(April 16, 2012 at 6:54 am)Creed of Heresy Wrote: I'll just say this; the entries about Jesus Christ are all written by men who lived and went through their careers as historians decades after Christ died. They don't give firsthand accounts. And the entries themselves supposedly confirming Christ's execution? How do you confirm something you did not see with your own eyes? Worse and most damning of all is how the writings themselves suddenly change style when talking about Christ specifically. Not his followers; the man himself. This is mostly conjecture, unfortunately, but I'll just say that all this plus the convenience of the supposed resurrection [which was never recorded by any independent sources outside of the bible, by the way] explaining away the lack of a body makes this whole thing REALLY convenient.ALTER2EGO -to- CREED OF HERESY:
Next you will be arguing that modern historians who write about the founding fathers of the USA got their info first hand. All that's needed is for a historian to have access to credible sources, such as government records. For example, Cornelius Tacitus lived through the reign of several Roman emperors and earned the reputation as "the greatest historian of his era." That reputation indicates he was an outstanding historian from the viewpoint of his contemporaries.
Below are some of the sources that Tacitus got his historical data from. I bolded words that I want to draw your attention to. I'm quoting it verbatim and also providing the weblink for your personal research.
WHERE DID CORNELIUS TACTITUS GET HIS INFO?
Quote:The sources of Tacitushttp://www.tititudorancea.org/z/tacitus.htm
Tacitus used the official sources of the Roman state: the acta senatus (the minutes of the session of the Senate) and the acta diurna populi Romani (a collection of the acts of the government and news of the court and capital). He read collections of emperors' speeches, such as Tiberius and Claudius. Generally, Tacitus was a scrupulous historian who paid careful attention to his historical works. The minor inaccuracies in the Annals may be due to Tacitus dying before finishing (and therefore final proofreading) of this work. He used a variety of historical and literary sources; he used them freely and he chose from sources of varied opinions.
