Why did pagans not take any notice of Jesus?

[fredd bear]

 
Quite possibly. 

Jewish tradition has a long history of prophets performing miracles. I suspect Jesus' miracles may have been underwhelming when compared with Moses, or even father Abraham, to whom god spoke  directly , and who sent an angel to stop Abraham killing Isaac .

Is it just me, or does anyone else  see just how terrified of his god Abraham must have been to be ready to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac.?

YHWH was an  arsehole; the Torah is full of bits such as people fearing god, and of him saying "---for I am a jealous god"  (Exodus 20:5)

"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;"


Not only do I think this is literal, I think it also shows Judaism was not a monotheistic religion at that time. E

Apollonios of Tyana, a contemporary of Jesus, performed miracles:

Apollonius of Tyana

 I wasn't thinking of him, but he's great example. He had a trick wherein he flew around the top of a tower.   Thanks for the link, fascinating reading

The earliest example of a magic trick of which I'm aware comes from Egypt. I think it's the one where a goose's head is cut off and reattached.  Egyptian court magicians are also mentioned in Exodis. I think Moses replicated their trick of turning a staff into a snake, but was apparently more adroit..

There are many examples in the ancient world from having  little people hiding  statues to get people to believe the statue spoke to them, to the magic self opening temple doors built by Hiro of Alexandria

The concept of magic in the ancient world was very different from ours. It was implicitly believed by the masses, and simply part of very day life.EG medicines often included all kinds of rituals, spells ,idols, and talismans . Much like Christianity today. (most especially Catholicism)