When explaining the resurrection of Jesus, it is important to keep to the “minimal facts approach” by looking at some important facts. The first fact is that Jesus died by crucifixion. This highly evidenced occurrence has kept with the minimal facts approach because it is so widely attested. Not only was the crucifixion recorded in the four gospel accounts as well as a “number of non-Christian sources” (Habermas & Licona, 2004, p. 49).Lucian of Samosata, Mara Bar-Serapion and the central text of Rabbinic Judaism, the Talmud, all illustrate the death of Jesus. A “highly critical scholar of the Jesus Seminar, John Dominic Crossan, writes, “That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be” (Habermas & Licona, 2004, p. 49). While the crucifixion of Jesus is the beginning of explain the minimal facts, the more important fact is that Jesus’ disciples believed that he rose and appeared to them.…
Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus was born on September 18, 53 and died on August 9, 117, Roman Emperor (98117), commonly called Trajan, was the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Roman Empire. The five good emperors heightened the overall Roman Empire. Trajan was born into a prominent political family. He was the son of Marci and Marcus Ulpius Traianus, a prominent senator and general. In the mid 70's, Trajan's father was Governor of Syria , where Trajan himself remained as Tribunus legions. Trajan was nominated as Consul and brought Apollodorus with him to Rome around the early 90's. It was the potental Emperor Hadrian who brought word to Trajan of his adoption, and thus had Trajan's favor for the rest of his…
Titus Flavius Vespasian was well known for restoring peace and stability to an empire in disarray following the death of Nero in A.D. 68. In the process he established the Flavian dynasty as the legitimate successor to the imperial throne.…
The Gracchus brothers Tiberius, Gaius were members of the plebeians. They wanted to do many things to help out Rome. The brothers made land reforms to help the landless poor. This system involved recruiting the urban and rural poor people. Tiberius and Gaius took land from the rich and gave it to the small farmers so they would have some land to feed off of and be able to make money.…
During the rapid turnover of emperors following the death of Nero in 68 AD, Vespasian prepared his own bid for power. The legions of Egypt, Judaea, Syria and then the Danube all declared for him, and he sent his commander Primus ahead to secure Italy on his behalf. A major, and bloody, victory was achieved at Cremona, and Primus took Rome in December 69 AD. The senate passed a law conferring the powers of emperor on Vespasian and he arrived in Rome in the late summer of 70 AD, having left his elder son Titus in charge in Judaea. Jerusalem was taken in August 70 AD and the Jewish temple was…
To differ from Caligula’s start to madness was subtle whereas Nero’s was apparent as soon as he was in succession albeit that he was under his mother’s thumb for the beginning of his rule that would shift to Seneca and Burrus that would push their agenda on the young Emperor. Even at that time with a young boy showed signs of malice, according to Edwards Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, “…Seneca dreamed that he was teaching the Caligula and the soon afterwards Nero provided confirmation of the dream revealing his monstrous nature at the earlies possible opportunity.” There was a simple way to described the way he governed due to his mood, according to an author Shotter’s Nero goes on to state, “ A content Nero basking in popularity may…
was born December 15th, 37AD and died June 9th, 68AD. Commonly identified as Nero, he ruled…
Emperor Nero was a sick human being who seriously lacked humility. He thought of himself as a god and would perform inhumane deeds such as stealing from sacred temples or killing innocent Christian people. Nero roughly killed about one hundred thousand Christians for no good reason whatsoever. He would use them to light up his parties or he would throw them into the gladiator pit, facing them against ferocious animals or deadly ruthless warriors. Nero's serious lack of humility caused him to perform poorly as a leader. If Nero had shown more humility throughout his time as leader, he would most likely have been not only a better person, but also a better leader. A good leader needs to display virtue in order to lead his people to…
Emperor Nero, the final ruler of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruled the Roman Empire from 54 AD to 68 AD. When he was only 16, his father died, and he became the emperor of Rome. As the mother of a very young ruler, Nero’s mother tried to influence and control Nero, and she also murdered many of her political rivals. Nero’s relationship with his mother quickly declined, terminating in his mother’s exile from his palace. Five years after Nero took power, he killed his mother. When, he divorced his first wife, he had her exiled and later killed.…
The Roman government was a blood thirsty band of power crazed imperialists. The Roman government however powerful reluctantly carried out the death of Jesus. The Roman government consented to Jesus’ death because the Jewish leadership effectively lodged a political charge against Jesus citing that the man Jesus was opposed to paying taxes to Caesar, and claimed to be Christ; a king. (Niswonger 1988 Pg. 172). Lodging this accusation against Jesus before the Roman authorities established false evidence of Jesus’ efforts to subvert the Roman…
The traditional dates for the Roman Republic are 509 to 27 B.C. The latter part of this period from 133 to 27 B.C. is known as the late Republic. It is also known as the Roman Revolution. The result of this revolution was the emergence of the Roman Empire and the catalyst has traditionally been linked to a single Roman citizen called Tiberius Gracchus. The wake of his brief political career left Rome much different than it had been. Like a crack in the wall of a dam, Tiberius revealed a weakness in the Roman system of government that would soon spider out of control until it could no longer hold back the deluge of the building political tension. What was this weakness?…
tried to build a more solid senate but failed to take power away from the…
He gave them 3 opportunities to change the nature of their beliefs. He also gave them a change to invoke the Roman gods, by offering prayer and incense and wine to Emperor Trajan and by curse Christ. After this Trajan gives a short reply to Pliny giving his 4 major orders. The first was to not seek out or hunt the Christians for trial. The second was if the accused ware guilty of being Christian, then they must be punished. The third was if the accused deny they are Christians and show proof that they are not by worshipping the gods, then they will be pardoned, and then lastly Pliny should not allow anonymous accusations. The letters between Pliny and Trajan show the Roman administrative process and problems. It also shows that the Roman Empire at this time did not hunt for Christians for prosecution or…
Julius Caesar was the greatest Roman leader. Julius Caesar was popular because he included not only the nobles, but also common people in the political process. He did not enjoy destroying things, but rather building up and helping people. He was born July 100 B.C., in Rome, Italy. He had a small family. Caesar was well-built and of sound heath. He was also kidnapped by pirates(Rinaldo11-13). His life was in jeopardy for a while. He and two other men became known as the First Triumvirate and controlled Rome through the 50s. In 58 B.C. he conquered Gaul. As he got bigger he showed his ruthlessness with his enemies. In 49 B.C., he conquered Rome. When he took control of Rome, he destroyed the system which he wanted to keep. Julius Caesar only…
The first fact is that Jesus died by crucifixion. Josephus, a Jewish historian; Tacitus, a Roman historian; Lucian, a Greek satirist; Mara Bar-Serapion, a Syrian philosopher; and the Jewish Talmud attest to it historically. All of these sources are non-Christian and should be viewed with a higher degree of authenticity because they are unbiased (Habermas & Licona, 2004).…