Troubleshooter

I will now explore historical issues as they intersect with biblical history and astronomy...
...to better determine the date of the crucifixion and the use of the lunar calendar...
...and to argue for a date other than 31 AD for Jesus crucifixion.

Phlegon was a Greek freedman who wrote his histories during the reign of Hadrian (117-138 AD)...
...his birthplace, Tralles, was near Ephesus...
...Phlegon wrote the following...

"In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad a failure of the Sun took place greater than any previously known, and night came on at the sixth hour of the day, so that stars actually appeared in the sky; and a great earthquake took place in Bithynia and overthrew the greater part of Niceaea,"

The fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad is dated AD 32-33 by modern calculations.

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was familiar with Phlegon's report because it caused trouble for one of his historical theories...
...Kepler did not have access to a computer and although his calculations were extraordinary for his times...
...he made some simple mistakes with 1st Century chronology as did others before him...
...that led him to assert earlier dates for events in Christ's life based on astronomical events.
(See, John Chapman, Phlegon Examined Critically and Impartially - Cambridge University Press, London, 1734)

It is this flawed dating that some present as proof of the 31 AD date for Jesus crucifixion.


Phlegon's Olympiades are largely lost to history, but the quoted fragment concerning the failure of the Sun is unusually well-attested. Seven ancient historians directly quote it: Eusibius, The Chronicon Alexandrinum, Syncellus, Jerom, Anastasius Bibliothecarius, The Historia Miscella and Freculphus Lexoviensis. Other ancients, such as Julius Africanus, Joannes Philoponus, Maximus, Malelas and Origen, cite Phlegon's account without quoting it.

As Phlegon comments indicate, this was no ordinary eclipse...
...he clearly describes it as extraordinary...
...but what he may not have understood is that the darkening was not caused by the moon's shadow...
...hence his error about what type of eclipse it was.


Julius Africanus mentions Phlegon's report of the darkness, and also a similar report of the darkness by Thallus, who wrote his History circa 50-100 AD. Thallus' manuscripts have not survived, but Africanus perserved some of his writing by critiquing them. Specifically, Africanus faults Thallus for stating that the darkness was the result of a solar eclipse.

"On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun."

Africanus realized that a solar eclipse cannot occur at the time of the Passover full moon.

Notice carefully the detail of Phlegon words...

"In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad a failure of the Sun took place greater than any previously known, and night came on at the sixth hour of the day, so that stars actually appeared in the sky; and a great earthquake took place in Bithynia and overthrew the greater part of Niceaea,"

...the time of the day coincides with the Synomptic witness...

Matthew 27:45 "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour."

Mark 15:33 "And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour."

Luke 23:44 "And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour."

Matthew 27:51 "And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;"


Phlegon and Peter's witness...

Notice the detail of Phlegon words...

"In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad a failure of the Sun took place greater than any previously known, and night came on at the sixth hour of the day, so that stars actually appeared in the sky; and a great earthquake took place in Bithynia and overthrew the greater part of Niceaea,"

...and the similarity to the Prophet Joel's prediction...

Joel 2:30-31 "And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come."

Peter quotes Joel's prophecy at Pentecost as an explanation for the phenomena around Jesus Passion…

Acts 2:19-22 “And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Peter then appeals to astronomical events that he assumes these men had persoannaly witnessed…

Acts 2:19-22 “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:”

Notice Peter's reference to a ‘blood moon’…
…the moon can appear red during one phase of a lunar eclipse…

Humphreys and Waddington of Oxford University comment on a computer simulation of this event...

"This eclipse was visible from Jerusalem at moonrise. .... The start of the eclipse was invisible from Jerusalem, being below the horizon. The eclipse began at 3:40pm and reached a maximum at 5:15pm, with 60% of the moon eclipsed. This was also below the horizon from Jerusalem. The moon rose above the horizon, and was first visible from Jerusalem at about 6:20pm (the start of the Jewish Sabbath and also the start of Passover day in A.D. 33) with about 20% of its disc in the umbra of the earth's shadow and the remainder in the penumbra. The eclipse finished some thirty minutes later at 6:50pm."

(The Date of the Crucifixion Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation 37 -March 1985).

http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1985/JA...Humphreys.html

Their calculations showed that the 20% visible of the moon was positioned close to the top (i.e. leading edge) of the moon.

The apostle Peter's reference to a "moon of blood" in the context probably refers then to a lunar eclipse...
...this is self consistent with data for the April 3, 33 AD date...
...and the witness of Kepler, Phlegon and Peter.