28 Historical Figures Mentioned in the New Testament

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CREDITS:
Chart & Narration by Matt Baker
Animation by Syawish Rehman
Audio editing by Ali Shahwaiz
Theme music: "Lord of the Land" by Kevin MacLeod and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution license 4.0. Available from incompetech.com

[@UsefulCharts]

Get a 7-day free trial and 25% off Blinkist Annual Premium by clicking here: www.blinkist.com/usefulcharts or scanning the QR code.

[@isthatrubble]

so how exactly do they make these summaries....... I bet it's not a person reading the books and writing the summaries themselves

[@UsefulCharts]

@@isthatrubble Actually, it is exactly that. They have a staff of talented writers who read each book and then write the "blinks".

[@firstpersonwinner7404]

​@@isthatrubbleAn average reader could finish a book in 4 - 6 hours, so in a normal shift a single person could probably summarize one or two books, especially seeing as someone who read all day could likely read faster than that average. If you had just 10 people summarize one book a day for a normal 5 day work week you'd get 50 books done in a week, ~200 a month, or 2600 a year. That is with a small staff at a slow pace.

[@ClockworkAnomaly]

Genealogy work I did a year ago, I noticed one potential gap in your list here- what about Linus, known as a pope, saint, or martyr by various groups today, and related personnel, from 2nd Timothy 4:21, and Romans 16:13, and mentioned also by Irenaeus? (Reason this is genealogy related to me is an obscure ancient line leading to the kings of Siluria, one of whom is claimed as relation to Linus, though I did no verification on that)

[@joshuataylor3550]

​@@UsefulChartswhat do you mean 'number values associated with consonants'?!?

[@Stoneworks]

I'm gonna be buried with a rhino bone just to confuse future archaeologists

[@Je2422]

😂

[@afronasty2000]

which bone are you thinking about choosing? an extra toe bone from a Rhino would be weird.

[@raymondhu7720]

Hopefully you won't be haunting them too just to mess with them.

[@user-sn6gt6rz1z]

Hi minecraft person

[@TheRealMagicBananaz]

"This man seems to have been buried with a rhino bone, though we don't know why"

[@denniadale9549]

As an artist, I notice how simply attractive and well balanced all your graphic elements are and how smoothly and cleverly you present them. It all makes your videos highly interesting besides the already fascinating subject matter.

[@parsleypalace3272]

These really are fascinating presentations. Love them.

[@ASChambers]

I was thinking exactly the same thing. A joy to watch.

[@giordy9013]

Your bible content are always so catchy and well made, hope you keep going with this

[@Rakotino]

As a Christian, I love these videos and its nice to hear from people who may have other views on the Bible than me too

[@JayBandersnatch]

Dunno if you've heard of Dr. Bart Ehrman, but he has an excellent New Testament history podcast on Tuesdays with Megan Bowen, you can find it on KZbin.

[@micahtshibangu7402]

@@JayBandersnatch Heard of that guy but he is not serious. His claims are ridiculous, and anyone well versed in the bible will be able to adequately dismiss them.

[@joshuataylor3550]

​@@micahtshibangu7402his claims are all evidence based.

[@sweetxjc]

@@JayBandersnatchhe was, but now he’s gone off the deep end promoting new theories that he has no historical basis for and in fact the evidence we do have goes against his theory. His best work is his Introduction to the New Testament book, other than that I’d be careful.

[@JayBandersnatch]

@@sweetxjc I'd be interested in an example of what you propose.

[@KingJupiter]

Your neutrality is praiseworthy

[@TheDanEdwards]

"Your neutrality is praiseworthy" - I think he is trying too hard. Historians will eventually rub people the wrong way, as sacred bulls (or cult figures) are gored.

[@ISawABear]

If you need ideas for a 3rd follow up video id love to hear all the non-idividual historical groups or peoples as discussed in the bible like the gallacians or the hittites because if i recall the hittites were discussed in the bible long before archeologists ever discovered hattite ruins

[@Kyle-qd2sy]

That sounds familiar, if I remember correctly for a period of time many scholars assumed the Hittites were fictional as the only account of them came from the Bible until ruins started getting unearthed in the 19th century.

[@ISawABear]

​​@@Kyle-qd2sythis is what i recall hearing too plus im sure useful charts could dig up more groups or peoples or places i simply dont have the time to look for

[@andrewsuryali8540]

​@@Kyle-qd2syThis is a modern misunderstanding. Scholars actually knew with certainty that Hittites existed as early as the 1820s because there are many records of them left behind by Egyptians. For that matter, Ramses II left behind entire walls' worth of his side of the story of the battle of Megiddo (against the Hittites), and these had been deciphered by 1829, five years before Hattusa was discovered. The name Hattusa itself was discovered in the 1860s (cuneiform inscriptions were found) and the connection of the site with the Hittites was cemented in the 1890s. These things all happened during a time when most historians still took for granted that the Bible was a true record of history. There was basically no gap between their belief in biblical historicity and people being able to read the Ramses story. What actually happened was ironically the opposite of what the modern misunderstanding says. Historians in the 1830s believed that Ramses was exaggerating his victory. If you believe the Bible was historical, then the records of the Hittites found in the Bible would give you the mistaken image that they were a small tribal group living in the Levant, not rulers of a massive ancient empire. The discovery of Hattusa started poking holes in this understanding, and as time progressed more and more evidence that Hittites had an empire surfaced from both Egyptian and Akkadian records. The realization that the Bible was completely ignorant of the massive Hittite empire was one of the contributing factors to critical examination that led us to our modern understanding of biblical (a)historicity.

[@AmyMichelleMosier]

Lol, the Hittites are white people. Everyone asks where white people are in the Bible.

[@Donderu]

Would definitely like a video on that too! However, Hattites and Hittites are different peoples

[@damouze]

The letter from Pliny to Trajan was part of my exam work in middle school. I can still recite the first sentence of that letter by heart: "Solemne est mihi Domine, omnia de quibus dubito ad te referre", or in English: "It is customary for me, my Lord, to refer all things I am in doubt about to you." Pliny and Trajan were acquaintances, if not friends, from their time in the military (or at least that is what I was taught) and neither was averse to flattery. This is also probably the oldest surviving account of an undercover operation ;-).

[@bartbannister394]

Pliny proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Christians did not take the blame for Nero's fire, as church propaganda would have you believe. Here he is, in the 2nd cent. CE no less, proclaiming that he has never heard of Christians before and he happened to have been in Rome when the fire occurred. More proof for the hoax we call the bible.

[@mantrik007]

I really liked the part of the video where you wiped out some parts of the Testimonium Flavium. After the wipe out, the text sounded remarkably consistent with Jocephus' style of writing as evident in the other passage.

[@absentmindedshirokuma8539]

It was taken from Josephus works that survive in arabic. Most likely original copies translated to arabic before the change that survive today latin version. Sam aranov cover this in his video about early Christians from Jewish perspective.

[@Tay234.]

Imagine 3000 years from now someone refuting the fact you exist

[@Theslavedrivers]

Most of us live such insignificant lives that's there nothing to be discussed, let alone affirmed or refuted.

[@goose93]

I won't exist in 3000 years, because earth will likely be inhabitable

[@sweetxjc]

@@goose93yeah but humans would probably live on another planet before that happens

[@k-rynngurl]

Shiiiid... did I? 😅

[@CzarLazar1389]

This is the great wisdom of so-called biblical scholars. Everyone must have been invented!

[@ktownjunkie]

James the brother of Jesus wasnt one of the twelve. That James is brother of John, sons of Zebedee, both of whom with Peter were fishermen when Jesus called them to be disciples and apostles. Jesus's brother converted much later.

[@Theslavedrivers]

Or didn't need to 'convert' in the first place.

[@DIDCHOI]

@@Theslavedriverswell, it’s recorded in the Gospels that the brothers didn’t believe

[@Theslavedrivers]

@@DIDCHOI As is also said about the disciples, so we can't build too much out of that ..

[@Ofallthings089]

He is not listed among the apostles in the Gospels, but Paul calls him an apostle.

[@Theslavedrivers]

@@Ofallthings089 True, although I don't think the Gospels use the word 'Apostle' at all.

[@toprope_]

Would love to see the Bible’s people who show up in historical record compared with the Qu’ran or Torah. Seeing who shows up in various parts of major branches of monotheism, at different times and in different parts of the world (relatively) sounds like a cool project

[@Congowillprevail243]

The Torah is in the Bible

[@jeffmartin5419]

The Hebrew Bible video mentioned covers that side of things. A video on the Qu'ran would be cool though.

[@fopdoodler9427]

The TNCH is equal to the Old Testament. The Qu'ran is untrustworthy because it was written by a man who did not live during the era of the people he wrote about and according to the Qu'ran itself he was illiterate. I would personally be more inclined to be interested in comparison with religions like buddhism, hinduism and sikhism.

[@blusheep2]

This video came after he did one on Old Testament figures. The people in the comment were of one accord in requesting a video for the NT.

[@potato_nugget]

The quran isn't the same type of book as the bible. It was written entirely during mohammed life, and most of the stories are about moses, abraham, etc rather than anything that happened after the bible was made

[@gentlerat]

I'd argue that since even secular historians consider many of Paul's letters as sources referring to the time they were written that we can count him and the people he wrote about in them as part of the historical record. I think this would include Cephas (aka Simon Peter probably) James again, Barnabas, John and the existence of a group called "the 12" if not exactly who they were at the time or how they added up to 12, along with other more obscure figures Paul mentions.

[@absentmindedshirokuma8539]

While i agree, the lack of non Christian sources for Paul make it hard to say definitely.

[@sweetxjc]

Historians do include him as a source. At the end of the day no one who’s letters are in New Testament knew anything about a “New Testament”. So they are understood as individual sources by historians. Christians centuries later on would put them together.

[@CoryTheRaven]

@@absentmindedshirokuma8539 well given that we have seven letters for sure written by him, I'd say that'd pretty convincing that Paul existed 😆

[@absentmindedshirokuma8539]

@@CoryTheRaven it's still Christians source.

[@Jarige2]

But it is a Christian source that claims to have spoken with Peter, a disciple of Jesus, and James, brother of Jesus. It's not really doubted that this meeting took place. In fact, it's probably where Paul got his early Christian creed in 1 Cor 15. We can date back the claims of the resurrection of Jesus to within a few years of Jesus' death. Quite extraordinary, actually. As far as I know, it's the only legend (well, I do not regard it as a legend but actual history, but people differ in opinions here) that developed within the lifetime of eyewitnesses. And not just that. A legend that's so unbelievable that it should have been easy to disproof.

[@nazarkosarenko2090]

0:00 - Intro 1:13 - Blinkist sponsorship 2:28 - 3 Roman emperors (Augustus, Tiberius, Claudis) + 1 indirect allusion to Nero 4:59 - 9 Herodians (Herod the Great, Herod Archelaus, Herod Antipas, Herodias, Philip the Tetrarch, Herod Agrippa I, Herod Agrippa II, Bernice, Drusilla) 8:14 - 4 Roman governors of Judea (Quirinius, Pontius Pilate, Felix, Festus) 12:00 - Explanation of Josephus's historical works 13:53 - 1 Roman governor of Achaea (Gallio) 14:39 - 3 rebel leaders in Judea (Judas of Gamala, Theudas, "The Egyptian") 15:21 - 3 first-century Jewish High Priests (Caiaphus, Annas, Ananias) 16:48 - 1 Pharisee Great Sage (Gamaliel) 17:23 - 2 of Jesus's disciples (James, John the Baptist) 19:10 - 1 originator of Christianity (Jesus Christ) 24:07 - Outro

[@SlayElsair]

Very useful summary, thank you. Just for clarif, John the Baptist, is *the* baptist, and not one of the 12 apostles

[@bonniewilliams9171]

Thank you for this. I ways appreciate when ppl do this!

[@ryankohnenkamp8946]

I think you conflated the two James in the NT. James (the Lesser), the (half) brother of Jesus, was the one who was executed by Ananias. James (the Greater) was the disciple of Jesus and was executed (by beheading IIRC) as depicted in Acts.

[@mylifeforthelord5535]

We know by tradition that Jakobus minor is a cousin of Jesus.

[@TurtleMarcus]

The Eastern Christian tradition consider James the Brother of the Lord, and James the Lesser to be two different people, the Brother of the Lord being the son of Joseph from a previous marriage (in this tradition, Joseph was an old widower before his engagement to Mary). In fact, you could argue that this was the traditional Western view as well, until Jerome's views (through Aquinas and Albert the Great) became the dominant and only view immediately following the Council of Trent.

[@sjappiyah4071]

@@mylifeforthelord5535No we don’t know, that is merely *catholic tradition. There are many early Christian traditions that suggests James the minor was Jesus’s blood brother including writers like Tertullian , as well as archeology such as James’s ossuary where “the brother” of Jesus is inscribed.

[@rileybalduf8092]

Love all of the Bible content. My favorite videos on KZbin.

[@bartbannister394]

Too bad you don't watch any videos with substance.

[@rileybalduf8092]

Coming from the guy who apparently watches and leaves comments on videos he doesn't even like. i'm so hurt.@@bartbannister394

[@absentmindedshirokuma8539]

@@bartbannister394 your comments has no substance either.

[@mateusarruda4875]

Matt, you don't know how much I appreciate your videos about the bible/christians. I am a baptist theology student in Brazil, and I really wish to translate your videos to portuguese so I can show everyone here. I would also love to buy all your bible related posters, it's so sad that you don't ship to Brazil yet. Hopefully I will get all of them one day. Cheers!!

[@p.m.pilgrim]

Somebody get this man a poster

[@endygonewild2899]

Some more creators I think you should watch is Inspiring Philosophy(Christian Apologist) and Ancient Egypt and the Bible(an Egyptologist), both of them are on youtube.

[@AdriannaStacy]

Do you believe in once saved, always saved? How about denominations? The Bible goes against denominations. One can be baptized and then fall away from Christ. Just because someone is baptized doesn't mean they will actually be saved once they die. Everyone has to walk a Christ-like life after being baptized to actually be saved. James 5:19-20 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. Revelation 2:10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

[@joelpierce1453]

Correction at 18:31: James the brother of Jesus (who wrote the book of James) was not one of the 12 disciples. There ARE two disciples called James, but one was the son of Alphaeus and the other the son of Zebedee and brother of John. Neither of these Jameses was Jesus' brother.

[@guzvier]

That went by quick. Very interesting and helpful. Thank you.

[@mythosandlogos]

Nero would also have been the Caesar that Paul appeals to in Acts 25. Great work!

[@PortugalZeroworldcup]

Was Nero also a military general?

[@Achill101]

​@@PortugalZeroworldcup- no, Nero became emperor as the oldest (but adopted) son of Claudius.

[@PortugalZeroworldcup]

@@Achill101 oh ok I don't know the timeline Around octavius time?

[@Achill101]

@PortugalZeroworldcup - Octavian (Augustus) was the emperor until 14CE. The following emperors were Tiberius and Caligula, then Claudius was emperor 41-54CE. Nero was born 37CE and was emperor 54-68CE when he committed suicide (he probably would have been killed otherwise).

[@parkerprice6787]

My posters arrived today! I knew about the quality of information I was getting, but I was pleasantly surprised by how stiff and sturdy they were! The physical quality of the poster material is far better than similar posters I've purchased from other sites. I will probably be buying more in the future!

[@Gutslinger]

How large are they? 👀

[@militantacecolleti5208]

My brother. We once had an healthy back n forth. I must say your biblical content about real historical figures is on point. Keep it up !

[@katek67]

Amazing work, thank you!

[@gabrielblanchard3921]

Thanks for making this. It'd be interesting to see videos along these lines for things like the _Iliad_ (iirc, there are Hittite references to Mycenaean-era figures that _seem_ to correspond to Eteocles, Menelaus, Priam, and Paris) or the _Mahabharata_ (not that I for one can keep track of its plot!).

[@zac8033]

Can you give a source to read about that? Would love to learn more about it

[@gabrielblanchard3921]

@@zac8033 If either of those links gets nixed by KZbin on copyright grounds, (1) f*** capitalism for introducing artificial scarcity into scholarship so it can profit off it, and (2) I got them both from the "sources" section of the Wikipedia article on Attarsiya (which, I know, Wikipedia, but I've studied Classics and can assure you that these sources do at least seem to be from mainstream scholarship and not crazy randos).

[@jacobtesta2765]

Love the presentation Matt! Keep up the good work!

[@unyil706]

Always look forward to watching your videos ❤

[@tomcaldwell5750]

Thank you so much for the information!

[@user-gb8sc2fy8t]

Keep the good work up mat

[@vbcsalinasapologetics1242]

Quirinius is also verified on a couple of stele, one of which names him as a "Duumvir" of Syria in about 1 BC / 1 AD. It would be in this sense that Luke tells us he was Governor of Syria. He also took a census of Syria at that time.

[@ttpayton]

Excellent dispassionate presentation. So helpful. One small detail could be misleading. At 5:31 you mention the “3 wisemen” that visit Herod. Matthew 2 doesn’t actually mention the number of magi. Again great work!

[@SKingA803]

amazing work as always!

[@Silvercrypto-xk4zy]

This video was very impartial and excellent bringing the facts in the least biased (no such thing as unbiased, we all have at least subconscious biases) way possible

[@hainsleyflyer9485]

Absolutely awesome video! I did notice a mistake: at 7:16, the quote is supposed to be from Acts but it shows that the quote is from Matthew 2:22.

[@MichaelJosephJackson02]

no

[@crabring]

Yes, correct. Should be acts 12:1

[@globalislamicreminders]

Can you make a video on all the archeological and historical findings linked to the old and new testament. I know it will be alot of work. But that playlist would be priceless for future generations !

[@Gutslinger]

Associates for Biblical Research has a lot of great videos that do that. I highly recommend.

[@paulkoza8652]

Nicely done, Matt.

[@corsicanupstart]

Great stuff, thank you for these fascinating videos!

[@MontyCraig]

Excellent work! Would love the a chart on the similarities of stories in Jocephus as the New Testament 40 years apart!

[@MythVisionPodcast]

This is an excellent topic Matt! I love it ❤

[@oldschool5]

What up mr myth vision.

[@noahwamalwa4385]

this video obliterates the myths of @MythVisionPodcast completely

[@oldschool5]

@@noahwamalwa4385 Both channels do. This guy just does it much more nicely

[@lxfj2128]

Debunked your Jesus is made up videos

[@oldschool5]

@@lxfj2128 Not really. He might have reinforced it. A guy walking the streets named Jesus is a lot different than a guy whose sacrifice is the only route to this unseen heaven

[@Dwitwitty]

Awesome channel! Keep it up!!!!!

[@Joh_3.36]

Excellent work. Thank you very much.

[@debraturner4559]

Excellent research and entertaining as usual, Matt. [The sound was a tad low in this video. I like it louder because viewers can adjust their volume down, but if low you can't turn it up.]

[@Mr.MikeTarrab]

Great work Matt. I always really appreciate your hard work to bring to us what you've studied over the years. I'm always curious about Christianity and been doing as much as possible my research about it. Found your channel couple years ago and always watched your videos. Would it be possible to make a video about the apostles of Jesus? Were they mentioned anywhere else besides the bible? Specially Paul and Peter! Appreciate it again.

[@jeffmacdonald9863]

I think that's included here - or would be if they had been mentioned elsewhere. James the brother of Jesus is the only one - though not one of Jesus's disciples, Paul does describe him as a leading figure in the movement in his time. John the Baptist gets an honorable mention - not one of Jesus's followers of course, but treated by the Gospels as a precursor. Even Paul isn't mentioned outside of Christian sources. We're pretty sure he exists of course, due to his own writings. And he mentions at least Peter and James - I'm not sure if he names any of the others, though he mentions the "twelve" in aggregate.

[@Jarige2]

It depends on whether you want to add church fathers to the list of potential sources. Because yes, then there are plenty of mentions outside of the Bible. After the apostles, a second generation of church fathers took over, and then more generations followed. And many of those people left writings discussing how the information they received was received and transmitted this to others. Their writings confirm quite a lot of characters, but they are Christian sources obviously. So I guess you'll have to read those with historical glasses. Personally, I think it unlikely that they invented people. Think whatever you want about Christianity but it's unlikely the people that founded and helped build the church didn't exist or that these early church founders are simply made up.

[@Mr.MikeTarrab]

@@Jarige2 Thanks for the reply..I'm Catholic and I'm positive that all of the apostles mentioned in the New testament are real people that existed. I don't have an argument about that. To me it is very interesting to see if they were mentioned outside the bible. I love history and I'm just curious brother.

[@justincaseiamhere]

Thank you sir you have amazing knowledge and collection

[@mahatmarandy5977]

This was awesome. Thank you!

[@stanlivengood9500]

I love your videos and have been especially interested in these recent ones about the Bible. I appreciate how your presentations are dispassionate, balanced, and respectful of people of faith like myself. Thank you for your interesting and educational posts!

[@bartbannister394]

Still doesn't make the bible any less a fairytale. I read a Batman comic book that mentions George Washington. Does that mean Batman is real?

[@absentmindedshirokuma8539]

@@bartbannister394 batman is still real book that influence lot of people that make reference of event happening in real life. If something happening with humanity that make it batman comic as one of very few manuscripts that survive into the future, Batman WILL become important historica source. because it still take real life reference. The illiad, the Mahabharata, the Norse Sagas, The Arthurians, the Gilgamesh, the ShiJi, all was once THE Batman of their era, and look how important they are today as historical sources. Bible is no different. It still important historical sources regardless if Moses real or not. So what if it's fairytale? It still important historical documents that reflect what people thought at the time it was written that influence lot of people. That alone make it worth to study.

[@bartbannister394]

@@absentmindedshirokuma8539 Yeah, the bible is a historical document, but this doc made the assumption that because it has some real history, the whole thing is true.

[@absentmindedshirokuma8539]

@@bartbannister394 so does every other book made at the time. What's your point? It's not the document problem. People back then just write that way. It's the task of current scholar to analyse which one that contains historical evidence and which one that isn't.

[@bartbannister394]

@@absentmindedshirokuma8539 None of the ancient writings you mentioned have been altered like the bible. The copies of Homer we have from antiquity are identical. The bible, on the other hand, has been altered, added to and copied from earlier stories. Just check out the differences between the oldest bibles and today's bible. They are so different, they can be considered two different religions. The earliest Christians would laugh at today's bible.

[@SAOS451316]

There are many people throughout history who have only one or two little pieces of evidence for their lives, and we're very lucky to find them.

[@MinefighterLP]

Great video, thank you!

[@user-yy2mu9qm7g]

YAAAYYY!!! ANOTHER MATT VIDEO!!!

[@Kaspar502]

Your work is super important to humankind and its relation to it's own history and I want you to know that people appreciate it for that. Thank you honestly so much Matt

[@jeffmacdonald9863]

It's interesting to compare this to the previous video on mentions of Iron Age Bible figures. In both cases, it's mainly political and religious leaders that we can confirm, but here those figures are mostly background characters or antagonists for our main characters, while in the previous video our main characters of those particular Biblical texts often appeared in the historical record. Background figures and antagonists appeared as well of course - kings of neighboring countries, for example, but it was the rulers of Israel and Judah that were the focus of those books and that showed up in the archeology. We also know far more about the Roman era political figures from other sources, so the NT doesn't really shed much light on the various Herods or Roman governors/prefects, whereas for the Iron Age the external evidence is often a couple of mentions in inscriptions, so the Bible, to the extent it can be trusted, is by far the most important source for many of these figures and for the general history of the lands of Israel and Judah. Every bit of confirmation we get there solidifies our trust in those particular texts as useful for the historical record. In the NT, it doesn't really work that way. It's not really useful as a historical document, other than in understanding what certain early Christian groups were thinking and the development of Christian beliefs in general. What's most important to the writers can't be confirmed by outside sources and what we can glean from the texts doesn't really help with understanding Roman/Judean relations of the period, for example.

[@-RONNIE]

Thank you as always for the videos I appreciate the information

[@foodtestingstrips]

This was AMAZING...my mind is blown!!!

[@helmutthat8331]

In addition to Gallio, a brother of Seneca the philosopher, being the proconsul of Achaia from July 51 to August 52 when Paul was taken before him in Acts 18, Acts 19:22 identifies Erastus as one of Paul's helpers in Corinth, and Romans 16:23 identifies him as city treasurer. In 1929, archeologists excavating a 1st century street in Corinth unearthed an inscribed stone that read "Erastus, Procurator and Aedile, laid this pavement at his own expense." Luke uses the term "Politarchs" to identify the officers or magistrates in Thessalonica, and only uses this term for that city. This term is nowhere to be found in the writings of any of the other ancient historians, so it was dismissed as ahistorical for years, but later archeologists found inscriptions in ancient Thessalonica using that exact term!

[@urubu715]

Small correction: At 7:12 you reference Acts, but the picture has a Matthew verse. Great content, though!

[@GreenStarLine2024]

Good video love it!

[@hubbsllc]

Thank you for making this.

[@aldwinwong5192]

7:10 Typo, Acts 12:1 not Matthew 2:22

[@UsefulCharts]

Oops!

[@NovaSeven]

Excellent video as always, but I find it odd to render the title as “Christ” (Greek: Χρῑστός) in the Josephus passage but “Christus” (Latin: Chrīstus) in the Tacitus passage. Either way the second declension nominative singular endings of Greek (-ος) and Latin (-us) are traditionally dropped when translating into English, so I’m confused why you’d drop it in one case and not the other.

[@milanney8969]

Good point. I guess, as a Jew, Josephus was aware that 'Christ', the translation of 'messiah', was a title. In contrast, the pagan Tacitus seems to believe that 'Christus' is simply the (rather strange) name of a man (he doesn't mention the name 'Jesus', for example). So it makes sense not to translate it.

[@TheDanEdwards]

Because Tacitus was obviously writing in Latin to _report_ what he was told by local people who were followers of Paul (long after Paul died.) Tacitus was not trying to use a Greek word to explain a religious concept (i.e. the _anointing_ ). How much time Tacitus spent interviewing early Christians we cannot know, but because Tacitus just briefly mentions the group we can assume he did not spend much time.

[@NovaSeven]

I’m not asking about the term Josephus or Tacitus used. They both used the same term; the former-writing in Greek-used Χρῑστός; the latter-writing in Latin used Chrīstus. I’m simply wondering why the English translations presented here keep the suffix in one but not the other. It’s just a bit inconsistent from a translation perspective.

[@davidchez513]

@@NovaSeven My assumption is they were written like that to denote which passage belongs to Latin and which to a Greek source.

[@davidprosser7278]

Keep up the good work.

[@nubbyrose87]

Amazing. Thank you.

[@luismijangos7844]

Matt, Matt, Matt!!!!!! I just watched the last episode of Dan McKlellan's postcast "Data over Dogma" and he said that there has been discovered archaeological evidence of Balaam son of Beor from Numbers chapter 22

[@UsefulCharts]

He's probably talking about the Deir Alla inscription, which was actually discovered back in 1967. The reason why I didn't include it in my previous video is that the inscription dates to c. 800 BCE, whereas Balaam was supposed to have lived c. 1300 BCE. So it's not a contemporary reference. It is however very interesting because it demonstrates that by the later iron age, there were various different literary traditions about an earlier religious figure named Balaam.

[@luismijangos7844]

@@UsefulCharts thank you for your reply, Matt. I learn a lot from you and Dan. I'm a Electronics Engineer and a Physics and Math teacher at college level but History, and your scientific approach of the Bible is something that I enjoy much!!!! Keep doing your great work!!!!!!

[@noahwamalwa4385]

@@UsefulCharts great video

[@Gutslinger]

Funny. I literally just came from a different channel that showed and talked about that.

[@Evenape]

Please do a part 1.5 on the Deuterocanonical books, part 3 on cultural entities mentioned in the Bible only later to be authenticated with archeological evidence, and part 4 on 1st-2nd century archeological sources other than Rome or Josephus (maybe Ethiopians? Greeks? Armenians and Parthians?)

[@HistoryandHeadlines]

Which of these figures do you find to be the most fascinating?

[@gladtrad]

Excellent job as always. Little typo in the banner shown at around 7:15: the Bible quotation is from Acts, not Matthew.

[@FraterSbeve]

"I have a friend in Rome named Cumanus"

[@bradypatterson8859]

Only correction I would say is that at 18:50. James the brother of Jesus was different than James that was one of the 12 disciples.

[@chrisgary4109]

Thank you for this video

[@respectedprophet6247]

Love your videos

[@adamtaylor6126]

There's also Aretas IV Philopatris, King of the Nabateans from 9 BC til AD 40. His daughter Phasaelis was the original wife of Herod Antipas, whom he divorced in order to marry Herodias. He is mentioned in 2 Corinthians 11:32, where Paul writes that Aretas was seeking him in Damascus, so he had to escape Damascus by being lowered over the walls in a basket.

[@chazparker3657]

Would you please create a similar chart for the 12 Apostles as well as the early followers? Where are they in the historical record and context of the gospels? I am watching The Chosen which offers a fictional account how each apostle was chosen to join Jesus. It’s a good series and better than most fictional stories on the subject.

[@jeffmacdonald9863]

There's no point, since there's essentially no historical record for any of them. All you could do is echo what's in the Bible and talk about what early Church tradition added. But we know in many cases that early Church tradition is wrong, so it's hard to say anything with any certainty.

[@alangervasis]

We have apocryphal non-canonical sources like the "Acts of Thomas" about Apostle Thomas' journey to India written in 3rd Century. It does contain some historical people like the Indo-Parthian King Gondophares who ruled from 19-46 AD.

[@davidchez513]

Most of them can be certainly labeled as legendary figures that were greatly exaggerated by the Church tradition and the apocryphal texts.

[@someinteresting]

Will you do a video on the Deuterocanon, at least the Maccabees mention historic persons?

[@ncdave4]

A great video on an important subject.

[@singam7436]

Iirc, Sam Aranow mentions that the Arabic version of Josephus's history mentions Jesus in the same place without the overt Christianity in his video on the subject

[@ricomeitzner7584]

that doesn't necessarily help you, when you think of the more than 500 years between josephus and the start of islam and the predominance of christianity in the areas adjacent to the forming muslim world, prior to the formation of islam, i.e., the arabic version of josephus are also just based on versions from potentially christian authors.

[@ps.2]

@@ricomeitzner7584 "Help you" as in help whom? I don't think singam is arguing that this authenticates the mention of Jesus, but that this would be evidence in favor of the idea presented by Matt that the Testimonium has been embellished by Christians. Doesn't prove that the stripped-down version in Matt's video is original - doesn't _prove_ anything, really - just adds to the evidence that the surviving Greek text isn't original. ("Greek original"? Apparently Josephus wrote _Antiquities_ in his own language, Aramaic, and later translated it into Greek to reach a wider audience. So it's original in the sense that he did his own translation. Do we know whether the Arabic version was translated from Aramaic or from Greek?)

[@CarterElkins]

Great job! Kudos for approaching such a touchy topic in a way that’s both objective and respectful to all, regardless of faith or lack thereof.

[@nickpetka]

Very interesting fact that Seneca’s brother was mentioned in the Bible. Thanks for that!

[@andorifjohn]

Yes new videoooo!

[@LazarAndrei-VNI]

Alexnder the Great, Antiochus Epifanes and the Maccabees are described clearly (but not by name) in Daniel 7,8,10,11,12

[@LazarAndrei-VNI]

@CipiRipi00 I am aware of that thank you. Was just saying that there can be mentions of it in the Old testament video. I saw tham on the chart in this video.

[@LazarAndrei-VNI]

@CipiRipi00 just cheked it, and it end's up with Artaxerxe, Persean Emperor.

[@davidchez513]

Well, you did answer the reason why they probably weren't included in these two videos. They are there implied but not by name.

[@LazarAndrei-VNI]

@@davidchez513 i kow, but still worth mentioning any way, even if not add a check mark 😉

[@Desertflower743]

Thank you. I’ve loved all three of these Biblical/Historical articles. You may be interested to know that it was not actually Nero who was the emperor of the number 666. You actually have to do some juggling and literary gymnastics to make Nero’s name add up to 666, including a spelling that was not Roman and was never used. It was in fact, the emperor Domitian, the second son of the emperor Vespasian and brother to Titus who caused Jerusalem and the temple to be burnt down in AD 70. Domitian’s name did indeed add up to 666 by using the alpha-numeric symbols on his coins (and no need for literary gymnastics). Domitian was also popularly referred to as The Beast behind his back due to his cruel and murderous habits, which he used even upon his own friends for a laugh or to relieve them of their fortunes. Domitian is the beast of 666, a torturer and persecutor of the Christians who, like Nero, wanted to eradicate the Christians because they reminded him of the inconvenient truth that there was one God, therefore they could not really be gods, as they wanted the public to believe, but only rulers of men for a time. Domitian is referred to in Rev 13:16-18. It was he that caused all men to take an oath at the markets before being allowed in to buy or sell. The oath forced the person to avow that Domitian was Lord (God), and once the person swore it they received a temporary ink stamp on their hand or forehead, according to their rank or position. Furthermore Domitian also made it a law that the only coin allowed for buying and selling in the marketplace was the Roman coin struck in his name bearing his inscription and likeness. Another ancient biblical mystery put to rest. I look forward with interest to more videos, the three in this series were fantastic.

[@RobertCampsall]

Very interesting, though mildly amusing that you conclude there is a god. Certainly the Ceaser's were from a polytheistic society so they wouldn't be concerned about other god's existing, though they would take issue with the claim that there was only one god, and it wasn't Roman.

[@danielmadar9938]

Thank you

[@caloyssk1]

i remember the channel had old testament archeological/personalities evidences found sort of kinda also shown in the time history chart and now this, thank you sirs 😉 i made my comment based on the "caption" your ep, yes! and were explained in the beginning of this video 🤟

[@eastsideapologetics6147]

As a Christian (Follower of Jesus) I thoroughly enjoyed this video! The historical fact that Jesus was crucified is undeniable!

[@theguyver4934]

Just like biblical and historical evidence proves that jesus and his apostles were vegatarians biblical and historical evidence also proves that the trinity, atonement, original sin and hell are very late misinterpretations and are not supported by the early creed hence its not a part of Christianity I pray that Allah swt revives Christianity both inside and out preserves and protects it and makes its massage be witnessed by all people but at the right moment, place and time The secred text of the Bible says ye shall know them by their fruits So too that I say to my christian brothers and sisters be fruitful and multiply Best regards from a Muslim ( line of ismail )

[@kaerligheden]

Jesus vegetarian??? He ate fish and lamb at least....

[@daviddrake727]

And drunk wine

[@kaerligheden]

@@daviddrake727 grape juice, sorry

[@jeffmacdonald9863]

It's very likely, but far from undeniable. The historical evidence outside of Christian sources is late, thin and very likely not independent of Christian tradition. That's not surprising - Jesus wouldn't have been important to anyone but Christians until the new religion became significant.

[@volhosis3784]

Herodias was previously married to Herod Philip I, not Philip the Tetrarch (also known as Herod Philip II).

[@UsefulCharts]

Right. My mistake.

[@krisv001]

Well made, a fair, and balanced video.

[@mugsnvicki]

fascinating!!!

[@zackleonard8559]

I'm an atheist but I absolutely love the history of religions! These videos are great~!

[@leedavis3704]

Oh that’s so sad 😳😳😳😳

[@greenpulseeducation5002]

Atheism is a fath and a religion by itself. You view and put a faith that the universe has no creator. Mani the atheist is one of your teacher he is mentioned the in the book Psalms of David.

[@zackleonard8559]

​@@greenpulseeducation5002 it really isn't

[@Loveabounds.]

This video alone has made me a non atheist

[@thebitchprince]

Hey, Matt! I'm curious about your content creation process. As your videos are so detailed, how much do you know by heart? I'm so impressed with the quality of your material and the amount of research you must have taken into crafting this. More power!

[@Gutslinger]

10:45 Another interesting find was a ring that might've belonged to him. I believe it was found in a cistern, and was held in a museum for a while before they even got around to examining it.

[@emowilliams10001]

Hey, love your content and have bought some of your charts. I would love it if you could make a useful chart of the timeline of dinosaurs…because I don’t think many people know that there are more years between the brontosaurus and the tyrannosaurus than humans and the tyrannosaurus. Just a request…but would definitely buy it. Unless you already have that chart that I haven’t seen. From a fellow doc, thanks.

[@gojira4036]

This does somewhat reinforce my faith. To know that at the very least the one I’m supposed to be worshiping as the son of God did infact exist and that the people who worshipped before me most likely didn’t start doing so 120 years after the fact

[@eastsideapologetics6147]

Amen! Alelujah to the lamb who was Slain and Resurrected!

[@henryy-tq8tn]

Thats completely bs Pauls letters with hymns honoring Christ that in themselves are dated to the 40s debunks your claim, were as Pauls letters are dated to the 50-60s

[@gojira4036]

@@henryy-tq8tn If you mean 40 AD Jesus died 10 years prior to that so it’s still in the timeframe. So are 50-60 AD

[@henryy-tq8tn]

@@gojira4036 if he was being worshipped in 40ce then how does that translate to it having taken 120 years?

[@gojira4036]

@@henryy-tq8tn Because you cannot read. I said it’s good that they didn’t start worshipping 120 years afterwards and it was close to the time after his death

[@AnthonyCollierMusic]

I’m very excited for this

[@shadowsrants6663]

is there a way to download the image?

[@5jinncyn]

666 is still a bad translation. The correct translation is 616, which was announced around the year 2000

[@PasteurizedLettuce]

It’s not about translation of the number it’s about the name- 666 or 616 if you choose Neron or Nero, both ways of writing his name at the time

[@Out-to-Pastor]

Could you do a video on the original testimonium flavianum and it's accuracy?

[@ps.2]

Doesn't really seem like something for UsefulCharts. As the name suggests, this channel is about doing and explaining the research behind the construction of a useful chart. I'm not sure what sort of chart you could make out of a passage in Josephus.

[@absentmindedshirokuma8539]

Sam aronow already discussed this topic in his video.

[@Out-to-Pastor]

@absentmindedshirokuma8539 awesome thank you. Do you mind linking it?

[@absentmindedshirokuma8539]

@@Out-to-Pastor can not link on KZbin, look up his video about the birth of Christianity part of herodian era series.

[@Out-to-Pastor]

@@absentmindedshirokuma8539 thabk you for the help

[@kaloarepo288]

I haven't listened to the video yet but does it mention the prominent Greek poet Aratus who is quoted by St Paul in one of his letters?

[@elvistheking9800]

Paul quotes him in Acts 17:28 but does mention him by name

[@kaloarepo288]

Yes@@elvistheking9800

[@RyeKoo]

One of the videos im looking forward to watch is aleady here !!!

[@ruyfernandez]

What about Paul? I was expecting evidence about him.

[@funbukit5366]

It wouldn't surprise me if there has not yet been any extra biblical evidence supporting the existence of Paul. This video seemed to demonstrate only those who held high positions of power or held a position of extreme public suspicion (enough for people to write about it) seem to have extrabiblical documentation. It's my feeling, however, that the Pauline epistles of the New Testament are themselves a strong suggestion that a person by the name of Paul did exist and served the early Christian churches. While other parts of the New Testament (such as the Gospels) might do best to prove the existence of certain characters, the fact that there are 13 books written (as it seems) by the same author, who identifies himself often, seems like good evidence of his existence. There are individuals with much less documentation that we agree existed. So even if it's from the Bible, I feel Paul's existence is well-supported.

[@absentmindedshirokuma8539]

No close contemporary source for Paul outside the bible. I think the closest we have for record about paul from outside sources was a Talmud commentary made in 700 ce with tradition that could be traced as far back as 400 ce. But thats too far from his lifetime to be counted as reliable.

[@ruyfernandez]

@@absentmindedshirokuma8539 I see. And yet I have heard scholars (including Matt in his videos) talk about Paul as if he was a historical character. Or rather, I have never heard anyone question the fact that he was. Perhaps, in his case, the authorship of his epistles (the authentic ones, at least) can be considered proof enough?

[@Carpediem357]

@@ruyfernandezI think it’s because of Pauls importance in a lot of things in the Classical Era. Could be entirely wrong tho. I think it’s a similar situation with many of these figures from this era that there hasn’t been any or enough archaeological evidence proving he’s real. Now why that is could be several reasons I believe there was evidence but during either the burning of Rome, one of the many sackings of Rome or the Burning of the Library of Alexandria by early radical christian groups and other non Roman groups (like the germanic tribes, gauls etc) it was destroyed and thus no longer exists.

[@absentmindedshirokuma8539]

@@ruyfernandez linguistics study can proof that some pauline epistle are definitely genuine from vocab and grammar analysis, so that a single contemporary source. Some may say that those linguistics study are enough, but skeptics need comparable contemporary sources. So understandable since paul sadly didn't have those.

[@Carlos-ln8fd]

Bro hopefully people can say in the future that I also did in fact exist

[@euq8]

lol

[@euq8]

the fact we write in our names and about ourselves all the time its so different from the ancient time

[@LarsKariniemi]

Impressive list of names

[@Portekberm]

Brilliant

[@sjappiyah4071]

18:33 Slight mistake, James was the brother of Jesus but he was NOT a disciple of Jesus , at least according to the gospels. The gospels repeatedly indicate that Jesus’s brothers did not believe in him and therefore were not disciples . Example : John 7:5 [5] For not even his brothers believed in him. Paul also mentions James as separate from the disciples… It was only after Jesus’s resurrection that James believed and joined the church becoming an *apostle