Below this comment, I attach an article that claims the discovery of a contemporary eye-witness account of a miracle by Jesus Christ. Here is my comment.
1. Outside the special case of the Herculaneum library, there is not a single surviving autograph by a known ancient writer, or even a second or third generation manuscript.
2. The article says the text is written on parchment that can be dated to the first century. The photograph, however, is plainly of wooden writing tablets – you can see the holes by which they were tied together. It is unlikely that a member of the Roman elite would have used these for writing or dictation. It is very unlikely that the text of an elite writer would have beencopied onto wood. Such tablets were for ephemeral use only.
3. How do we know the text is by Marcus Velleius Paterculus? I can’t see the words, but there is nothing here that suggests a heading. There is no evidence that he went on a diplomatic mission to Parthia in or around 31AD. Indeed, it is generally supposed that he was put to death in that year on account of his association with Sejanus.
4. What is the provenance of the text? The Papal archives began to fill up around the fifth century. How did a first century autograph survive on wood long enough to get there? Why did no one notice its significance at the time? Why has no one else noticed it in the past fifteen hundred years?
I say this is a fake.
PS I’ve just had another look at the article. The claimed description of Christ as “Iēsous de Nazarenus” is no kind of Latin. The whole thing really is a fake. Why are so many people falling for it?
Newly-Found Document Holds Eyewitness Account of Jesus Performing Miracle
Rome| An Italian expert studying a first century document written by the Roman historian Marcus Velleius Paterculus that was recently discovered in the archives of the Vatican, found what is presumed to be the first eyewitness account ever recorded of a miracle of Jesus Christ. The author describes a scene that he allegedly witnessed, in which a prophet and teacher that he names Iēsous de Nazarenus, resuscitated a stillborn boy and handed him back to his mother.
Historian and archivist Ignazio Perrucci, was hired by the Vatican authorities in 2012, to sort, analyze and classify some 6,000 ancient documents that had been uncovered in the gigantic archive vaults. He was already very excited when he noticed that the author of the text was the famous Roman historian Velleius, but he was completely stunned when he realized the nature of the content.
Professor Perrucci found the text in the archives of the Vatican, while searching amongst a bundle of personal letters and other trivial documents dating from the Roman era.
The text as a whole is a narrative of the author’s return journey from Parthia to Rome that occurred in 31 AD, recorded in a highly rhetorical style of four sheets of parchment. He describes many different episodes taking place during his trip, like a a violent sandstorm in Mesopotamia and visit to a temple in Melitta (modern day Mdina, in Malta).
The part of the text that really caught M. Perrucci’s attention is an episode taking place in the city of Sebaste (near modern day Nablus, in the West Bank). The author first describes the arrival of a great leader in the town with a group of disciples and followers, causing many of the lower class people from neighbouring villages to gather around them. According to Velleius, that great man’s name was Iēsous de Nazarenus, a Greco-Latin translation of Jesus’ Hebrew name, Yeshua haNotzri.
Upon entering town, Jesus would have visited the house of a woman named Elisheba, who had just given birth to a stillborn child. Jesus picked up the dead child and uttered a prayer in Aramaic to the heavens, which unfortunately the author describes as “immensus”, meaning incomprehensible. To the crowd’s surprise and amazement, the baby came back to life almost immediately, crying and squirming like a healthy newborn.
Marcus Velleius Paterculus, being a Roman officer of Campanian origins, seems to perceive Jesus Christ as a great doctor and miracle man, without associating him in any way to the Jewish concept of Messiah.
Many tests and analysis have been realized over the last weeks to determine the authenticity of the manuscript. The composition of the parchment and ink, the literary style and handwriting have all been carefully scrutinized and were considered to be entirely legitimate. The dating analysis also revealed that the sheepskin parchment on which the text is written, does indeed date from the 1st century of this era, more precisely from between 20-45 AD.
This new text from an author known for his reliability, brings a brand new perspective on the life of the historical character that is Jesus of Nazareth. It comes to confirm the Gospels on the facts that he was known for accomplishing miracles and that his sheer presence in a town was enough to attract crowds of people.
A complete and official translation of the document should be made available online in many different languages over the next few weeks, but the impact of the discovery is already felt in the scientific community. Many scholars have already saluted the finding as one of the greatest breakthrough ever realized in the study of the historical life of Jesus, while others have expressed doubts about the conclusions of Professor Perrucci and demand for more tests to be performed by other scientific institutions before drawing any conclusions.
– See more at: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/newly-found-document-holds-eyewitness-account-of-jesus-performing-miracle/#sthash.GZRdpulw.dpuf
