There is a silence of historical sources with regard to this Crucifixion darkness. The 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad is from July 32 to June 33 CE, which confirms the date of 3 April 33 CE. The 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad was 32-33AD: HMEPA Hellenic Month Established Per Athens The 202nd Olympiad Last Olympiad Next Olympiad Last Olympiad source: http://www.numachi.com/~ccount/hmepa/calendars/202.html Modern context of the calendar of ancient Olympics would put the 4 th year of the 202 nd Olympiad at July 32-33AD. The year given by Phlegon for this eclipse is the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (i.e., 33 A.D.), which is consistent with one of the possible dates of the Crucifixion (i.e., April 3, 33 A.D.). And just for fun, who could possibly falsely place this earthquake during the time of Tiberius Caesar and roughly the time period of the 202nd Olympiad (and I fully grasp the weight of the word roughly)? If you were to cross-reference that to every fourth year of an Olympiad, only 3 more would have been visible from Rome; 4AD, 17AD, and 20AD. The reality is, Plinys statement is not evidence against the Crucifixion darkness. We can therefore calculate with great accuracy that the three hour period of darkness, and also the Crucifixion, had to be in the Spring of A.D. 33. However, Eusebius, in book 2 of Chronicle (Chronicon, quoted by Jerome), actually quotes Phlegon, with no mention of Jesus or a three hour darkness. . The former says: "In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, there was an extraordinary eclipse of the sun: at the sixth hour, the day was turned into dark night, so that the stars in heaven were seen; and there was an earthquake in Bithynia, which overthrew many houses in the city of Nice." To recap, according to Eusebius' Chronicon tables, the 2nd year of the 202nd Olympiad is equated alongside the 16th year of Tiberius. The Cancellation Of The Curse Of Death, And The Free Gift Of Eternal Life, The Cancellation Of The Curse Of Sickness, And The Availability Of Supernatural Health, The Cancellation Of The Curse Of Poverty, And The Availability Of Gods Supernatural Abundance, Victory Over Satan Won At The Crucifixion, Accreditation, Acknowledgements and Legal notices for Crucifixion, Contact Dr Richard Kent and Recommendation. Be that as it may, and even if the dating of Phlegon is not correct, this does not diminish the case made thus far for the historicity of the Crucifixion darkness. He asks for your prayers for his intentions. Originally written in Aramaic, it was intended for a Jewish audience. Roman historical sources confirm that Jesus Christ lived on Earth and died by crucifixion. But why is this significant, if it doesnt even validate darkness during the Crucifixion as referenced in the Gospels? He inadvertently dated the darkness at noon on the day of Crucifixion in his work, The Olympiades. He said, "A day and a night are an Onah, and the portion of an Onah is as the whole of it." Suffice it to say that the Jewish Sabbath was on Saturday and remember that the Jews considered a 24 hour day cycle to begin at sunset in the evening. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives. (Tertullian, Apologia 21) (Emphasis added). Pratt, John, webpage by astronomer John Pratt on Isaac Newtons approach to determining the date of the crucifixion. There are a variety of opinions on this question. In ancient Greece the Olympic Games were held in the July of the first year of each Olympiad, which was a 4 year period running from July to June of each succeeding year. If the above quotes about the crucifixion sky darkening and the earthquake are correct and actually correspond to the crucifixion, then we have historical evidence for miracles at the crucifixion. In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (i.e., AD 33), there was 'the greatest eclipse of the sun' and that it became night in the sixth hour of the day [i.e., noon] so that stars even appeared in the heavens. Phlegon of Tralles (Ancient Greek: Flegon o Trallianos) was a Greek writer and freedman of the emperor Hadrian, who lived in the 2nd century AD. Those who heard Peter preach in Rome would have previously known about this darkness in several ways, including: (1) having witnessed it firsthand in Rome if it had been a universal darkness; (2) hearing of it from travelers to Rome; and or (3) through letters or official reports received from the provinces, the latter of which were kept in the Roman archives. Thus, the Christian apologist Tertullian (155-240 A.D) could still say to the Romans in the late second century A.D. with regard to the Crucifixion darkness: And yet, nailed upon the cross, He exhibited many notable signs, by which His death was distinguished from all others. Phlegon would have had no way to misreport an actual earthquake that hit in the region, because the region has the history to confirm the account passed to him. . The fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad was in 33 A.D.!!! Thus the darkening of the sky at the crucifixion is very extraordinary. Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse. The question is: should we accept the historicity of this Crucifixion darkness? It is important to note that 1) an eclipse of the sun cannot occur during a full moon since the moon would be on the opposite side of the earth and 2) that Jesus died on Passover during a full moon. Thus geological data seem to confirm the 33 AD date. In fact, it is also quite impossible for a solar eclipse to last for 3 hours. The sedimentation rate puts this second earthquake about 65 years after the 31 B.C. At the sixth hour the day was turned into the darkness of night, so that stars were seen in the heaven; and there was a . This eliminates most of the years in the range from AD 26 to 36, leaving primarily just AD 30 and AD 33 as candidates. Even if the darkness had not been seen throughout the whole empire, word of it would have spread to Rome as the center of government and commerce. Passover occurred on either Nisan 14 or 15 about two weeks after the New Moon. As explained, we believe that the darkness referred to by Phlegon is the same darkness referred to in Matthew 27:45. This year would be AD 29 from Roman historical sources. Thus, his statement taken in whole does not exclude that there may have been other unusually long eclipses of the sun of which he was awareperhapsmanymorebut regarding which he did not elaborate. It would be absurd to think that Peter would have asserted that his hearers had witnessed the darkening of the sun if they in fact had not. There are no surviving records after this date. Little is known about Phlegon, but he made reference to Christ. The Bible is a book that is a record of facts and not myths. The darkness and earthquake were evident not just in Jerusalem but also in Nicea which is over 300 miles away from Jerusalem! . The ancient Olympic Games were held every four years for almost 1,100 years. Check it out for yourselfhttp://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEcat5/SE0001-0100.html. Next, we consider the Gospel of Matthew. Phlegon provides powerful confirmation, identifying the year and the exact time of day. And accurate. You can use a text widget to display text, links, images, HTML, or a combination of these. The terms "day" and "night" sort of overlapped in their way of thinking. The Text Widget allows you to add text or HTML to your sidebar. Julius Africanus quoted from the Olympiades a section no longer in existence which said this darkening if the sun happened at the time of the full moon. First, is what I would call deduction from all available information. No one has ever met a literary device walking down the street or stubbed their toe on one, thus we should not expect that any early Christian would have suffered martyrdom for one. One such quotation is as follows, "In the 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad, there was a great eclipse of the Sun, greater than had ever been known before, for at the sixth hour the day was changed into night, and the stars were seen in the heavens. We have no need to be dogmatic about precise numbers regarding His age at the time of His crucifixion. In order to make it, the skeptic must demonstrate that the other surviving ancient sources we do havecertainlywould have mentioned the darkness if it had happenedandthat there is no sufficient reason why these sources excluded it. Tertullian, Apologeticus, Chapter 21, 19, Christian Evidence was created to enable Christians to defend their faith, and to open their eyes up to the overwhelming evidence for Christianity. Felix Jacoby. Dont Panic! I would not always agree with him on some interpretational points but he does well in analyzing the crucifixion date question. This may seem hard to accept for some. Just for reference, Nicea is in western Turkey, approximately where the city of Bursa is. The facts were recorded in a historical account of Tiberius. There is only one period of darkness lasting for three hours in the history of the world. 776 BC = Olympiad 1, not 0. VI, p. 130, as cited in Gary R. Habermas, The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ, (Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company), 1996., 3 Habermas, Gary. It has only been referenced in Christian apologist books hundreds of years later. Updated May 2013 Phlegon's greatest work was the writing of a history book, called The Olympiades. 9 Of course, they only thought an eclipse had occurred. Why preach something that was manifestly untrue? One problem with AD 30 being the crucifixion is that it does not allow enough time for Jesus ministry. Here, the skeptics case isseeminglymore plausible on first glance. Thus the New Moon is not visible. (below) says it took place in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, which was 33 A.D. - which can be verified by clicking on the link following Phlegon's quote in red below. It is an important event to all Christians. Please note, I do not believe that this eclipse is connected with the crucifixion. Thirteen inches above the 31 B.C. I speak of the midday or Crucifixion darkness which the gospel accounts assert fell over the earth between noon and 3 pm. In addition, he writes of an earthquake accompanying the darkness, which is specifically recorded in Matthews Gospel (Matthew 27:51): Secular Geologist, Jefferson Williams of Supersonic Geophysical, and colleagues Markus Schwab and Achim Brauer of the German Research Center for Geosciences, researched the Dead Sea and revealed that at least two major earthquakes occurred: A widespread earthquake in 31 B.C. . 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad. From this brief statement, the skeptic wants to declare victory and go home. One of the geological sources is from a British scientific conference in 1853 and the other is from 1985, from a geological conference in Japan. The mention of three nights in this verse has prompted some to propose the crucifixion was on a Wednesday or a Thursday. It was recorded by a Pagan author who had no desire to promote Christianity yet he confirmed the Bible record! (Julius Africanus, Chronography, 18.1) [4]. The Olympiades can be used as a useful means of establishing a time-line. There too, nobody could give a plausible explanation. Jeremiah 9:23-24. Colin Humphreys estimates that Jesus' ministry began in 30 A.D. This is especially significant I think because no other significant earthquakes turned up in Israel for the entire range of years from 25 to 35 AD. His boyish face was flush and confident now. Indeed Phlegon, who is an excellent calculator of olympiads, also writes about this, in his 13th book writing thus: "However in the fourth year of the 202nd olympiad [32 CE], an eclipse of the sun happened, greater and more excellent than any that had happened before it; at the sixth hour [around noon] day turned into dark night, so that the . For example, the first year of Olympiad 140 began in the summer of 220 BC and lasted until the middle of . We have already cited the Acts of the Apostles, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Tertullian, Africanus, the 1st century historian Thallus, and the 2nd century historian, Phlegon, and these sufficiently demonstrate the historicity of the Crucifixion darkness. What Was Achieved By Jesus At The Crucifixion? I did a search for the years 25 through 35 AD for the nation of Israel. So that means there has been at least some investigation of it by geologists though I do not know how much. . Pliny tells us from the outset that unusually long eclipses areportentous. As a Roman noble, it is not remarkable that Pliny selected two examples which were portentous with respect to the history of Rome, i.e., the eclipses at the times of Caesars death and the war against Antony. If your sunset occurs later than sunset in Athens, the event may occur on the previous day . 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