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Lucian of Samosata
Lucian, a second century satirist, derided Christians and their founder. In the "Death of the Peregrine," he provides information on what seems to have been a common understanding regarding Christians in those times.
"The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day--the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account….you see, these misguided creatures start with the conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains their contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws."
Note that Lucien does not use the usual word for "crucified," but instead he uses "anaskolopisthenta" which means "impaled." Perhaps this is because crucifixion was derived from impalement but it could be that both the name and means by which the one whom the Christians worshipped met his death were unknown to Lucien. Another section of "Peregrine" gives Palestine as the location where the one whom the Christians worship met his death, hence there can be no doubt that Lucien was referring to Jesus.
Thus from Jewish and pagan sources there exists enough references to substantiate the New Testament witness to the existence of Jesus as a real historical person.
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