Editing Tacitus on Jesus (section)

==Other early sources==
{{see also|Josephus on Jesus|Pliny the Younger on Christians|Suetonius on Christians}}

Tacitus is not the only non-Christian writer of the time who mentioned Jesus and early Christianity.

The earliest known references to Christianity are found in ''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'', a 20-volume work written by the Jewish historian [[Josephus|Titus Flavius Josephus]] around 93–94 AD, during the reign of emperor [[Domitian]]. As it stands now, this work includes two references to Jesus and Christians (in [[wikisource:The Antiquities of the Jews/Book XVIII#Chapter 3|Book 18, Chapter 3]] and [[wikisource:The Antiquities of the Jews/Book XX#Chapter 9|Book 20, Chapter 9]]), and also a reference to [[John the Baptist]] (in [[wikisource:The Antiquities of the Jews/Book XVIII#Chapter 5|Book 18, Chapter 5]]).<ref name=Maier1995>{{cite book|last=Maier|first=Paul L.|author-link=Paul L. Maier|title=Josephus, the Essential Writings: A Condensation of Jewish Antiquities and the Jewish War|page=12|publisher=Kregel Publications|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|year=1995|isbn=978-0825429637}}</ref><ref name=Baras>{{cite book|last=Baras|first=Zvi|title=Josephus, Judaism and Christianity|chapter=The ''Testimonium Flavianum'' and the Martyrdom of James|pages=54–7|editor1-last=Feldman|editor1-first=Louis H.|editor1-link=Louis Feldman|editor2-last=Hata|editor2-first=Gōhei|publisher=Brill Publishers|location=Leiden|year=1987|isbn=978-9004085541}}</ref>

The next known reference to Christianity was written by [[Pliny the Younger]], who was the Roman governor of [[Bithynia and Pontus]] during the reign of emperor [[Trajan]]. Around 111 AD,{{sfn|Crossan|1999|p=3}} Pliny wrote a [[Pliny the Younger on Christians|letter to emperor Trajan]]. As it stands now, the letter is requesting guidance on how to deal with suspected Christians who appeared before him in trials he was holding at that time.<ref name=TECC>{{cite book|last=Carrington|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Carrington|title=The Early Christian Church|chapter=The Wars of Trajan|page=429|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|year=1957|isbn=978-0521166416|volume=1: The First Christian Century}}</ref><ref name=Benko1986>{{cite book|last=Benko|first=Stephen|title=Pagan Rome and the Early Christians|pages=5–7|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, Indiana|year=1986|isbn=978-0253203854}}</ref><ref name=ANRW>{{cite book|last=Benko|first=Stephen|title=Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt|chapter=Pagan Criticism of Christianity during the First Centuries A.D.|pages=1055–118|publisher=De Gruyter|location=Berlin|year=2014|isbn=978-3110080162|series=second series (Principat)|editor-last=Temporini|editor-first=Hildegard|editor2-last=Haase|editor2-first=Wolfgang|language=de|title-link=Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt}}</ref> Tacitus' references to Nero's persecution of Christians in the Annals were written around 115 AD,{{sfn|Crossan|1999|p=3}} a few years after Pliny's letter but also during the reign of emperor Trajan.

Another notable early author was [[Suetonius|Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus]], who wrote the ''[[The Twelve Caesars|Lives of the Twelve Caesars]]'' around 122 AD,{{sfn|Crossan|1999|p=3}} during the reign of emperor [[Hadrian]]. In this work, Suetonius apparently described why [[Jewish Christian]]s were [[wikisource:The Lives of the Twelve Caesars/Claudius#25|expelled from Rome]] by emperor Claudius, and also the [[wikisource:The Lives of the Twelve Caesars/Nero#16|persecution of Christians]] by Nero, who was the heir and successor of Claudius.