Jesus was born, um, somewhere around this time

[Minimalist]

So Jesus didn't start his ministry until after 29 CE.

Oh, dear...except Phillip wasn't dead until late 33/34 AD which means that Antipas could not have married his brother's wife and he didn't divorce Aretas IV's daughter until about 34 also....Josephus then tells us that Lucius Vitellius, the newly installed governor of Syria was directed by Tiberius to punish Aretas but Vitellius was not consul until 34 and could not have been governor of Syria until 35 at the earliest which doesn't leave an awful lot of time for ole jebus to do his schtick, does it?

Shame when history gets in the way of a good yarn!


http://www.livius.org/vi-vr/vitellius/lucius.html

Having the emperor's support, he became consul in the first months of 34.

Next year, Vitellius was governor of Syria, one of the most important provinces of the Roman empire.

Oddly, the bio of Vitellius duly accounts for his dismissal of Pilate in 36 but then goes on to say that his expedition against Aretas did not take place until 37!

Somehow, this actual history makes a whole lot more sense than xtian ramblings about their god boy which were obviously inexpertly tacked on later to the story.