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Is Suetonius's Chresto a Reference to Jesus?by D.M. Murdock/Acharya SDoes the Roman historian refer to the historical Jesus of Nazareth, or is the famous Suetonian passage concerning "Chresto" about another individual altogether?
'Christ' or 'Chrest'?In presenting this purported evidence from Suetonius's Claudius 25.4, Christian apologists typically cite an English translation, such as:
The Christian-preferred Latin of this sentence is as follows: Iudaeos impulsore Christo assidue tumultuantis Roma expulit However, it is now the scholarly consensus that the original Latin of this passage must have been the following: Iudaeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantis Roma expulit This latter version with the word Chr?sto, not Christo, is what our earliest extant manuscripts relate. Contrary to what Christian apologist Josh McDowell and other fundamentalists assert, and despite the fact that the two words are evidently related through the roots χρ?ω and χρ?ω, "Chr?sto," the ablative ofChrestus, is not an "another spelling of Christ." These terms represent Latinizations of two different Greek words that sound quite similar: Chr?stos, sometimes a proper name, means "good," "righteous" or "useful"; whileChristos denotes "anointed" or "messiah." Hence, although an earlier generation of scholars believed that this Suetonian passage reflected the uprisings of Jews against Christians in Rome, we are not certain at all that this purported "reference" in Suetonius has anything to do with Christ and Christians. "We are not certain at all that this purported 'reference' in Suetonius has anything to do with Christ and Christians." Scientific studies of Suetonius's extant works demonstrate that "Chresto" is the most common epithet in the manuscript tradition. As we will discover, Chresto or its Greek original, Chrestos, was commonly found in pre-Christian antiquity, and its presence in Suetonius most likely had nothing to do with any historical founder of Christianity called "Jesus the Christ." Rather, this commonly held title was one of the earliest applied to what is clearly a fictional composite of characters, real and mythical, styled "Jesus the Good." In addition, the event in which Claudius expelled Jews from Rome is recorded elsewhere in other histories - without the "impulsore Chresto" claim - and seems to date to around 49, 52 or 53 AD/CE, an incident that apparently was unrelated to a historical Jesus of Nazareth and cannot serve as evidence for his historicity. Chrestos in Pagan AntiquityIn reality, the term "Chrestos" or χρηστ?ς has been used in association with a plethora of people and gods, beginning centuries before the common era. Chrestosand its plural chrestoi were utilized to describe deities, oracles, philosophers, priests, oligarchs, "valuable citizens," slaves, heroes, the deceased and others. Importantly, chrestos appears to have been the title of "perfected saints" in various mystery schools or brotherhoods, associated with oracular activity in particular. This word χρηστ?ς or chrestos appears in ancient Greek sources such as those of playwright Sophocles (497/6-406/5 BCE), who discusses ? χρηστ?ς, "the good man," in Antigone (520). Also composed during the fifth century BCE and containing numerous instances of chrestos are playwright Euripides's works Heraclidae,Hecuba, Troiades and Iphigenia. Other ancient writers such as Herodotus, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Xenophon, Pseudo-Xenophon, Plato, Isocrates, Aeschines,Demosthenes, Plutarch and Appian likewise use this term chrestos or "good," sometimes quite often. In an anonymous tract discovered among the possessions of historian Xenophon (c. 430–354), the "Old Oligarch," modernly styled Pseudo-Xenophon (fl. c. 425), contrasts "the good man" (chrestos) with "the wicked man" (poneros), a common juxtaposition throughout classical antiquity that found its way into the New Testament as well (e.g., Lk 6:35). Socrates the ChrestosThe fact that Plato (424/423-348/347 BCE) frequently mentions "the good" (χρηστ?ς) when discussing various figures (e.g., Plat. Rep. 5.479a) serves as an indication of the word's importance among philosophers and religionists. This association is especially germane considering the exalted place afforded Plato among spiritual seekers for centuries into the common era, including many Christians and assorted "Neoplatonists." Indeed, Plato (Theaetetus 166.a.2) uses the word to describe famed philosopher Socrates: ? Σωκρ?της ? χρηστ?ς - "Socrates the Good." "In the fifth century BCE, Plato referred to the famous Greek philosopher of Athens as 'Socrates the Chrest.'" The term continued to be used throughout classical antiquity, into the common era. Indeed, the Greek historian Plutarch (c. 46-120 AD/CE), writing precisely at the time when the Christian effort begins to become noticeable, uses the word χρηστ?ς chrestos numerous times, including to describe Alexander the Great (Alex. 30.3), illustrating the term's ongoing or increased currency at this time. There are also many uses of the plural word χρηστο? or chrestoi in ancient writings, such as in Euripides, Aristophanes, Thucydides, Isocrates, Plato and numerous times in Xenophon. What we discover, then, is a slew of chrests in ancient, pre-Christian literature, including as concerns the biblical god, as we will see below. We also find repeated references to chrests in the writings of early Church fathers, such as Clement Alexandrinus (Strom. 2), Gregorius Nazianzenus, Athanasius, and especially Cyrillus Alexandrinus and Joannes Chrysostomus. Chrestos in Religion and Spirituality
Moreover, the oracular usages of these terms needs to be emphasized, in thatchrestos and chrestoi were already utilized in conjunction with deity, religion, spirituality, mysticism and magic, long before the common era. This oracular convention also appears in the New Testament (e.g., Mt 2:12, 2:22; Lk 3:26; Acts 10:22; Heb 8:5, 11:7), in which the verb χρηματ?ζω chrematizo is employed as connoting "to warn of God." Strong's (G5537) defines chrematizo as "to be the mouthpiece of divine revelations, to promulgate the commands of God." "The oracular usage of chrestos can be found in the New Testament, employed as connoting 'to warn of God.'" As another example of the Pagan use of the word chrestos, in 2008 an evidentlypre-Christian cup or bowl was found at Alexandria, Egypt, with the genitive formchrestou inscribed on it. This artifact could predate the common era by decades, part of the genre of magical bowls used for protection and incantation. Another artifact with significance in this analysis of the uses of chrestos in antiquity is the chi-rho symbol.
The Gods Must Be ChrestoiIn addition, it is claimed that this title chrestos/chreste was conferred upon the Greek god and goddess Hades and Persephone, divinities of the underworld. "Chrestos" was also bestowed upon the "ubiquitous mystic" or Greek god Hermes, the "Psychopomp" or guide to the afterlife, also an important figure in underworld mythology and in mystery schools. So too is the title claimed of the Greek sun god Apollo, god of oracles. In the Saturnalia (3.4.8) of ancient Latin author Macrobius (c. 400 AD/CE), we read that, "according to Cassius Hemina, the Gods of the Samothracian mysteries were styled Θεο? Χρηστο? [Theoi Chrestoi]." (Mitchell, 18) Speaking further about Roman historian Lucius Cassius Hemina (fl. 146 BCE), Macrobius states that he also calls the Roman goddess Juno "khrêstê," whichMacrobius names as an epithet of bona Iuno or "good Juno," thus identifying the Greek and Latin words with each other. In Latin, therefore, the comparable epithet conveyed upon divinities is Bonus - "Good" - and we find many deities honored with this epithet, including the deity Bona Dea or "Good Goddess." After Greek became a popular language around the Mediterranean, and the Egyptian pantheon spread outside its native borders, a number of Egyptian "good" deities may also have been called chrestos/e, as we know was the case with the goddess Isis. The Egyptian "Houses of Goodness" may likewise have been labeled by this term when their name was rendered into Greek.
There is much more to this subject of the Pagan usage of the word chrestos and its related terms, enough for a significant monograph.
The Good LordSignificantly, like the Pagans, Jews too employed the term Chrestos to describe their god: "Since the OT more readily associates majesty and condescension, it commonly uses chrêst?s for God..." (Kittel, 1321) This fact gives us reason to suspect that Suetonius's Jews rabblerousing at Rome were in fact doing so in the name of their god, Yahweh the Chrestos, rather than at the instigation of a historical personage by the epithet of Chresto. In the Greek Bible or Septuagint ("LXX"), a translation begun about 200 years before the common era, the word chrestos occurs in conjunction with "the Lord God," as a rendering of the Hebrew word ??? towb (Strong's H2896), meaning "good, pleasant, agreeable," as well as "good, rich, valuable in estimation." For example, at Jeremiah 33:11 (LXX 40:11), we read that "good [is] the Lord," χρηστ?ς κ?ριος, literally "Chrest Lord." Psalm 106:1 (LXX 105:11) says:
The beginning of the next chapter (Ps 107:1; LXX 106:1) starts with the same invocation of the "Good Lord." Thus, we find "the Lord God the Chrest" in the Greek OT/Septuagint, and the Lord is also chrestos at Psalm 25:8 (LXX 24:8). At Psalm 52:9 (LXX 51:11), God's name is chrestos, while at Psalm 69:16 (LXX 68:17), His mercy is chrestos. God is likewise called ? χρηστ?ς or "the Chrest" in the intertestamental Jewish text Maccabees II (1.24). In addition, we find chrestos in the important works of the Jewish philosopher Philo (20 BCE-50 AD/CE), in which God is likewise described using this adjective, meaning "good," "friendly" or "kind." One such usage in Philo occurs in De Mutatione Nominum ("On the Change of Names"), 44: New Testament ChrestosWe also find seven uses of the word chrestos in the New Testament: Mt 11:30; Lk 5:39, 6:35; Rom 2:4; 1 Cor 15:33; Eph 4:32; and 1 Pe 2:3. In this regard, Luke 6:35 also associates God with chrestos, demonstrating an ongoing tradition concerning the "Good Lord," beginning centuries before the common era and extending decades into it:
Here Luke uses another term from antiquity, πονηρο?ς or ponerous , "selfish," previously mentioned, as contrasted with chrestos in ancient pre-Christian Greek philosophy. Obviously, the term chrestos as used here in the NT verse comes from (Greek) Paganism, along with, we submit, much else. The verse at Romans 2:4 uses two different forms of chrestos, both applied to God, the second instance of which refers to τ? χρηστ?ν το? θεο? or the "chrest of God." The epistle 1 Peter (2:3) - which does not emerge clearly in the literary record until the second century - also calls "the Lord" χρηστ?ς or chrestos, in reference to God, not Jesus:
Essentially, this phrase reads "the Lord Chrest," apparently based on Psalm 34:8 (LXX 33:9):
This passage was confounded in antiquity by Church fathers such as Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–c. 215), who depicted it as saying: "Taste and see that Christ is God" (Exhortation to the Heathens, 9). This fact demonstrates the Chrest-Christ confusion around the beginning of the third century. The word appears at Ephesians 4:32 as well:
It should be emphasized that the good/kind followers of "Christ" were called "chrests," a fact that might explain why "Christians" were also styled "Chrestians." "Chrestos appears in the Bible, in verses about God in both the Old and New Testaments." As we can see, the usage of "Chrestos" in conjunction with deity is pre-Christian, continuing well into the common era, within the Bible as well, in verses about God in both Old and New Testaments. Thus, again, no "historical" Chresto is necessary to explain the behavior of Suetonius's Jews. The Divine Impeller?Adding to this notion that the Jews at Rome could have been rabblerousing because of their god, the "Good Lord" Yahweh, in Suetonius the Latin wordimpulsore is the ablative form of impulsor and denotes not "instigation" but "instigator." This scenario would not require a historical personage named Chresto to be present or even the memory of a deceased messianic figure. The passage is translated better as, "Jews because of the instigator Chresto," where impulsor could also mean one who "impels" someone else to do something, a "persuader," "prompter," "enticer," "pusher," "inciter," "inducer," "abettor," "stimulator," "mover," "encourager," "enabler" and "consiliarus," this latter word used in the Vulgate of Isaiah 9:6, describing the "Mighty God" as "Counsellor." In the first century BCE, Roman statesman and philosopher Marcus Tullius ("Tully") Cicero (On the Consular Provinces, 8) wrote that a certain political "storm" had been excited by "Caesar the impeller" (Caesare impulsore). Moreover, in the play Aulularia or The Pot of Gold (735) by Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254-c. 184 BCE), we find the line: deus impulsor mihi fuit, which could be rendered, "A god was my impeller." Hence, we see that this term impulsor was associated with deity in the second to third centuries before the common era, as well as into it. In this regard, in City of God (1.7.11), Church father Augustine (354-430) remarks of the Roman god Jupiter: They have called him Victor, Invictus, Opitulus, Impulsor, Stator...and other names which it were long to enumerate. There is no record of Jews or anyone else being impelled by or worshipping "Jesus the Good" or a historical Chresto at Rome by this time, but there is plenty of evidence of Jews worshipping their god Yahweh as chrestos or chresto. Thus, the situation of Jews being "constantly tumultuous" because of the "impulsor" Yahweh "the Good" may have been akin to rabblerousing Muslims inspired by "Allah the Merciful." Again, no historical Chresto or "Chrest" is needed. ConclusionThe bottom line is that the Suetonian sentence in question apparently used originally the word "Chresto." Combined with the facts that Christ was never related as having been at Rome, that the phrase "Jesus the Good" evidently does not make its appearance until the third or late second century at the earliest, and that the word chrestos was used to describe gods and many other figures in antiquity, doubt is cast upon the value of this passage as providing any evidence that "Jesus of Nazareth" was an actual historical figure. Moreover, the fact that Suetonius called Chresto's followers "Judeans" or "Jews," rather than associating them with the "Christians" or, perhaps, "Chrestians " of his Nero passage, tends to negate the idea that the Roman historian is referring to a historical "Jesus Christ." The evidence points, rather, to another individual or, more likely, their tribal god, Yahweh the Good, as the "Chresto" of Suetonius's Jews. "The Chrest under whose instigation the Jews at Rome constantly revolted could have been the god Yahweh, not a historical Jesus of Nazareth." In summary, the "Chrest" under whose instigation at Rome the Jews were revolting could have been their Lord God, called "the Good" or chrestos in the Old Testament. No "historical Jesus of Nazareth" would be needed, and we may retire this purported Suetonian "proof" from Christian apologetics. BibliographyBoman, B. Jobjorn. Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius' Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts. Liber Annuus, vol. 61, pp. 355-376. Chresto in the Suetonius Manuscript Traditionby D.M. Murdock/Acharya SPublished in Liber Annuus 61 (2011), Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Jerusalem 2012, p. 355-376, B. Jobjorn Boman's Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius' Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts, addresses the contention that only one manuscript of Suetonius's Claudius uses the term "Chresto." In his study, Boman, of Örebro University, Sweden, analyzes the manuscript tradition and determines that some 90 percent of the oldest manuscripts (37/41), including the earliest extant, the Parisinus Lat. 6115 or Memmianus (c. 820 AD/CE), in fact utilize a rendering with an "e," such as "Chresto" or "Cherestro," etc. "Chresto" appears in 51% of the total manuscripts, making it in the majority of all versions combined. The later manuscripts, of which there are some 150+, are generally copies of these earlier ones and contain some very strange and erroneous renditions of the relevant words "impulsore Chresto," including "inpulsore" and "Cherestro." Thus, the title of Boman's paper, which combines the renderings in two different manuscripts: As he says, "The 'inpulsore' is from Orosius and the 'Orosian witnesses' to the sentence, and the "Cherestro" is from (late) Suetonius MSS."* Manuscripts of the 15th and 16th century include "Cresto," "Cheresto," "Cherestro" and "Cristo." Of the 41 earliest manuscripts, only four use a form of "Christ" (xpo, xpristo, Christo and Cristo). Regarding the Suetonius manuscripts and the use of the word "Chresto," Boman concludes:
In his paper, Boman of also remarks:
Here we discover that another "proof text" used by Christian apologists, that of the Roman historian Tacitus's Annales 15:44 (c. 116 AD/CE?), refers not to "Christians" but to "Chrestians," an important distinction, since it is demonstrable that "Chrestians" existed before the creation of Christianity. Just as "Chrestians" was morphed into "Christian," so too did "Chresto" become "Christo" or "Christ." Moreover, the sloppiness of the scribes copying the Suetonian text, as if they were oblivious to its importance serves as further indication that this sentence was not believe to represent Christ. (* In a private email, Boman kindly reviewed this article.) Isis the Chr?stby D.M. Murdock/Acharya SIs Jesus Christ truly a unique, divine revelation? Or is he one of many "Christs" and "Chr?sts" in antiquity? As "Jesus the Good" was called "Chr?stos," so too was the Egyptian goddess Isis.
In several instances in ancient times, the figure of "Jesus the Christ" is also called "Jesus the Chr?st" or "Jesus the Good," these two epithets, "Christos" and "Chr?stos," closely resembling each other and often confused by early Church fathers and others. As was the case with the title of Χριστ?ς Christos, meaning "anointed," being held by various gods and other figures in the ancient world, so too was the epithet χρηστ?ς Chrestos/Chrestus attached to several individuals, divine and otherwise. This fact that epithets traditionally associated with Jesus in reality were possessed by many others in antiquity is important to understand, as it demonstrates once again that the Christ character is neither unique nor representative of genuine divine revelation. The Good God/dessIn Egypt for example, we find the common phrase neter nefer or "Good God," an epithet applied to Osiris as well as to the pharaohs, these latter of whom were considered divinities on Earth, incarnations of the god Horus. It is contended that, after the Greek-speaking Ptolemies began ruling Egypt or even before, with the introduction of Greek mysteries, Osiris and other Egyptian gods and goddesses were called chrestos. In this regard, in Boeckh Corp. Inscr. (2:245, n. 2300) appears an inscription found on the Greek island of Delos that reads ΙΣΙΔΙ ΧΡΗΣΤΗ or "Isis Chreste":
Interestingly, Delos had a Therapeutan community, while Isis evidently was worshipped by the Judeo-Buddhist Therapeuts at Alexandria. (See my book Christ in Egypt, 440, 456.) Along the same lines, in The Foreigner: A Search for the First-Century Jesus (77), Desmond Stewart says: Chrestus (or in its Greek original, chrêstos ) means gentle, kindly, good; it is, curiously, the equivalent of the common pharaonic title of Osiris, Un-nefer. This epithet "Un-Nefer" or "Onnofri," etc., possesses the same basic meaning as chrestos; therefore, any Egyptian texts calling Osiris "Un-Nefer" when translated into Greek may have used the word chrestos. Osiris the KRST
This suggestion of Osiris as chrestos is given further support by the interesting discussion in a purported letter by Emperor Hadrian in which he claims that the Egyptian hybrid god Serapis ("Ausar-Apis") was worshipped by the "Chrestians." In Witnesses to the Historicity of Jesus (52), Dr. Arthur Drews presents this Hadrian-Servius letter as stating in part:
The Greek word chrestos was popular as an epithet or on epitaphs at various Egyptian funerary sites as at Alexandria and elsewhere. This fact too suggests that the Lord of the Underworld and Afterlife, Osiris, the Good God, like his wife, Isis Chreste, may have been likewise deemed Chrestos.
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The Greek god of the sun and oracles, Apollo, possesses important attributes in common with the Jewish savior Jesus, including his status as the son of God. As Jesus was titled "the Christ" or Christos, so too was Apollo purportedly styled Chr?stos, a similar-sounding Greek word meaning "good" or "useful," among other connotations.
It is further claimed that this sun god and son of God was given the epithet ΙΗ or "IE," which appears on a Larissan epitaph discovered at the Greek sacred site of Delphi, ostensibly representing the year of "age" ("eton") of 18. If Apollo essentially was called "IE the Chr?stos," centuries before the common era, we find ourselves faced with an important precedent for "Iesous the Christos" or Jesus Christ.
Concerning the uses of the word chrestos or its related forms in Pagan antiquity, which I have discussed in depth in my paper "Is Suetonius's Chresto a Reference to Jesus?", one writer comments:
...the appellation of Chrestos which it is here insisted was employed in the Gospels, was more honorable and certainly more significant and appropriate [than Christos]. Many years ago the writer saw it upon a statuette of Apollo that had been brought from an Eastern repository. Apollo, as every classic scholar knows, was the reputed son of Zeus, the Supreme Divinity of the Hellenic Pantheon. He was the god of oracles, and was supposed to impart the gifts of healing and divination. A reference to Greek lexicons will show that many of the words which were formed from theχρηστ?ς (chrestos) relate directly to the oracular art. A Chrestes was a diviner or giver of oracles; a chresis or chresmos denoted the oracular utterance of a divinity; a chresterion was the place of an oracle, or an offering presented there, or the staff of a God or divining priest, and a chrestologos was an interpreter of oracles, like the peter or hierophant of oriental sanctuaries. (The Metaphysical Magazine, 14.142)
Here we see the contention that the Greek sun god Apollo was called chrestos, a claim made elsewhere, such as: "...the word Chrestos was so closely associated with divinity that it was often applied by the Greeks to Apollo and other gods."
Apollo was the "god of oracles," as we know from his temple at the Greek site of Delphi, seat of his famous oracle. In this regard, we further discover that this term, chrestos, is "one who is continually warned, advised, guided, whether by oracle or prophet." (Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon) Moreover, devotees in antiquity such as the Tyrrhenians made " first fruit offerings to Zeus, Apollo and the Kabeiroi," these latter being the Samothracian gods, were said by Latin writer Macrobius (c. 400 AD/CE) to have been called chrestoi. Hence, it would not be surprising to find this term applied to the god of oracles himself, or at the very least to his followers and initiates.
Apollo the IE?
It has been contended also that this monogram IE appeared over Apollo's temple at Delphi and that it is equivalent to the Hebrew ?? or Yahh (Strong's H3050), also transliterated as "Jah," the name of the Lord at Exodus 15:2 and 44 other times in the Old Testament. Interestingly, in the same verse (Exd 15:2), Jah has "become my salvation," the latter Hebrew term appearing as ????? y?shuw'ah, essentially the same as Yeshua or Joshua, Hebrew for "Jesus." The Greek OT renders this word as σωτηρ?α or soteria. As we know from the English rendering "Jehovah" or "Iehovah," appearing first in the Tyndale Bible, the initial syllable yodh he in the Hebrewtetragrammaton for God, ???? or YHWH, is often transliterated as "ie." Hence, this "Jah" abbreviation could be rendered "IE," the same title purportedly given to Apollo at Delphi and the first two letters of "Iesous," the Greek name for "Jesus."
For his contention that the inscription "IE" or its backward equivalent "EI," the same as the Hebrew ??, is an epithet of Apollo found "inscribed over the great door of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi," in his book An Hebrew and English Lexicon, Bishop of Norwich John Parkhurst cites Dickenson's Delphi Phœnicizantes, as well as the ancient writers Plutarch and Eusebius. Dickenson (ch. 3) compares Apollo to the biblical "patriarch" Joshua, asserting: Sed quod Apollo idem sit qui Josua or "But that Apollo is the same as Joshua." As we know, Joshua possesses many solar attributes and after scientific analysis cannot be deemed a historical figure.
Dickenson next shows that the two figures share an epithet, as Joshua or Yeshua is called ?ησο?ς Iesous or "Jesus" in the Greek Old Testament, while Apollo is given the same Greek phoneme ΙΗ or "IE," equivalent to the Hebrew ?? ie or "Jah." In the first century BCE, Diodorus Siculus (1.94.2) wrote that Yahweh was equated with the Egyptian and Greek "IAO," and Dickenson likewise demonstrates that the Hebrew tetragrammaton was also rendered "Ieuo."
In his Praep. Evang. (11.11), Church father Eusebius discusses "Plutarch's treatise entitled On the EI at Delphi." The Greek historian Plutarch's lengthy treatise De EI apud Delphos, titled in English, "Of the Word EI Engraven Over the Gate of Apollo's Temple at Delphi," was written around 100 AD/CE.
Son of God
In Aeschylus's Seven Against Thebes (158), the playwright calls Apollo πα? Δι?ς, "(male) child of Zeus/God," not very different from υ??ς το? Θεο? or "son of God," as Jesus is called in the New Testament. In The Iliad, the Greek poet Homer (2.1.9) styles Apollo Δι?ς υ??ς or, literally, "Zeus/God son." Also in the Iliad, Homer calls Zeus π?τερ or "Father," the same Greek word used to describe God/Jesus in the New Testament. And in Homer's Odyssey (8.334), we read Δι?ς υ??ς ?π?λλων - "Zeus/God son Apollo," who in turn invokes Hermes as Δι?ς υ?? or "Zeus/God son." Of course, the Greek word used numerous times in the Bible, both the Greek OT and the NT, to describe "God" is θε?ς, a term employed throughout pre-Christian Greek literature.
In Apollo, we have a pre-Christian son of God who may have been titled "Chr?stos" for his role as God of Oracles, as well as "IE," part of an epithet discovered on tombstones and other artifacts including his temple at Delphi. Hence, the son of God Apollo - a sun god - could be said to be "IE the Chr?st," possibly centuries before the common era.
Boman has pointed out that the earliest extant Suetonius manuscript contains the spelling Christiani, rather than Chrestiani. Since the oldest extant manuscript of Tacitus refers to Chrestiani, and since the Codex Sinaiticus originally contained references to Chrestiani, would it not be possible, therefore, that Suetonius originally wrote Chrestiani but that the copyist of the earliest extant manuscript or a previous one made the "correction" to Christiani?
Of course, if Tacitus is referring to Chrestians, then his "Christus" would originally have been Chrestus as well, if the sentence following the discussion of Chrestians is even genuine. In reality, it appears to have been interpolated into the text at some point between Tacitus's writing of the passage and its appearance in the earliest manuscript of the Annals, whence come of all others. The introduction of "Christus" into the paragraph makes little sense if it is original to Tacitus, since the Chrestians would not have been named for him. It is possible that the following clause, therefore, is an interpolation:
auctor nominis eius Christus Tibero imperitante per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio adfectus erat
This contention would effectively remove Tacitus as a "proof text" for the existence of a "historical" Jesus of Nazareth. The fact is that the awkward juxtaposition of Chrestians and Christus makes no sense and that it may not be inaccurate to assert that our earliest manuscripts all possess interpolations or other alternations by Christian scribes.
Ditto with Suetonius, who refers to "Chresto" - it would follow that he mentions also Chrestians, although he does not connect the two passages. Outside of the NT and other Christian stories, we simply have no solid evidence of Christians at Rome during Nero's rule, no contemporaneous reports, no inscriptions, no tomb artifacts - nothing. It seems Suetonius would know that fact and not write "Christians."
Conclusion
The bottom line is that the Suetonian sentence in question apparently used originally the word "Chresto." Combined with the facts that Christ was never related as having been at Rome, that the phrase "Jesus the Good" evidently does not make its appearance until the third or late second century at the earliest, and that the word chrestos was used to describe gods and many other figures in antiquity, doubt is cast upon the value of this passage as providing any evidence that "Jesus of Nazareth" was an actual historical figure.
Moreover, the fact that Suetonius called Chresto's followers "Judeans" or "Jews," rather than associating them with the "Christians" or, perhaps, "Chrestians " of his Nero passage, tends to negate the idea that the Roman historian is referring to a historical "Jesus Christ." The evidence points, rather, to another individual or, more likely, their tribal god, Yahweh the Good, as the "Chresto" of Suetonius's Jews.
Further Reading
The Chi-Rho Symbol and Chrestos
Chrestos Magical Cup?
Chrestes as Oracle and Chrematizo in the New Testament
Isis the Chrest and the Egyptian Houses of Goodness
Apollo, Son of God and the Chrest?
Pliny, Tacitus and Suetonius: No Proof of Jesus
Christos or Chrestos?
Does Josephus prove a historical Jesus?
The Jesus Forgery: Josephus Untangled
Franck Goddio Society Chrestos Bowl Report
Earliest Reference Describes Christ as 'Magician'
Catalogue of Chrest
The First 'New Testament': Marcion of Pontus and the Gospel of the Lord
Christian Lindtner's Review of Hermann Detering's Falsche Zeugen: Ausserchristliche Jesuszeugnisse auf dem Prüfstand
http://www.truthbeknown.com/suetoniuschresto.html
Reposted for the purpose of reviews, under: U.S. Fair Use and Canadian Fair Dealing 29.1 and 29.2
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"... The Logos-Wisdom is the principle of all Divine and Esoteric Revelations. She has the characteristics of being the indwelling revealer of God.
She IS the active principle and the transmitter of all Divine knowledge as well as the Cosmological cause of all Creation ..." |
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Luke 6:31(NIV); " Do to others as you would have them do to you. " ...
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