Thallus's History (partially lost three volume history; 1 century AD)

Artist rendition of the Crucifixion Darkness, an event possibly mentioned in Thallus's History.

Status: Partially Lost

Thallus's History refers to a three volume set of history of the Mediterranean written by the first century historian Thallus (sometimes called Thallos). It's true name is unknown and little remains today except for a few fragments preserved by other writers. His work is notable in that they contain possibly the oldest non-Christian reference to Jesus (predating even some of the bible) and it may also contain a non-Christian reference to the Crucifixion Darkness.

Authorship and Dating

Very little is known about Thallus or his writings as none of it survives in full. He has been tentatively identified as a Samaritan, though this identification is heavily disputed. And may have been mentioned in The Antiquity of Jews by Flavius Josephus, which would definitively place him as living in the 1st century AD, though this identification is heavily disputed as well and appears to be based off a spelling error. In Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence Robert Van Voorst dates Thallus's writings to around 55 AD, a claim that has appeared to become the rough scholarly consensus. What is known for certain is that the oldest surviving reference to Thallus comes from about 197AD, meaning his writer can be dated to a date later than the late second century AD.

Contents

According to the 4th century historian, Eusebius, who frequently cited him, Thallus's History covered historical events from the Fall of Troy (1168BC) until the 167th Olympiad (109 BC). This end date however has been contested as it comes from an Armenian translation with corrupted numerals and several later editors noted the proper end date should perhaps have been the 217th Olympiad (roughly 90AD), which would only be a change of one character in Armenian. The 207th Olympiad (roughly 50AD), which would match the scholarly consensus, has also mentioned as a possible end point. Surviving quotations indicate Thallus's history did last past the 2nd century BC. Even the starting date of Thallus's History is a bit uncertain. Surviving fragments indicated he wrote about the Assyrian King Belus, who lived hundred of years before the 12th century BC Trojan War.

Whatever the case what is known about Thallus's History from surviving fragments is that he wrote about, among other things, the Fall of Troy, the Persian King Cyrus, and the Assyrian King Belus

Reference to Crucifixion Darkness

Thallus's History is perhaps most famous for a possible reference to the crucifixion darkness. In Sextus Julius Africanus's History of the World (c. 220 AD), which survives in fragments from 9th century quotations by George Syncellus, he cited Thallus and another historian, Phlegon, as having recorded the crucifixion darkness, writing,

"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. For the Hebrews celebrate the passover on the 14th day according to the moon, and the passion of our Saviour fails on the day before the passover; but an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes under the sun. And it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, that is, at their junction: how then should an eclipse be supposed to happen when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun? Let that opinion pass however; let it carry the majority with it; and let this portent of the world be deemed an eclipse of the sun, like others a portent only to the eye. Phlegon records that, in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth — manifestly that one of which we speak. But what has an eclipse in common with an earthquake, the rending rocks, and the resurrection of the dead, and so great a perturbation throughout the universe? Surely no such event as this is recorded for a long period. But it was a darkness induced by God".

Based on the citation from Julius Africanus Thallus seemed to regard the crucifixion darkness as a real event but wrote it off as a natural phenomena,something Africanus disagrees with, pointing out that an eclipse couldn't occur during Passover. In evaluating this reference in Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence Robert Von Voorst noted,

"Thallos could have mentioned the eclipse with no reference to Jesus. But it is more likely that Julius, who had access to the context of this quotation in Thallos and who (to judge from other fragments) was generally a careful user of his sources, was correct in reading it as a hostile reference to Jesus' death. The context in Julius shows that he is refuting Thallos' argument that the darkness is not religiously significant.''

Maurice Goguel noted,

"If Thallos had been writing simply as a chronographer who mentions an eclipse which occurred in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, Julius Africanus would not have said that he was mistaken, but he would have used his evidence to confirm the Christian tradition."

Despite this not everyone is convinced Thallus made a genuine reference to Jesus's crucifixion and many urge that, without the full text available, caution is needed.