josephus says that the last surviving Jew set fire to the palace but archaeology shows that all the public buildings had been set ablaze. Josephus implies that all the murders took place in the palace (unless the women and children after being killed obliged their menfolk and the narrator by marching to the palace) but the northern palace is too small for an assembly of almost a thousand people."
- Shaye Cohen, Journal of Jewish Studies: Essays in honor of Yigael Yadin Vol. XXXIII, pp. 385-405 Spring-Autumn 1982

Orthodox Judaism supports the idea of dying, or allowing oneself to be killed for a just cause, but not suicide. According to Josephus all the men killed their families, then ten of them, chosen by lots, executed the other men, and a last man killed the remaining nine then committed suicide by falling on his sword. Pot shards found with the name of Ele'azar Ben Ya'ir, the leader of the Sicarii at Masada and the nicknames of others supports Josephus' account of the drawing of lots. Josephus, however, refers to 950 defenders who perished at Masada but archaeologists have located only 25 skeletons. In addition, Josephus said that only three women and five children survived, by hiding in a cistern. It is unlikely, then, that they could have been eyewitnesses of the events related.
- from "Mysteries of the Bible", A&E

"The mass suicides at Masada [73 C.E.], at Gamala and at other sites are explained by Eisenman as resting ultimately on the uniquely 'zealot' concept of resurrection. This concept derived primarily from two Old Testament prophets, Daniel and Ezekiel, both of whose texts were found among the Dead sea Scrolls at Qumran."
- Baigent and Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception

"I mean to raise you from your graves...and lead you back to the soil of Israel. And you will know that I am Yahweh, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves...And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live..."
- Ezekiel 32:12-14

"So important was this passage deemed to be that a copy of it was found buried under the floor of the synagogue at Masada."
"In 2 Maccabees 6:18ff., a priest and teacher of the Law kills himself as an 'example of how to make a good death...for the venerable and holy laws. This incident, according to Eisenman, is the prototype for the establishment of later Zealot mentality. The principle finds its fullest expression in 2 Maccabees 7, where seven brothers submit to death by torture rather than transgress the Law:"
- Baigent and Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception

"The next said to his tormentors, 'Ours is the better choice, to meet death at men's hands, yet relying on God's promise that we shall be raised up by Him; whereas for you...there can be no resurrection, no new life."
- 2 Maccabees 7:14, 23

"We have no reason to doubt that at least some of the Sicarii killed themselves and their families, even if they did not perform the deed with the deliberation and concord alleged by Josephus. Archaeology shows that portions of all the public buildings on Masada were set ablaze, and since it is unlikely that the Romans would destroy their own loot, we may assume that this was the spontaneous act of the Jews. That some of the Sicarii sought death through battle with the Romans is a suggestion based merely on plausibility. That some of the Sicarii tried to escape is confirmed by the twenty-five skeletons in the cave [on the southern slope of the cliff].
"Sitting in his study in Rome, Josephus improved on this story. He wanted Eleazar, the leader of the Sicarii, to take full responsibility for the war, to admit that his policies were wrong, to confess that he and his followers had sinned, and to utter the blasphemous notion that God had not only punished but also had rejected his people. Condemned by his own words, Eleazar and all his followers killed themselves, symbolizing the fate of all those who would follow in their footsteps and resist Rome. This was the work of Josephus the apologist for the Jewish people and the polemicist against Jewish revolutionaries....Josephus modeled the Masada narrative in part on his own description of the Jotapata episode [where he chose surrender over death], in part on the Greco-Roman historiographical tradition. Inspired by the former, he gave Eleazar a second speech, an antilogos to the speech which he claimed to have himself delivered at Jotapata, and invented (or exaggerated) the use of lots in the suicide process. Inspired by the latter, he had each Jew kill his wife and children (a motif derived from Greco-Roman stories of one pattern) and contribute his possessions to one large pile which was then set ablaze (a motif derived from stories of another pattern)."
- Shaye Cohen, Journal of Jewish Studies: Essays in honor of Yigael Yadin Vol. XXXIII, pp. 385-405 Spring-Autumn 1982

(5) The Descendent's of Jesus' Family

The Master's People
"According to a reliable tradition in Eusebius (Church History 3.5.3) and Epiphanius, the Jewish Christian community left the Holy City at the outbreak of the Jewish War (66-70 C.E.) to settle at Pella in the Decapolis. The absence of the Jewish Christians does not appear to have been longer than six or seven years. Evidence for this duration comes from Eutychus, a patriarch of Alexandria in the first half of the tenth century. Relying on earlier sources, he reported that the primitive church of Jerusalem, under the leadership of Simon Bar-Cleophas in the fourth year of Vespasian (72/73 C.E.), returned from the east side of the Jordan to the Holy City and built a church there. This account could be true, since at this time the final resistance of the Zealots was destroyed at Masada, and the political climate in Jerusalem was calm enough by then to make a return understandable. The continuity of place traditions would have been guaranteed by Simon Bar-Cleophas, who himself was a bridge between the time of Jesus and the postapostolic period. As a matter of fact, like James, the 'Lord's brother' who led the Jerusalem community until his death in 62 C.E. (see Josephus, Ant 20.199-203), Simon was a relative of Jesus.
"The statements of the Alexandrian patriarch are supported by a report of Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis (315-403 C.E.). He also passes on interesting information about Jewish Christianity which he attributes to older sources. In the passage cited below he is writing about Hadrian's visit to Jerusalem during his second excursion to the eastern part of the empire in the summer of 130 C.E.:"
- Rainer Riesner, "Jesus, the Primitive Community, and the Essene Quarter of Jerusalem" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 202

"He found the whole city destroyed and the Temple of the Lord trampled down, except for a few small dwellings such as the small Church of God (he tou Theou Ekklesia mikra), which lies on the spot where the disciples went into the upper room (hyperoon) when they had returned from the Mount of Olives after the ascension of their Savior. Of course it was build on Zion (Sion)..."
- Epiphanius, De mensuris et ponderibus 14

"...Judah, the last Jewish Christian bishop, outlived the Jerusalem catastrophe [the Bar Kochba rebellion, 132-135 C.E.] by several years, that is until the eleventh year of the reign of Antoniunus Pius (148/149 C.E.). The designation appended to his name, Kuriakos (kyriakos), indicates that Judah was from the family of Jesus."
- Rainer Riesner, "Jesus, the Primitive Community, and the Essene Quarter of Jerusalem" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 203

"...There still survived of the Lord's family the grandsons of Jude, who was said to be His brother, humanly speaking. These were informed against as being of David's line and brought...before Domitian Caesar...Domitian asked them whether they were descended from David, and they admitted it...."
- Eusebius, The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine

Jesus's grandnephews "acknowledged their royal descent when Domitian [81-96 C.E.] arrested them for the purpose of putting into effect a plan first conceived by Vespasian of exterminated the entire Davidic family. Domitian changed his mind and released them when he concluded that they were too simple to be dangerous.
"Domitian's failure to execute the extremely competent Shimeown bar Klofas is more difficult to fathom. Perhaps he took pity on the Head Nazirite because of his advanced age and because the surviving Davidic heirs would soon enough solve his problem by dying childless. Such compassion would have been inconsistent with surviving portraits of Domitian's character; but then few historians regard it as coincidence that the Emperors of whom only unfavorable biographies survive tended to be those who took the severest measures to protect the empire from the malevolence of the Christians. Following the deaths of Shimeown (whom Trajan did execute in 105 or 107 C.E.), Jacob and Zakharyah, leadership of the Nazirites passed to persons not of Jesus' family, and this enabled the Christians finally to dismiss the Nazirites as heretics and claim that they were the true heirs of Jesus' teachings."
- William Harwood, Mythologies Last Gods: Yahweh and Jesus

"Eusebius reports that the Desposyni [the Master's people] - the descendants of Jesus's family... survived to become leaders of various Christian churches, according, it would seem, to a strict dynastic succession. Eusebius traces them to the time of the Emperor Trajan, A.D. 98-117."
- Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Messianic Legacy

Bar Kochba Revolt
"The Yishuv's second great revolt against Rome broke out between 132 and 135 C.E., during the Emperor Hadrian's rule.... The leader of the rebellion was Shim'on Bar Kosiba - known as Bar Kochba [Son of the Star] - who acted as nassi or prince of Israel."
- The Jews in Their Land (David Ben-Gurion Editor}

"Akiba, the famous rabbi who had had fixed the canon of the Hebrew Bible and had gotten the Song of Solomon accepted into the Bible c. 132 AD pronounced the Zealot Bar Kochba as the Messiah, announcing that he saw in Bar Kochba the fulfillment of the prophecy in Numbers 24:17: 'A star shall come forth out of Jacob'."
- Chris King, "The Apocalyptic Tradition"

"In Hebrew, "branch" is zemah, but the Greek term is anatole - the word Matthew uses when referring to the achronychal rising of the Magi's 'star'."
- Paul William Roberts, Journey of the Magi (1995) p. 272

This was also the same prophesy that was earlier applied during the Jewish revolt of 66-70 C.E.

"…Persian armies were on their way to provide reinforcements for Simeon Bar Khochba's troops during the second Jewish revolt-beginning in A.D. 132-when they were waylaid in a battle with marauding northern tribes. Had they reached the Zealots in time Simeon might well have beaten Rome's legions. He had done it before. Earlier in this highly organized and well-financed revolt, Simeon managed to defeat a force of nearly 12,000, effectively ridding Israel of all occupying troops and even reinstating Judaic rule in Jerusalem."
- Paul William Roberts, Journey of the Magi (1995) p. 269

"The Zealots' last great leader was also hailed as a Messiah by the renowned Rabbi Akiba; and Simeon's adopted nom-de-guerre, Bar Khochba, means 'son of a star,' a term related to another Old Testament prophecy evidently concerning two messiahs: 'the star' and the 'scepter' that shall come to Israel's rescue - both of them from David's line, too. According to recent work by Dr. Robert Eisenman…Simeon was directly related to Jesus' family."
- Paul William Roberts, Journey of the Magi (1995) p. 269

"Although many considered him to be a Messiah, Bar Kochba did not assume the royal title.
- The Jews in Their Land (David Ben-Gurion Editor}

"The revolt, as had happened sixty years earlier, had an initial success. Coins were issued decorated with a picture of the destroyed Temple with a star over its door, dated from the first, second or third years 'of the freedom of Zion'."
- John Romer, Testament: The Bible and History (1988) p. 151

Eventually the Romans marshaled their forces and inflicted an even a more devastating defeat on the Jews than during the 66-73 War.

"It is said that at the end the Roman cavalry charged crowds so dense that the blood of the slain splashed the withers of the horses. It is said also that to prevent the enslavement of their children some Jews wrapped them up in sacred scrolls and set fire to the parchments. Judea was virtually destroyed. The Romans pursued the last survivors into the desert to frightful, lonely endings."
- John Romer, Testament: The Bible and History (1988) p. 152

"'I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.' What man is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?"
- Jeremiah 9:11-12

"In practice the meant a policy of scorched earth - fields bared, trees uprooted, towns sacked, and houses destroyed - to starve into submission the rebels and their sympathizers who were isolated and encircled by the Roman legions. The Roman historian Dio Cassius tells of a land turned into a bleak wilderness, of jackals and wolves howling in the city streets. A Jew writing as long afterward as the third century C.E. summed up Hadrian's ravages in a single phrase: 'Only now are olives again to be found in Palestine."
"Jewish losses were tremendous: Dio Cassius wrote of the destruction of 50 fortresses and 985 villages, and the killing of 580,000 men. The Romans themselves suffered heavy casualties - so heavy, in fact, that in his report to the Senate, Hadrian omitted the customary formula: 'I and my army are well'."
- The Jews in Their Land (David Ben-Gurion Editor}

"After AD 135 all Jews were banished from the Holy City, forbidden even to set eyes on it. A new city called Aelia Capitolinia was raised on the ruins. New temples housed the gods of Rome, and a boar, the emblem of the garrison legion, decorated the city's gateways."
- John Romer, Testament: The Bible and History (1988) p. 152

"'Aelia Capitolina,' the pagan city that the Roman emperor Hadrian had established c. 135 C.E. after the Bar Kochba rebellion, lay to the north of the present King David Street [in the Old City of Jerusalem]. King David Street runs through a valley, to the south of which stood the first northern wall within the Gennath Gate (War 5.142-46). This archaeological picture accords with a statement of Eusebius who, in recounting his visit to Zion at the beginning of the fourth century, says that there he saw 'Roman men (probably veterans of the legion stationed in Aelia) cultivating the fields."
- Rainer Riesner, "Jesus, the Primitive Community, and the Essene Quarter of Jerusalem" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 199-200

"The broad effects [of the savage battles] were threefold: devastation of the country; decimation of the community; laws to uproot the Jewish religion and force conversion."
- The Jews in Their Land (David Ben-Gurion Editor}

A vivid prophesy of the eventual fate of Jerusalem can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls:

"Woe to us [...] has become burned by fire and overthrown [...] our distinction, and there is nothing pleasing in it, in [...] [...] his holy courts have become [...] Jerusalem, city of [the sanctuary, has been handed over] to wild animals, and there is no [...] and her avenues [...] all her fine buildings are desolate [...] there are no pilgrims in them, all the cities of [Judah...] our inheritance has become like the desert..."
- A Lament for Zion 4Q179 Frag. 1 5-12

Fate of the Nazarene Jews
"Although some semblance of a Jewish Christian bishopric seems to have survived until the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132 C.E., essentially the loss of the Temple...marked the breaking point with Judaism for at least some of Jesus' followers. There could no longer be any strong justification for Jerusalem remaining the new movement's spiritual headquarters."
- Ian Wilson, Jesus, The Evidence

Eusebius in History of the Church, says that the 15th N'tzari Paqid (leader, lit. "Overseer") was exiled with the other Jews from Jerusalem in 135 C.E. In the following centuries, the group gradually faded away.

"The N'tzarim (pop. Nazarene Jews, Matthew 2:23) were the original pro-Torah Jews who followed Y'hoshua of Nazareth.....The N'tzarim vanished from history as a distinct group in 135 C.E. when the 15th N'tzarim Pakiyd (leader, lit. 'Clerk') was exiled with the other Jews from Jerusalem. Hellenist Roman Christians seized this opportunity to install their gentile, Rome-oriented, Christian bishop in his place - and in 135 C.E. the Christian church was born of Daniel's 4th beast: Rome (Daniel 7:23)."
- Anonymous

In A.D. 318, the then Bishop of Rome (now known as Pope Sylvester) is said to have met personally with eight Desposyni leaders - each of whom presided over a branch of the Church - at the Lateran Palace. They are reported to have requested (1) that the confirmation of Christian bishops of Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus and Alexandria be revoked; (2) that these bishoprics be conferred instead on members of the Desposyni; and (3) that Christian churches 'resume' sending money to the Desposyni Church in Jerusalem, which was to be regarded as the definitive Mother Church.
"Not surprisingly, the Bishop of Rome rejected these requests, stating that the Mother Church was now Rome and that Rome had authority to appoint her own bishops. This is said to have been the last contact between the Judaeo-Christian Nazarenes and the coalescing orthodoxy based on Pauline thought."
- Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Messianic Legacy

"Into the fourth century, however, the fragmented N'tzarim remained pro-Torah Jews, opposite to the anti-Torah gentiles of Hellenist Christianity. The Church was never connected with the N'tzarim! The pro-Torah N'tzarim remained so opposite to anti-Torah Christianity that, in 333 C.E. under Constantine, the last remnants of the N'tzarim (along with Ebionites, etc.) were forced to convert to Christianity or be killed. Then the Christians began to 'change the times and the laws' (Daniel 7:25) by decreeing that Torah had been annulled by the 'New Testament' and, centuries later, by changing Shabbat to Sun-god-day, Pesakh to the festival for a pagan goddess (Easter), and adopting the birthday of the sun god (Dec. 25)."
- Anonymous

Peter Kirby

That photo of XX Valeria looks like an image of a reconstruction.

You quote:

XX Valeria
"X Fretensis, like XX Valeria, has, in addition to the bull and trireme, the boar as one of its emblems."
"Neptune the emblem of legion IX, and a trireme as an additional emblem to the bull on the standard of X Fretensis implies that these legions took part in the war against Sextus Pompeius..."
The explanation of the boar is unknown.
- H. M. D. Parker, The Roman Legions (1928), p. 262-263

Well, this adds a reference that is helpful, but I still don't know about the ancient evidence on which this is based. But since Parker's immediate concern is not Mark's narrative, I tend to assign credibility to his statement.

But I still don't know what fixes the number of that legion at 2000 at the time of occupation.

Also, does anyone know when (after the First Jewish Revolt) that legion may have left Palestine?

best,
Peter Kirby

Vorkosigan

Several sites have chronologies and other data:
<a href="http://www.livius.org/le-lh/legio/x_fretensis.html" target="_blank">Tenth Fretensis</a>

It was stationed in the Levant and stayed there to fight against Bar Kochba.

Michael

lpetrich

Another theory about that pig emblem:

That it was a way of thumbing their nose at the Jews, who considered the pig a vile animal.

Peter Kirby

I already knew from Josephus that the tenth legion was stationed in Judaea after the First Jewish Revolt, and I am now convinced that an emblem of X Fretensis was indeed the boar.

Now all that is left is: what sets the number of this legion during its occupation between 70 CE and 135 CE at the number of 2000 men? I thought that a legion normally contained 4800 or 6000 men. What evidence supports the 2000 figure?

best,
Peter Kirby

Plebe

Kirby, I am mystified as to the significance of 2000 as the number of the "swine Roman Legion" and was only able to find this and quote below it. Even further below my quotation is a link to the History of X Fretensis. Can we be peering into some "covert code of communication" as it applies to the bishop mentioned being there by 325?
<a href="http://www.ncsu.edu/ncsu/chass/history/rapweb/conclusions.htm" target="_blank">http://www.ncsu.edu/ncsu/chass/history/rapweb/conclusions.htm</a>
.."The 4th century clearly marks a turning point in the history of Aila. The domestic and industrial complexes in the northern sector of the site (Areas B and M) were permanently abandoned. There seems no obvious explanation for this abandonment other than the continued process of site migration from northwest to southeast that is apparent as early as the 4th century BC with the abandonment of Tall al-Khaylayfi (Parker 1997b). Although admittedly fragmentary, the evidence suggests that the focus of settlement shifted several hundred meters to the south. A large public building (church?) was erected in Area J and an adjacent cemetery established in Area A. The presence of a bishop by 325 must also have had economic implications for the city. The legion X Fretensis was transferred from Jerusalem to Aila. This unit by then may have numbered only 1,000-2,000 troops, the estimated strength of contemporary frontier legions. This force, plus the soldiers' families and camp followers, must have represented a sudden substantial increase in the city's population with some impact on the urban economy. The legionary presence guaranteed a regular influx of cash into the local economy and served as a major market for diverse products and services."


<a href="http://www.quiknet.com/~fifi/index10.htm" target="_blank">http://www.quiknet.com/~fifi/index10.htm</a>
HISTORY OF LEGIO X FRETENSIS
Legio X Fretensis derived its name from the Fretum Siculum. This is the water channel located between Italy and Sicily, now called the Straits of Messina.
Legio X Fretensis was reported to have been officially formed sometime during 712 or 713 AUC (41 to 40 BC) by Octavian. The "bull" symbol on the Vexillum standard indicates that it was probably organized during the time period of 17 ApriI to 18 May, as this is the zodiac sign sacred to Venus, the goddess mother of the Julian gens.

An additional emblem, the trireme, was also used. This has been interpreted to represent the involvement of Legio X in the war between Octavian against Sextus Pompeius, in 717 AUC (36 BC), in the Straits of Messina, off Navlochus, in Sicily. Each side had about 300 ships. But Octavian had Marcus Vispanius Agrippa, the inventor of the iron grapnel. This device consisted of a heavy beam with a large spike at the far end. The grapnel, attached to a heavy line, was thrown over on the deck of the enemy ship and the line drawn tight until the grapnel caught and held fast in the wooden planking. The use of this device afforded Octavian's troops a tactical advantage. When engaging the enemy ships, Octavian's naval forces would hook on tight to the opponent's deck. It now provided them with a bridge for his soldiers to cross over and thus defeat the enemy.

As part of Octavian's army, over the years, Legio X acquired two more emblems to display: a dolphin and a boar.

After this naval battle, Legio X was stationed at Mylae, Sicily. Then it was moved to Navlochus in the following year. From here it was transferred to Actium in 722 AUC (31 BC). This was followed by another move to serve in the Macedonia region in 723 AUC (30 BC).

No one knows for sure when Legio X was sent to be stationed in Syria. We do know that by 759 AUC (6 AD) Legio X had made Syria its home base, along with the Legio III Gallica, Legio VI Ferrata, and Legio XII Fulminata. Nearby in Egypt two additional legions were stationed. They were the Legio III Cyrenaica, and Legio XXII Deiotariana. Among their many duties of maintaining the peace in this volatile area was the vital protection of the corn supply being exported to Rome.

It is a known fact that it came to pass in those days of 749 AUC (4 BC) that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all of the Roman world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirnius was governing Syria. Roman soldiers were ordered into Judaea in order to conduct this special census issued by Caesar. The commanding Legatus of Legio X Fretensis was P. Sulpicius Quirnius. Some cohorts of Legio X were stationed at Cyrrhus, on the vital trade route from Antioch to Zengma, one of the chief places for crossing the river Euphrates. It will be our contention that the IV Cohort was utilized to maintain a Roman military presence in Judaea, and especially in Jerusalem, under the command of Pontus Pilate.

Roman records of identification for Legio X cover a time period of 250 years. Following our designated time of 784 AUC (31 AD) Legio X was ordered north for involvement in the Parthian campaign of 809 to 811 AUC (56 to 58 AD). Legio X participated in the siege and capture of the Parthian capital of Artaxata. The Roman commander Corbulo, reported that there were insufficient troops to properly garrison the captured capital. So he ordered the city center to be razed, with the city inhabitants to be spared their lives.

Shortly thereafter, Legio X was moved to Cilicia (now located in southeast Turkey). Then in 816 AUC (63 AD)Legio X was ordered to return to Syria. In 819 AUC (66 AD), the emperor Nero had planned an expedition against the Ethiopians in Africa. Thus Legio X, along with the Legio V Macedonia, found themselves stationed in Alexandria, Egypt. But a Jewish rebellion necessitated their deployment into Judaea. At first they were to set up a winter camp at Ptolemais. Due to the large number of legions being mobilized here, Legio X relocated to the port city of Caesarea, in Samaria. In command of Legio X was M. Ulpius Trajanus, the future governor of Syria and the father of the future emperor Trajan. The overall commander, Vespasian, had gathered his legions because of the increasing friction of an impending Jewish revolt.

The war of the Jews against Rome did not begin suddenly. Ever since the death of Agrippa I, and the ensuing rule of the first Roman procurator, there had been many clashes of short duration between Romans and Jews. Even in relatively quiet times the land seemed to seethe with an undercurrent of rebellion. The procurator Florus ignited this major revolt by attempting to set up a statue of the Emperor in the Holy Temple of Jerusalem. This time, the Jewish people refused to take any more mistreatment at the hands of Florus.

Even though several factions of Jews continued to disagree amongst themselves, they finally united sufficiently enough to successfully rout the Roman garrisons stationed in and around Jerusalem. These initial Jewish victories sent shock waves throughout the Roman Empire. The Emperor knew that the rebellion from this tiny nation had to be stamped out quickly, lest other provinces of Rome got the wrong impression about the nature of Rome's true strength.

Given the best of Rome's fighting forces and virtually unlimited power, Vespasian departed for Judaea. In the campaign to capture Jerusalem, Vespasian had gathered together squads of cavalry from Caesarea and Syria, and in addition, he had some 15,000 elite troops including archers and soldiers to make an effective fighting force of sixty thousand men. Now confident of his military strength, he marched upon Galilee in 820 AUC (67 AD). Here Legio X was first used in the capture of Tarichacae and Gamala, located on the west and east shores of the Sea of Galilee. Vespasian then based Legio X at Scythopolis, just west of the Jordan River.

During this same year, the other legions were successful in taking Jotapata, where the Jewish historian Josephus had made his defiant stand. The city was taken on July 20th, after forty thousand Galileans had perished. This city was razed to the ground. Next to fall to the Romans was the important city of Jaffa.

After these victories, Vespasian made haste to return to Caesarea, for his winter headquarters with two of his legions, Legio X and Legio V. Vespasian had succeeded in crushing the general revolt throughout Judaea. Only Jerusalem and the zealot fortress of Masada remained outside of Roman control. But at about this time the Emperor Nero had been overthrown and pursued to the point that he had taken his own life. Now a civil war was rocking the Roman Empire. After a revolt by Vindex in Gaul, and the brief reigns of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, the Eastern legions proclaimed Vespasian Emperor. Returning to Rome, Vespasian within a year successfully secured the throne. He had not forgotten the rebellious Jews holding out in Judaea. Thus he sent his son Titus to finish the job of crushing this uprising once and for all.

Now came the important campaign to capture Jerusalem. With four legions under his command, Titus stationed them on the hills surrounding the city. Legio V was positioned slightly to the north. Legio X set up their fortress camp on the Mount of Olives. Titus located his Headquarters on Mount Scopus, with Legio XII and Legio XV. However, Titus did not trust Legio XII to be dependable after their defeat with Cestius Gallus, and thus he dispatched them to nearby Melitene

During the siege of Jerusalem, Legio X gained fame in the effective use of their various war machines. It was noted that they were able to hurl stones, which weighted a talent (about 55 lbs.), a distance of two furlongs (440 yards) or further. The projectiles of their ballistae caused heavy damage to the ramparts, especially after someone got the idea of blackening the white stone missiles so that the besieged defenders would not be able to see them coming at them from a distance and have time to take effective cover. Josephus reported seeing a man standing on the wall who had his head knocked off and the force of the blow had carried his head a distance of three stadia (550 yards). It should also be noted here that Josephus was considered to be prone to exaggeration.

The siege of Jerusalem lasted five months and the besieged population experienced all the terrible rigors of starvation. Finally, the combined assaults of the legions succeeded in taking this holy city. With the successful capture of Jerusalem in September of 823 AUC (70 AD), there remained only the defiant fortress of Masada. For now, Titus turned over the devastated city of Jerusalem to Legio X Fretensis.

During the Spring of the following year, Titus ordered Legio V and Legio XV to return to their respective provinces. Titus himself then set sail for Rome. A new military governor was now appointed from Rome, Lucilius Bassus, whose assigned task was to undertake the "mopping-up" operations in Judaea. Naturally, he used Legio x for these actions.

There still remained some small islands of resistance besides the fortress Masada. Thus Legio x undertook the taking of Herodion, crossed the river Jordan, to capture the fortress of Machaerus, which was located on the shore of the Dead Sea. Due to illness, Bassus did not live to complete his mission. Flavius Silva replaced him.

Now Silva moved against the last Jewish stronghold, Masada, in the autumn of 825 AUC (72 AD). He used Legio x, auxiliary troops, and thousands of Jewish prisoners. When orders for surrender had failed, Silva established several base camps and a wall of circumvolution completely around the seemingly invincible fortress atop the high plateau protected by almost sheer, vertical cliffs.

This last stronghold of Jewish rebellion had been subjected to brutal and psychologically devastating attacks. Yet in the end, they managed to maintain their unshakable belief that "We shall know no master but God." When the Romans finally broke through the walls of this citadel, they encountered only an eerie silence. It was to be a hollow victory, for the Jewish defenders had chosen death with a mass suicide, rather than become slaves to a Roman master.

After the conclusion of the Jewish revolt, Legio X was garrisoned at Jerusalem. Their main camp was positioned on the Western Hill, located in the southern half of the old city, now leveled of all former buildings. For now, Legio x was the sole legion assigned to maintain the peace in Judaea.

During Trajan's campaign against the Parthians, Legio X was used in expanding the empire to its greatest extent. After Trajan's death in 870 AUC (117 AD), the new emperor, Hadrian, made defensive moves to protect the existing Roman Empire. It was felt that the Roman Empire had grown as large as was possible to be ruled by a single man. In fact, the Roman legions actually withdrew from the regions across the Danube later in the Second Century A. D.

Finally in the year 883 AUC (130 AD), Emperor Hadrian made an imperial tour of his eastern lands, traveling through Judaea, Arabia, and Egypt. To prepare for his royal visit, the Romans made extensive repairs to the road system in Judaea, including the construction of a new city where Jerusalem had stood. Legio X was employed in this reconstruction phase. The Romans decided to rename the city Aelia Capitolinus. The name was derived from the emperor's own first name, Aelius Hadrianus, and for Jupiter Capitolinus, the emperor's favorite god. This renaming was no doubt a major cause of discomfort to the remaining Jewish inhabitants. Two years later, the Jewish people revolted against this and other instances of harsh Roman rule and took the new city by storm.

This second Jewish revolt, called the Bar Kochba Revolt, involved several additional legions and some very serious fighting. The Romans suffered terrible losses but they finally succeeded in retaking the city three years later.

Legio X was made the permanent unit of the Roman Province of Judaea. After the Bar Kochba Revolt, Legio X was garrisoned in Aelia Capitolinus, while the northern region was to be guarded by Legio VI. Legio X apparently survived these devastating events, for it was still reported to be stationed in Judaea in 903 AUC (150 AD) and again in 968 AUC (215 AD). But by now the area was known as Syria Palestina.

When we come to the year 1053 AUC (300 AD) we still find Legio X stationed in Palestine. Later on it is moved to Aila (present day Elat) along the Red Sea, to guard the critical Scorpion Pass. At this time, during the late empire, a legion only consisted of perhaps 1,000 men in the mobile field deployment and around 3,000 men in the territorial legions. Beginning in the late Third Century and continuing on through the Fourth and Fifth Centuries, the Roman legions came to be composed to an increasingly greater degree of barbarian recruits under Roman officers while it became harder and harder to recruit native Roman troops. In fact, some units, the federated troops, were barbarian forces enlisted wholesale, keeping their own leaders as officers. With the Romans' sad abdication of their responsibility to defend themselves, it was not long before the once proud Roman Empire in the West deteriorated into a weak state possessing but a shadow of its former glory under a weak succession of puppet emperors

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This page modified on November 30, 2000

Plebe

Kirby, Please visit this site for more info. I think there is more truth to a coded language as an explanation for the "2000 Swine Legion" it's just a matter of decoding it. Let us know what you find in addition to what has been posted so far. This link I was referred to from the thread about Zoroastrianism here at infidels.
<a href="http://www.askwhy.co.uk/christianity/0330Healing.html#Ailments%20as%20Essene%20Code" target="_blank">http://www.askwhy.co.uk/christianity/0330Healing.html#Ailments%20as%20Essene%20Code</a>
"Ailments as Essene Code
The key to understanding the exorcisms and healing miracles of Jesus is the appreciation that the Essenes disguised almost everything they did in a coded language. It is not unusual for resistance forces to use code to prevent the occupying forces from understanding their intentions. It is a necessity. The Essenes considered themselves prophets who could discern God's signs in the scriptures of his Appointed Times. They were brought up scripturally and thought scripturally, so that when it came to deliberately confusing the Roman enemy, they simply used a scriptural code. This was seen simply as a continuation of their comprehension of signs in the law and the prophets.

The point about speaking in an arcane scriptural code is that Jews would understand but foreigners would not. Jews would understand the coded allusions but no one not brought up as experts in the Old Testament and the Apocryphal books would have no chance of understanding. This is what was meant when Jesus spoke in parables. The minority of Romans who understood Aramaic or Hebrew could hear what Essenes were saying but would not understand it.

The exorcisms and healing miracles have been understood as miracles because their real meaning was coded and gentile bishops deliberately chose to ignore the code, even if they knew it. It suited them that their new god proved his worth by miraculously healing people of disabilities and disease. In fact he healed them of resignation and discouragement. Many Jews had given up. They thought God had gone and left them in the lurch, prey to a succession of foreign invaders. Jesus showed them they were wrong and, through building up their hope for freedom, healed them of their religious apathy and national despondency. In fact, he won them over to the cause of Jewish nationalism—only God could rule God's people..."

Plebe

For: Peter Kirby or any Infidels.org Moderators with info on this.
Peter, Have you done very much research as it relates to the topic of "Propaganda of the New Testatment?" I think it may hold clues as to the meaning of the legion of swine/X Fretensis and more.
I keyed in just this phrasing into a few search engines and there's a bunch of stuff there.
Here's a brief sampling and I'd be interested in any commentary you can make. Thanks!
<a href="http://www.infidels.org/infidels/feedback/1996/september.html" target="_blank">http://www.infidels.org/infidels/feedback/1996/september.html</a>
[This message was in response to the "July 1996 Feedback".]
The reading of July 1996 comments left me wondering. Why aren't the sources that mention Jesus outside the NT questioned? After all Christianity is for all purposes a Roman invention. The empire had total control over every written document and could have changed or written anything to meet its needs. One could post-date from 350 AD as to say it was written at an earlier date. Can anyone really prove who Josephus was? Wasn't he Roman? (Flavius) doesn't sound all that Jewish.
The Piso family argument (piso@juno.com) which I have read, has some merits. The basic point to remember is that without Roman backing. (THE state religion) Christianity would not exist. To defend it today still says you support the Roman Government. I wouldn't want to break any fundamentalists hearts, but there is in reality only one true Church. All forms of Christianity lead to Rome.
Read the papal writings on the U.S. Constitution. The Vatican hasn't to date accepted the U.S. of A. At least I haven't found a document that specifically states such a point. If someone could point me in the right direction I would appreciate it. Also I have been looking, but is there a web site that contains ALL the papal and church writings. I've had luck with hit and discover, you know, the Columbus method of surfing the web, but a one stop shopping site would be nice.
Thanks.
<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/wi/famtree/rhet-nt.html" target="_blank">http://www.angelfire.com/wi/famtree/rhet-nt.html</a>
DELPHI FORUMS
The Roman Piso Forum
================================================== ==============
RHETORIC & PROPAGANDA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
(08/05/00)
Before I start to illustrate the examples of rhetoric and propaganda
that are contained within the New Testament, I’d like to say a few
words about just how amazing it is to my mind that someone has not
worked on this before in a widely public work. And the same goes
for the listing of correlations between the works of Flavius Josephus
and the New Testament. These two areas to me would seem the most
obvious to even the most ordinary person, with even the a very
minimal level of background knowledge about this subject.
Never did I think that I would have to do so much of the basic
ground-breaking work myself… but so much seems to have escaped
the attention of so many for so long. I hope that these areas will no
longer be taken for granted or taken lightly and that they may be
taught and taken as the examples that they are.
I realize that most persons at this point in time have no background in
ancient history, let alone a good working knowledge of the true history
of those times and so, what may be found by those persons are rather
limited. But as for the things stated above, those should have been
found even by those of the Old Classical Scholarship - at least to some
degree.
And as for myself, what is foremost in my mind about this is what we
find in the New Testament that is aimed towards the Jews. We must
must never forget just how much knowledge that the authors of the
New Testament possessed. They were keenly aware of just what and
how much they could say in the NT about any certain thing without
giving away what they were doing.
And so, instead of saying (in the NT) that "the Jews were the enemies
of all Romans and Christians" outright in the NT, they merely
‘indicated’ that with various statements that were aimed against the
Jews. The reason that they did not want to state this clearly and in a
forthright fashion in the NT is because that would be (leave) evidence
that would too strongly show the purpose of the statements themselves.
What they resolved to do then was to make ‘indicating’ statements
against the Jews in the NT so that those could be expounded upon
orally (vocally) in churches and other meeting places (such as military
camps), without leaving too much WRITTEN evidence as to the true
purpose of those "antisemetic" statements. They were not put there for
a benign or arbitrary reason, they actually served a critical purpose.
Before we go too far in this article, we should make sure that we first
understand just what ‘rhetoric’ is as well as ‘propaganda’, so that we
can appreciate our ability to identify it and so that we will not fall victims
of it ourselves in the future. Too many times we’ll find others using
and even use the word ‘rhetoric’ ourselves to mean simply something
that we do not understand or generically even to statements made by
others that merely ‘appear’ to us to have been fabricated. That is not
what rhetoric truly is. Rhetoric is an expressly devised statement that
was meant by the designer of that piece of rhetoric to achieve a desired
effect upon those who hear, read and/or use that statement - it is the
encapsulation of an idea or ideology that may be wholly or in part untrue
or non-real, but which is meant to appear ‘real’ and valid. Rhetoric is
also found in the form of "questions", and this is most effective rhetoric
because the hearer or reader of it is left to ‘ponder’ the statement and
the ‘answer’ is almost always a foregone conclusion because of the
particular words used in the question. The average person is taken in
very easily by rhetoric simply because they are uneducated to it.
Webster’s dictionary gives a luke-warm definition of rhetoric and so
persons reading that definition never know the full and true meaning
of what it really is. The dictionary says; "the art of effective and
persuasive use of language." It should say something more like this;
"the creative use of words, phrases, questions and other statements
used for the express purpose of deception." I realize that some persons
today do use rhetoric and propaganda in political areas as a means to
achieve some ‘good’ goals. However, they should not HAVE to. The
reason that this may become necessary is because THAT rhetoric is
used to ‘counter’ what has already been or is being used by the other
side. And so, until we are ALL able to automatically ‘see’ and
understand rhetoric and propaganda, we will be subject to it and the
masses will be taken in by it. That is why rhetoric and propaganda
should be an essential that is taught in our public schools. Instead, we
see the opposite - we see the attempts to bring into schools rhetoric
which was designed to "dumb them down" (i.e., the bible & prayer).
Webster’s now defines "propaganda" as, "the systematic widespread
promotion of a particular doctrine or idea." Or "material distributed to
win people over to a particular doctrine." Again, another less-than-
correct definition. "Propaganda" used to be truly and correctly defined
as "the systematic promotion of HARMFUL and/or UNTRUE doctrines,
ideas, or material." Or as a definition for the HARMFUL and/or
UNTRUE material itself. Those who control the meaning of words,
as those who may control and CHANGE the meaning of words in our
dictionaries - control the perception of those words by the masses. Even
this, is a tool that is used to control the minds of the masses. Surely not
EVERYTHING being promoted can be defined as "propaganda"!!!
Now, for a few examples of rhetoric & propaganda in the New Testament.
(1) Antisemetism in the New Testament. Some of this is overt and fairly
obvious, while some is very well hidden. There was a major war going
on when the New Testament was being written. Although there are
rhetorical devices related to this war in the NT, a good deal of it is
propaganda.
When I think of a piece of propaganda in the New Testament that also
serves the purpose of a rhetorical device, I think of where the New
Testament tries to make the case that IT was/is a fulfillment of a its
own prophesy. The Gospels make it that the [war] destruction of
Jerusalem and the Temple were a fulfillment of THEM, rather than
that they were written as a part of the war! How do we know that
this is the case? Because THEY (the Gospels) were written AFTER
THE FACT and so could not have contained predictions about what
would happen, because they had already happened.
This is a piece of propaganda produced specifically for the purpose
of giving the Roman soldiers, Christian believers and others who made
up the masses in the Roman empire the illusion that being on the side
of Rome against the Jews (in the war) was something that ‘God’ both
wanted and demonstrated to them.
The author of the Gospel of John makes the Jews say in his "Gospel";
"This man is performing many signs. If we leave him alone like this
the whole populace will believe in him. Then the Romans will come
and sweep away our temple and our nation." (John 11:47-48)
The Gospel of John is known to have been written at a much later
date than when this occurred. The Temple was destroyed in the year
70 CE. The Gospel of John was written circa 105 CE accoring to
Abelard Reuchlin.
(2) The making of more Christians. Using the line in Genesis about
going forth and being ‘fruitful’ is has been used for hundreds of years
to get Christians to produce more Christians, and is still used in a very
effective way still today (most especially by the Catholic Church). So,
just by having babies and/or big families, more Christians are produced
from existing Christians. Secondly, they are commanded as a part of
the ‘requirement’ of being a Christian to proselytize and ‘convert’
others. This is an example of rhetorical devices in the Bible and the New
Testament specifically to achieve goals that were thought essential by
the authors of the bible to ensure that Christianity ‘grew’. Never do you
see an ‘honest’ and straight forward statement in the bible. It is all
made very slick and ‘asks’ all of the right things from believers in order
to reach its OWN goals. Remember, it was a family of the world’s
greatest con artists who were creating the bible. They were not just
thinking of things in their own time, but of the future of their own
family being able to make a good living off of believers. To do this
effectively, they knew that they would need to ensure that more and
more Christians were being created. By the same token, the more
Christians there were within a populace, the easier the populace would
be to control and manipulate on a political level.
(3) Tithes and bequests. This is one of the big differences that came
with the invention of Christianity. Though this existed previously in the
form of ‘sacrifice’, that was not enough for them. So, a whole new
system was developed. One where instead of the offering of produce and
pieces of livestock and the occasional clay pot. Those would be replaced
by cold hard cash. So, the ‘sacrifice’ was changed to ‘tithe’. And even
a percent, a fixed amount was arrived at by comparing the tithing
amount to the amount given in taxes. And the idea of bequests were
pushed orally by the priests. This meant that not only would the church
receive money on a regular basis, but that they would be most likely to
receive real property and the accumulation of wealth acquired during
the lifetime of their ‘faithful’. Again, this was and still IS a con game!
And we need to expose this fact to everyone that we know so that it can
one day END.
Do you want to know about a rhetorical device that was put into the
New Testament in order to get persons to both donate heavily to the
church and to get persons to make bequests to the church? Here it is;
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle that it is for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of god (i.e., "heaven")." This bit
of rhetoric was put in three separate places in the New Testament to
make sure that it would NOT be missed. It is in Mark 10:25, Matt. 19:24,
Luke 18:25. This rhetoric was placed into the New Testament so that
persons would sign a bequest and therefore technically be "poor" when
they died, that way, they could go to ‘heaven’. What a scam! The whole
of the New Testament is one long con designed to manipulate persons
to the fullest!
(4) Rhetoric in general. The rhetoric of the book of Acts is one example
that has been noted by scholars. The "Acts of the Apostles", was a whole
book with a specific rhetorical purpose - to give the illusion that
Christianity was ALREADY known (and accepted) by the masses
throughout the Roman empire. The purpose of this illusion was to create
word of mouth advertising of the religion as a controversial issue among
the masses. (See "The Bible as Literature: The New Testament," by
Buckner B. Trawich, 1968, pg. 69).
Apparently small, simple phrases were used as rhetoric as in this example;
"… full of grace and truth." (John 1:14). Though it is true that these
authors did indeed leave us works that are "full of (their) "grace"" (sic),
and also full of truth regarding history as well, it is only there for those
who "hath wisdom" and can "see" (determine) it for themselves. And so,
there is really an ‘omission’ in this statement that can also be seen as an
‘inference’. The whole statement would then be; "… full of grace and
truth FOR THOSE WHO CAN SEE AND UNDERSTAND IT, BUT NOT
FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT." And the truth was that very few persons
could see and understand what that "grace" and "truth" really was/is. By
the way, this is also what is meant by the "secret" or "mystery of the
Gospels". What is meant by ‘grace’ is what the persons who were playing
‘god’ were kind enough to leave to us in order to find out that the whole
thing was indeed a fraud. Because these authors had complete control over
ALL that they wrote and whatever they chose to leave to us in order for
us find out just what they had done - they called this ‘grace’. Their ‘grace’
which they most graciously gave to us, when they did not have to. They
wanted to make sure that we understood that. And the "truth" was/is what
we can render from their writings once we have eliminated the untrue (by
deduction). So, the effect of the example here is the deception of the
masses purposefully and deliberately so as to give them the illusion that
they were indeed receiving something great and good - ‘grace’ and ‘truth’
when in fact they were being ‘hustled’. And that, is an example of a
rhetorical device.
Here is a quick list of some of the ideologies that they used to make the
whole ‘machine’ that they created work:
The idea of a "soul", for the purpose of making people think that they had
something of themselves as individuals to ‘save’. That creates the NEED
for that something to facilitate that - and so, you are given that by way of
the belief in Jesus.
The idea of Heaven and Hell. Remember, I said that these were things
that they ‘used’, not that the creators of Christianity necessarily created.
The Christian religion was a ‘refinement’, a largely improved version of
the older religions. Heaven (or rather the idea of it) existed previously in
the form of ‘the elisian fields’ for Greeks & Romans, and was given other
names elsewhere. And Hell, was previously "Hades". But these were not
real either. The Bible and the New Testament specifically reveals by way
of "disclaimers" that Heaven and Hell do not exist. The New Testament
makes openly false promises of life after death and so on.
The very idea of Heaven as a place to live in after death is a rhetorical
device created for the purpose of convincing people that they have to do
and/or believe certain things in life in order to ‘get there’. And with
Hell as the alternative if you do not… well, that is a pretty persuasive
ideology for those who don’t have a clue about any of this.
And then there is the idea of "miracles", that anything can happen in
your favor as long as you ‘believe’. This is also a part of the whole idea
of supernatural things and superstitions to confuse the mind with as
with the idea of angels, ghosts, demons and the devil/satan. You may
notice that Heaven is only offered to those who ‘believe’. That, is
rhetoric, because it offers no other choice to persons in order to obtain
the preset ‘goal’ of a life in Heaven. But it does not answer what
happens to those who never knew about Christianity in the first place.
We know of several devices that were used to persuade persons into
believing that should be mentioned here as well. One of those is that
long tubes have been found at ancient alters and other religious ruins
were persons behind the altars were talking into the tubes to those who
were there to worship and sacrifice. The tubes made the voice of the
person speaking resound, sounding loud and authoritative; like the voice
that one would imagine a ‘god’ to have. It is obvious that these were
used to deceive persons with. Another example would be where certain
"signs" from ‘god’ are referred to. Among these signs are all manner of
natural occurrences - those same things that we take for granted today;
thunder & lightening, earthquakes, erupting volcanoes, shooting stars,
lunar and solar eclipses. One of the more powerful of these ‘signs’ were
the eclipses as they would appear to the common person to happen
ONLY when the high priest said they would; and that was when ‘god’
wanted the masses to do what he wanted. And this ‘prediction’ by the
priest that this was going to occur before it actually did, was used as a
means to convince even the most ardent disbeliever that ‘god’ indeed
was giving them a ‘sign’. We know now that the rulers and priests in
ancient times actually knew when these eclipses would happen before
they did, and that is because they had been keeping records of them for
thousands of years! And we know today too, when these will happen by
the use of this same method - they run in cycles and therefore can be
‘predicted’ in advance. Religion is now, and always has been just a big
con game. The Bible is literary "Snake Oil". And THAT is the truth.
The emotional ‘weight’ of all of these ‘goodies’ that Christianity offers
is very hard for the average person to resist… IF, they believe them to
actually be TRUE. But they are not. They are there for persuasion only.
Many persons have been thoroughly indoctrinated into a ‘god way’ of
thinking by exposure to persuasive language, rhetoric and many other
things that have been ‘woven’ into the very fabric of society. They may
have no idea of what life would be like without the idea of a god or any
of that whole ideology. But the reality of this is that what reality and
truth without Christianity and religion would offer is: No God, which
also means no devil or demons, no supernatural, no hell, but still the
possibility of a heaven of our own making. And the elimination of the
largest and longest lasting scam and crime against humanity.
These authors of the New Testament were ‘slick’ and experts in the art
of manipulation. And now, how can they manipulate people unless they
‘believe’ and believe beyond all else? And so, they worked very hard on
the "faith rhetoric". They did all that they could to ‘blur’ the meaning
of and concept of ‘faith’ with other things such as ‘hope’ (1 Cor. 13:13)
and also of equating faith with ‘power’ (Acts 6:8), and of making it
appear to be a ‘virtue’ to be developed and ‘strengthened’ (Luke 8:48).
They took the trouble of making (giving) and example of a ‘doubter’ in
the form of Thomas (as in ‘doubting Thomas’ in Mark 3:18, Matt. 10:3,
Luke 6:15). Persons would be ‘complimented’ on their "great faith" in
the New Testament (Matt. 8:10). Faith was even given as something that
was semi-logical by explaining what it ‘is’; "Now faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). But
that of course, is just rhetoric. It really makes no sense at all. All it really
‘says’ is that air is air. That nothing is still nothing, no matter what you
call it. But it gives the impression to the uninformed reader that ‘faith’
is really something, as if it is what you make of it and not an exercise in
futility. By the way, that passage is not how is was in the original texts.
Hebrews 11:1, was stated this way originally; "Now faith is of things
hoped for, the assurance of things not seen." The rest was added and
changed by later "interpreters". And, ‘faith’ was a rhetorical device
used to rally military troops during war; "fight the good fight by faith"
(1 Titus 6:12). And for all those who did not go along, they were then
mocked; "O ye of little faith…" (Matt. 6:30, 8:26, 14:31, 16:8 and in
Luke 12:28). But about ‘faith’, read on, you will be shown the disclaimer
that shows that they were indeed lying about the truth.
(5) The use of "disclaimers". You may see persons speaking of the many
‘contradictions’ that are found in the bible. You may even know of some
of those yourself. Most of those ‘contradictions’ are really what we’d call
today ‘disclaimers’. They put disclaimers into what they wrote so that they
could rightly claim to be telling the "truth". This allowed them to say just
about anything that they wanted to and still allow them to say that it was/
is "the truth". This was really just a huge manipulation of language and of
the readers of their writings. These people were con artists who had the
privilege of being royal and having access to everything that they needed
in order to produce and maintain the largest and longest lasting con ever!
By the use of disclaimers, they COULD indeed tell the truth; but in the
most deceptive ways! The way that they hide these disclaimers reminds
me of the con artists who used to use "fine print" in order to hide the
truth. Anyway, here is the disclaimer about the truth in the books of the
New Testament. Now bear in mind that this is supposed to be Jesus
speaking in the following verses;
"If I bear witness of myself, my witness is NOT true." John 5:31
And then, just a few verses later he says;
"I am one that bears witness of myself." John 8:18
This, is an admission that he is indeed lying. Lying about all things
that he was stating! An admission that this was all really a hoax.
And you can’t say that they did not warn you. Because they DID give
this disclaimer as well;
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but
who are really ravenous wolves!" Matt. 7:15
"This is Jesus the prophet, of Nazareth of Galilee." Matt. 21:11
They warned you about those in sheep’s clothing, but not about the
one in lamb’s clothing (Jesus, the ‘lamb’)! And you can’t blame them
either, because saying "beware of false prophets in LAMB’S clothing"
would not be in their own deceptive interest - remember, their main goal
was to DECEIVE the reader. They did make the analogy though and
the "disclaimer" - again, you can’t say that they didn’t warn you! They
very effectively said, "Look, now you beware of false prophets… o.k.?
Got it? Alright." And then they proceeded to produce the false prophet
with which to deceive you with!
And the reason for saying sheep’s clothing was so that they could put
in an allusion to their ancestors by a secret reference to the "golden
fleece" (i.e. a sheep’s fleece/clothing). And why do they say "wolves"?
This is because the authors are ROMANS and the royal Romans were
thought of as ‘wolves’ because their ancestors Romulus and Remus
were suckled by a she-wolf. So, always remember that the false
prophet that they warn you against IS Jesus! This is a "disclaimer".
They set out to deceive and manipulate the readers of the New
Testament before they even started work on it - that was the goal!



This information was brought to you courtesy of:
THE ROMAN PISO HOMEPAGE, THE ROMAN PISO FORUM and THE ROMAN PISO BOOKSHELF)
THE ROMAN PISO FORUM
THE ROMAN PISO HOMEPAGE
THE ROMAN PISO BOOKSHELF

[ September 27, 2002: Message edited by: Plebe ]</p>