Maybe there's a reason why any historical Jesus didn't get mentioned in contemporary records. Palestine was just one small area of the Roman Empire so a religious teacher wandering around wouldn't have made front page news in the Roman Times (figuratively speaking) unless he'd led a revolt which required sending in the legions.
Josephus recorded the siege of Masada and archaeological finds indicate that it really happened.
We know about Spartacus
We also know about Simon bar Kokhba
So, what might have happened -
A man who was as human as the rest of the population started a minor religious movement. His followers didn't understand a lot of what he was talking about so took some metaphors literally. The accounts got more and more fanciful over the generations until the real man got obscured by legends.
Legends can get attached to real people because it happened with Francis Drake who definitely existed. Here's one of them -
Josephus recorded the siege of Masada and archaeological finds indicate that it really happened.
We know about Spartacus
Quote:Spartacus (Greek: Σπάρτακος, Spártakos; Latin: Spartacus[1]) (c. 109–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator, who along with the Gauls Crixus, Oenomaus, the Roman Castus, and the Celt Gannicus, was one of the slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic.
We also know about Simon bar Kokhba
Quote:Simon bar Kokhba (Hebrew: שמעון בר כוכבא) (died CE 135) was the Jewish leader of what is known as the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire in 132 CE, establishing an independent Jewish state which he ruled for three years as Nasi ("Prince"). His state was conquered by the Romans in 135 following a two-year war.
So, what might have happened -
A man who was as human as the rest of the population started a minor religious movement. His followers didn't understand a lot of what he was talking about so took some metaphors literally. The accounts got more and more fanciful over the generations until the real man got obscured by legends.
Legends can get attached to real people because it happened with Francis Drake who definitely existed. Here's one of them -
Quote:It is also said on Dartmoor that the ghost of Sir Francis Drake rides the moors on dark nights at the head of a pack of 'Wisht Hounds' seeking out the souls of the unwary or un-baptised. Some people have sworn they have seen him and the Devil riding out with the dogs of hell around Wistman's Wood. Why he should be associated with these stories is a mystery and a very, very old mystery at that?
Where are the snake and mushroom smilies?
