The next material I would like to present as evidence is the fact that there were not a lot of books written in the 1st century, much less survive. The century produced some major events; however there were very few historians to write on the subject.
My question is: how many books were written about those events, specifically the one’s that took place within the Roman Empire? Here are three events, two of which I would like to focus on now.
1. 30 AD. Resurrection of Jesus. I am going to defer, and write more on this later.
2. 64 AD. Great Fire of Rome
The Roman Empire was one of the greatest empires this world has ever seen. Rome was arguably the richest, largest, and most powerful city in the world at the time. The city caught fire in 64 AD and reports say that the fire burned for about 6 days. [1]
3. 70 AD. The Destruction of the Jewish Temple
This took place during the Roman-Jewish War. The Romans attacked the city of Jerusalem, wiped out the Temple, killed over 1 million Jews, and sold almost 100,000 as slaves. The Jews lost their homeland, their population, their temple, and everything they had. [2]
The question: How many books were written on the subjects?
1. Tacitus is the only contemporary author to write on the Great Fire of Rome, whose works survived. In his work “The Annals”, Tacitus devotes one paragraph to the subject.
According to Tacitus, ten of the fourteen districts of Rome burned; three districts were completely destroyed and the other seven suffered serious damage. [3]
The only other contemporaneous historian to mention the fire was Pliny the Elder, who wrote about it in passing. [4]
Incidentally, Tacitus wrote the Annals, which referenced the fire in 116 AD, or 52 years after the event.
2. Josephus is the only contemporary historian to mention the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.
The point is that there were not a lot of books written in the 1st century. The great fire of Rome sees one author, Tacitus, devote one paragraph to it. Josephus is the only author to write on the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD.
[1]
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Rome[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_%2870%29[3] Tacitus, P. C., & Woodman, A. J. (2006). Tacitus, Annals. R. H. Martin (Ed.). Cambridge University Press.
[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_of_Rome