There are several hypotheses as to what sources he may have used. However, Tacitus does not reveal the source of his information. The scholarly consensus is that Tacitus' reference to the execution of Jesus by Pontius Pilate is both authentic, and of historical value as an independent Roman source. Scholars have proposed various hypotheses to explain these peculiarities. Second, he calls Pilate a "procurator", even though other sources indicate that he had the title "prefect". First, Tacitus may have used the word "Chrestians" ( Chrestianos) for Christians, but then speaks of "Christ" ( Christus) as the origin of that name. There are two interesting points of vocabulary in the passage. The passage is one of the earliest non-Christian references to the origins of Christianity, the execution of Christ described in the canonical gospels, and the presence and persecution of Christians in 1st-century Rome. The context of the passage is the six-day Great Fire of Rome that burned much of the city in AD 64 during the reign of Roman Emperor Nero. The Roman historian and senator Tacitus referred to Jesus, his execution by Pontius Pilate, and the existence of early Christians in Rome in his final work, Annals (written ca.
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