stephan huller

But that understanding is - as far as I can see from the vantage point of my cabana - entirely based on Josephus again. The pagan Acts and one of our earliest reflections of the gospel seem to agree against it

stephan huller

Another possible witness (I don't have access to the original)

The so-called "Report of Pilate," a New Testament apocryphal fragment states, "*Jesus was delivered to him by Herod, Archelaus, Philip, Annas, Caiphas, and all the people. At his Crucifixion the sun was darkened; the stars appeared and in all*...

outhouse

Thats sort of the problem here.

Its bad enough are best sources are far removed from the actual events.


Without trying to read into much later works trying to figure out what happened hundreds of years prior.

stephan huller

In fact now that I notice it on my annoying smartphone, the Christian Pilate tradition ALSO identifies the crucifixion as taking place under Archelaus. So the Epistle of the Apostles, the pagan Acts of Pilate AND the Christian reaction. I don't know if that's been noticed before. From the Oxford publication The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian edited by James Keith Elliott

Page 209 Pilate said, 'Herod, Archelaus, Philip, Annas and Caiaphas, and all the multitude of the Jews.' Caesar said. 'Why did you follow their advice?' Pilate said, 'This*nation is rebellious and disorderly, and does not submit to your power.' Caesar*said*...

Page 212*...*and in particular with violating the sabbath. The miracles are then described*with some rhetorical ornament, particularly in the case of Lazarus. Jesus was*delivered to him by Herod,*Archelaus, Philip, Annas, Caiaphas. and all the*people.

Page 214*Archelaus*in terror gave his kingdom to his son, and stabbed himself. The son*allied himself with other kings and fortified Jerusalem, which was besieged seven*years, till the inhabitants had to eat earth. At last they took counsel to surrender,*...

Page 225*The other chiefs of the Jews were beheaded;*Archelaus*and Philip were crucified. One day the emperor went out to hunt, and chased a hind to the door of Pilate's*prison. Pilate looked out, trying to see the emperor's face, but at that moment the*...

Page 561*He of whom we are witnesses we know as the one crucified in the days of*Pontius Pilate and of the prince*Archelaus, who was crucified between two*thieves;30 and was taken down from the wood of the cross together with them;*and he was*...

outhouse

Could be there writing about a block of time before the temple fell, instead of a specific time period.

stephan huller

The question is how Christian traditions about "Pilate and Archelaus" could have arisen and been maintained for so long if our inherited historical assumptions were founded on a solid bedrock of information. From the Vengeance of the Savior

And Velosianus said: My lord emperor, I found thy servants Titus and Vespasian in Judaea fearing the Lord, and they were cleansed from all their ulcers and sufferings. And I found that all the kings and rulers of Judaea have been hanged by Titus; Annas and Caiaphas have been stoned, Archelaus has killed himself with his own lance; and I have sent Pilate to Damascus in bonds, and kept him in prison under safe keeping. But I have also found out about Jesus, whom the Jews most wickedly attacked with swords, and staves, and weapons; and they crucified him who ought to have freed and enlightened us, and to have come to us, and they hanged him on a tree. And Joseph came from Arimathaea, and Nicodemus with him, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds, to anoint the body of Jesus; and they took him down from the cross, and laid him in a new tomb. And on the third day he most assuredly rose again froth the dead, and showed himself to his disciples in the same flesh in which he had been born. At length, after forty days, they saw him going up into heaven. Many, indeed, and other miracles did Jesus before his passion and after. First, of water he made wine; he raised the dead, he cleansed lepers, he enlightened the blind, he cured paralytics, he put demons to flight; he made the deaf hear, the dumb speak; Lazarus, when four days dead, he raised from the tomb; the woman Veronica, who suffered from an issue of blood twelve years, and touched the fringe of his garment, he made whole. Then it pleased the Lord in the heavens, that the Son of God, who, sent into this world as the first-created, had died upon earth, should send his angel; and he commanded Titus and Vespasian, whom I knew in that place where thy throne is. And it pleased God Almighty that they went into Judaea and Jerusalem, and seized thy subjects, and put them under that sentence, as it were, in the same manner as they did when thy subjects seized Jesus and bound him. And Vespasian afterwards said: What shall we do about those who shall remain? Titus answered: They hanged our Lord on a green tree, and struck him with a lance; now let us hang them on a dry tree, and pierce their bodies through and through with the lance. And they did so. And Vespasian said: What about those who are left? Titus answered: They seized the tunic of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of it made four parts; now let us seize them, and divide them into four parts,-to thee one, to me one, to thy men another, and to my servants the fourth part. And they did so. And Vespasian said: But what shall we do about those who are left? Titus answered him: The Jews sold our Lord for thirty pieces of silver: now let us sell thirty of them for one piece of silver. And they did so. And they seized Pilate, and gave him up to me, and I put him in prison, to be guarded by four quaternions of soldiers in Damascus. Then they made a search with great diligence to seek the portrait of the Lord; and they found a woman named Veronica who had the portrait of the Lord. Then the Emperor Tiberius said to Velosianus: How hast thou it? And he answered: I have it in clean cloth of gold, rolled up in a shawl. And the Emperor Tiberius said: Bring it to me, and spread it before my face, that I, falling to the ground and bending my knees, may adore it on the ground. Then Velosianus spread out his shawl with the cloth of gold on which the portrait of the Lord had been imprinted; and the Emperor Tiberius saw it. And he immediately adored the image of the Lord with a pure heart, and his flesh was cleansed as the flesh of a little child. And all the blind, the lepers, the lame, the dumb, the deaf, and those possessed by various diseases, who were there present, were healed, and cured, and cleansed. And the Emperor Tiberius bowed his head and bent his knees, considering that saying: Blessed is the womb which bore Thee, and the breasts which Thou hast sucked; and he groaned to the Lord, saying with tears: God of heaven and earth, do not permit me to sin, but confirm my soul and my body, and place me in Thy kingdom, because in Thy name do I trust always: free me from all evils, as Thou didst free the three children from the furnace of blazing fire.

stephan huller

What made this intriguing for me is the reference in the Epistle to the Apostles. I accept the early dating of Vinzent and others (mid second century). This pairing of "Pilate and Archelaus" comes from a variant gospel not a late misunderstanding by pagans and Christians

andrewcriddle

IIUC the coins of Pilate are attributed to him on circumstantial evidence. They don't have the name of Pilate on them.

Andrew Criddle

maryhelena

Where did you get 18 c.e. for the rule of Archelaus?

Herod Archelaus

After 6 c.e., re Josephus, Archelaus was banished to Gaul. (Ant.book 17, ch.13)

stephan huller

I was just giving the last possible date for Archelaus based on what we know about him. The closer we look the less certainty there is.