Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus:Flavian Signature Edition

by Atwill, Joseph

• Had the power to execute subjects

  • Church in Ephesus was the first in order of importance (Domitian built personal Temple there)

  • Had a group of churches in Asia Minor

  • Father was a god

  • The “lord god” of Revelation and Domitian were both the “Christ” (Suetonius, Vespasian, 4)

  • Was a member of trinity of gods – Domitian was the “pneuma hagios” or “holy spirit”

  Finally, - the obvious is always overlooked - the “lord god” Domitian possessed a mail system capable of sending letters to the “seven cities” named in Revelation.

  In the next work, we shall open the “seven seals” and show their incredible meaning.

  Conclusion

  The analysis I’ve undertaken in this work supports the premise that, sometime after the war between the Romans and the Jews, Christianity was created by intellectuals working for the Flavian emperors. They created the religion to serve as a theological barrier to prevent messianic Judaism from again erupting against the empire. I have also presented an analysis showing that the story of Jesus’ ministry told in the Gospels was constructed as a “prophetic” satire of Titus Flavius’ military campaign through Judea. This satire cleverly used typological parallels to show that Titus was the real “Christ” that Christians have unwittingly been worshipping.

  Though unseen for 2,000 years, the path to understanding the real meaning of the Gospels is a clear one. The first step is simply recognizing that Jesus was created as a typological figure. This is established at the beginning of the Gospels, in Matthew, where the life of Moses, the first savior of Israel, was used as a type for Jesus, the second savior of Israel.

  The use of typological parallels to link Jesus to Moses was designed to create the impression that prior Judaic literature had “foreseen” the life of Jesus. However, the fact that the authors of the Gospels created Jesus as a typological character, strongly supports the thesis that the linkage I show in this work – between Jesus and Titus – was also created deliberately. Let us suppose that a criminal is known to commit his crimes with a very unusual weapon—say, a bowling ball. A crime scene where the victim is crushed by a bowling ball would strongly suggest the same perpetrator. The same kind of evidence weighs against the authors of the Gospels. It is implausible that one of the few groups that ever knowingly used typology would have also created the only accidentally typological relationships in all of literature.

  Even if Jesus was not an obvious typological character, the relationship between his ministry and Titus’ campaign would, in and of itself, prove that one was based on the other. The parallels between the ministry and the campaign of the two “sons of God” do not merely often occur in the same locations, but in the same sequence. This is the clearest proof that Titus left for us—proof he left so we would see that he had succeeded in his efforts to make the Jews call him “Lord,” proof he left that he had become the Christ that Christianity would worship for thousands of years.

  To see the relationship between Jesus and Titus, all that is needed is to view Jesus’ ministry as it relates to the war between the Romans and the Jews. Though this perspective has been overlooked by historians, it is one that should be studied for several reasons. First, because Jesus stated that all his prophecies would be fulfilled before the “wicked generation” of Jews passed away. To Jews of this era a generation was forty years in length, and Titus’ war against the messianic Jews came to an end, “miraculously,” forty years to the day after Jesus’ resurrection. Therefore, the Gospels should be read in the context of the war—this was literally the instruction that Jesus gave us. Further, the victors write history. Since the Flavians were the victors in their war with the messianic movement in Judea, all the histories relating to that era, including the Gospels, should be scrutinized to determine if the Flavians produced them. Once the Gospels are viewed from the perspective of a member of the Flavian inner circle, the relationship between Jesus and Titus becomes virtually self-evident.

  I realize that some will find the conclusions of this work disorienting. Symbols long thought to have been based on Christian love may really be images of Roman conquest. Even the belief that our culture is Judeo-Christian is incorrect, in that it was shaped by Roman “religious” influence. Most unnerving to me is this question: What would Western civilization be like if, instead of emerging from the Christian tradition, it had emerged from a culture that worshiped strength and scorned weakness?

  It is also hard to accept that so many have missed the obvious clues, left by the creators of Christianity, to inform us of the true origin of the religion. While many of the connections between Jesus and Titus are difficult to see, it is simply amazing that no one has noticed heretofore that Titus’ campaign had a conceptual outline parallel to Jesus’ ministry. This is not a difficult thing to see and should have been common knowledge centuries earlier. Homo sapiens failed to earn its title in this instance.

  Though Christianity began as a cruel joke, it has become the basis for much of humankind’s moral progress. I therefore present this work with ambivalence, but truth is a whole, and no part should be hidden. During whatever controversy this book engenders, we should remember the words of Jesus:

  “And you shall know the truth,

  and the truth shall set you free.”

  John 8:32

  APPENDIX

  A Reader’s Guide to the Names and Terms in Caesar’s Messiah

  ACILIUS GLABRIO - Consul at Rome in 91 C.E., he was banished then executed by Domitian in 95 C.E. as a “contriver of novelty.” Traditionally, he is supposed to have been executed for being a Christian.

  ACHILLEUS - Legendary chamberlain of Flavia Domitilla. He appears in the sixth-century C.E. work Acts of Saints Nereus and Achilleus.

  AGRIPPA II - Born in 27 C.E., son of Agrippa I, king of Judea, and grandson of Herod the Great. As governor over the tetrarchy of Philip and Lysanias, he supported Vespasian during the Jewish War, sending 2,000 men.

  BARABBAS - A character in the Gospels who acts as a foil for Jesus and is released instead of him. The name is a composite of the Hebrew bar (son) and abba (father), meaning “son of the Father.” In some early manuscripts his name is given as Jesus Barabbas.

  BAR KOKHBA - Leader of the revolt against Rome in 131 C.E. His name in Hebrew means “son of the star,” referring to the “star prophecy.”

  BERENICE - Born in 28 C.E., she was the daughter of Agrippa I (who died 44 C.E.), king of Judea, the grandson of Herod the Great. She married Marcus, brother of Tiberius Alexander, and after his death became mistress to Titus. She can be identified through a logic puzzle in Wars of the Jews as one of those who initiated the idea of creating the Gospels. Her sister Drusilla, believed to be the most beautiful woman in the world, married Antonius Felix, Roman procurator of Judea (52–60 C.E).

  BRUNO BAUER - German philosopher, historian, and theologian (1809–1882). He realized that the Gospels had been written as Roman propaganda utilizing Stoic and Hellenistic ideas, and had not been derived directly from Judaism. He thought that the first Gospel had been written under Hadrian (117–138 C.E.). See Christ and the Caesars (1879).

  CATULLUS - A character in Wars of the Jews who dies when his guts burst. Judas, Catullus’ counterpart in the Book of Acts, dies when his guts burst. The parallel is set up to create a logical puzzle which, when solved, reveals the names of the writers of the Gospels.

  CLEMENT - Or Clemens, Pope Clement I, traditionally credited with the authorship of the noncanonical Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians c. 96 C.E. He used to be identified with Consul Titus Flavius Clemens who was executed by Domitian in 95 C.E.

  CYPRIAN - Christian bishop and orator, born c. 240 C.E.

  DANIEL - Prophetic book of the Hebrew Scriptures written around 600 B.C.E., containing prophecies about the coming of a Messiah and the destruction of Jerusalem.

  DECIUS MUNDUS - A character in the passage that follows the famous Testimonium passage in Jewi
sh Antiquities, which supposedly confirms the historicity of Jesus. The name is a pun on Decius Mus (mouse), a Roman military hero who sacrificed himself to save Rome.

  DOMITIAN - Titus Flavius Domitianus (51–96 C.E.). The younger son of Vespasian who, at Domitian’s birth, was an army general. Domitian succeeded his father and elder brother Titus as the third Flavian emperor (81–96 C.E.). His rule is associated with a literary revival and major building program in Rome. Historians present him as an efficient but cruel and corrupt despot.

  ELEAZAR - Maccabean Hebrew name that means “whom God aids.” It is translated in Greek as “Lazarus.” Eleazar was a member of the messianic dynasty that was captured by the Romans during the siege of Jerusalem; he was threatened with crucifixion and had his limbs “pruned.” He was then given back to his relatives—and after he died from his injuries they ate him. His torture and death are satirized when the figure of the cannibal Mary eats her son as a symbolic Passover lamb, and when the figure of Lazarus in the Gospels is raised from the tomb, whereupon Mary “makes him a supper.”

  EPICTETUS - Stoic philosopher and slave to Epaphroditus, secretary to Nero and Domitian. Some of his attitudes were reflected in the Gospels.

  EUSEBIUS - Bishop of Caesarea around 330 C.E. and author of a History of the Church and an apologetic Life of the Emperor Constantine.

  FELIX - Antonius Felix, corrupt Roman procurator of Judea (52–60 C.E.) and husband to Drusilla, sister of Bernice.

  FLAVIA DOMITILLA - Granddaughter of Vespasian, niece of Titus. She married Clemens. She provided the land for the earliest Christian catacombs in Rome. To be distinguished from the Domitilla who was sister of Titus and Domitian.

  FLAVIANS - The family name for the dynasty of emperors founded by Vespasian.

  HEGESIPPUS - A second-century Christian writer of a book of memoirs directed against the Gnostics. His work is known from the passages incorporated in the writings of Eusebius.

  HEROD THE GREAT - King of Judea (73–4 B.C.E.). From an Idumaean (not Jewish) family, he became governor of Galilee at the age of twenty-five and later fled to Rome, where Mark Anthony appointed him the puppet king of Judea in absentia. Caesar Augustus eventually confirmed the title and with Roman support he was installed as a client king in Jerusalem. He co-opted the Maccabean dynasty by marrying one of their women, Mariamme, by whom he had four children before he had her executed.

  HIPPOLYTUS - Heretical Christian teacher and bishop born c. 150 C.E.

  HONI - Known in Greek as Onias, Honi the Rainmaker (died 65 B.C.E.), is traditionally identified as a Galilean holy man, and was one of the models upon which the character of Jesus was based.

  IRENAEUS - Christian theologian born c. 130 C.E. Best known for his writings against Gnosticism.

  JEROME - Christian saint and writer on the Bible, born about 340 C.E.

  JESUS - The name of a character portrayed in the Gospels. The name is a Greek homophone for the Hebrew word yeshu’a, which can mean either “God saves” or “Savior.”

  JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA - A character in the Gospels, he takes the body of Jesus down from the cross. In the Gospel of Barnabas his name is given as Joseph of Barimathea. No such town as Arimathea existed. The name is a pun on Josephus bar Matthias.

  JOSEPHUS - Originally Josephus bar Matthias (37–100 C.E.), he took the name Flavius Josephus on being adopted into the Imperial Flavian family. He claimed to originally have been a general in Galilee who recognized that the traditional Hebrew prophecy about the new world ruler applied to Vespasian. He abandoned the Jews and sided with the Romans. He was given an apartment in the emperor’s own townhouse and wrote the authorized history Wars of the Jews, which was criticized by contemporaries for fictionalizing history and containing scholastic puzzles. The Romans erected a statue in his honor.

  JUDAS ISCARIOT - A character in the Gospel who betrays Jesus to the Romans and dies when his gut bursts. His last name may be an anagram, indicating that he represents not merely the Maccabean Judas the Galilean, but specifically the Sicarii movement. See Catullus.

  JUDAS THE GALILEAN - A Maccabean Zealot. He was a leader of a revolt against the Romans around 6 C.E. over a proposed census. His sons Jacob and Simon were crucified by the Romans, and another son, Menahem, became leader of the Sicarii movement—which supposedly assassinated its opponents with the daggers after which their movement was named.

  JUSTIN MARTYR - Christian theologian born about 100 C.E. Best known for his Dialogue with the Jew Tryphon.

  JUVENAL - Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, satirical anti-Semitic poet active in the first century C.E. He coined the well-known expression “bread and circuses” to describe how the emperors would please the populace.

  LAZARUS - See Eleazar.

  MACCABEES - Original messianic dynasty of Judea removed from power by the Romans in 63 B.C.E. See Matthias.

  MARY - At least five different Marys are presented in the Gospels, where the name is used generically to refer to female rebels. The word is a Hebrew term meaning “their rebellion.” Its Aramaic equivalent is Martha, “she was rebellious.”

  MATTHIAS - Founder of the militaristic and messianic dynasty of the Maccabees, who in 165 B.C.E. led the revolt celebrated by Jews today in the festival of Hannukah. Mattathias/Matthias (Matthew) had five sons: Simon, Judas, John, Eleazar (Lazarus), and Jonathan. These names were dynastic and were passed on through later generations until the dynasty was removed from power by the Roman conquest of Judea in 63 B.C.E. (The dynasty’s burial site was discovered in 1995 at a site 30 kilometers north of Jerusalem). Once removed from power, the dynasty continued to revolt against the Roman occupation and the Herodian puppet kings. In the Gospels, the Romans blatantly satirize the Jews by using Maccabean names for Christian characters.

  NEREUS - Legendary chamberlain of Flavia Domitilla. He appears in the sixth-century work Acts of Saints Nereus and Achilleus.

  ORIGEN - Major Christian theologian and Biblical critic (185–264 C.E.).

  PAUL - A historical figure who may have begun his career in the service of the Emperor Nero (as described by Robert Eisenman). He subsequently became an administrator of the Jesus cult. Several characters in Josephus are parodies of him. These include the evil character on the right-hand side of the Decius Mundus triptych, and Paulinus, who prevents the Jews from having access to the temple by closing the gates. Acts 21:28–30 contain a parallel event in which the temple gates are closed.

  PEDANIUS DIOSCORIDES - The chief physician and botanist accompanying Vespasian and Titus in Judea. His work is believed to have contributed to the underlying botanical metaphor that the Romans used to create their satire known as the Gospels. He is best known as the originator of modern herbalism and as a pioneer of anesthesia.

  PERSIUS - Aulus Persius Flaccus (34–62 C.E.). Roman satirical poet aligned with Stoic philosophy.

  PLINY THE ELDER - Gaius Plinius Secondus was a friend and advisor to the Emperor Vespasian, whom he visited daily. He is known to have visited the army in Judea in the midst of the Flavian military campaign. He is best known for his Natural History. In a future book we will identify him as one of the people who worked on the writing of the Gospels.

  PLINY THE YOUNGER - Governor of Pontus / Bithynia 111 to 113 C.E. His correspondence with the Emperor Trajan on how to treat Christians survives. The problem, as he defined it, was that the contagion of this “superstition” had gotten out of control and had already spread beyond Judea, not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms, although he still thought it possible to check its further spread. The Emperor Trajan, however, instructed him that Christians were not to be sought out.

  QUIRINIUS - Governor of Syria. He attempted to conduct a census in 6 C.E. to facilitate tax gathering. This led directly to the revolt by the Zealot Judas the Galilean. In the Gospel of Luke, the depiction of Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem to register for the census is a satirical counter to this revolt. The Gospel depicts Jews who cooperate in paying their taxes.

  C.
I. SCOFIELD - Christian writer (1843–1921) who produced an edition of the Bible that popularized premillennial teachings.

  SENECA - Stoic philosopher and tutor to the Emperor Nero. Some of his attitudes are reflected in the Gospels.

  SIMON PETER - A character from the Gospels whose name is originally “Simon,” before he is renamed petros, meaning “a stone.” At the end of John 21 he is told that he will be bound and taken off to die. The character parodies the rebel Simon in Wars of the Jews, who was seized at the siege of Jerusalem and taken to Rome for execution.

  SUETONIUS - Roman historian and secretary to the Emperor Hadrian. He is remembered chiefly as the author of The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, produced around 120 C.E.

  TACITUS - Cornelius Tacitus (55–117 C.E.), a Roman historian known for his Histories, Annals of Imperial Rome, and a biography of his father-in-law Agricola.

  TERTULLIAN - Christian theologian born about 160 C.E. The first theologian to write in Latin.

  TIBERIUS ALEXANDER - A nonpracticing Jew, who was son of the richest man in the world, the customs collector of Alexandria. He was brother-in-law to Titus’ mistress Bernice and one of the generals supporting the Romans in the siege of Jerusalem. He put down a riot in Alexandria, slaughtering 50,000 Jews. He can be identified through a logic puzzle in Wars of the Jews as one of those who initiated the idea of creating the Gospels.

  TITUS FLAVIUS SABINUS - Became consul in 82 C.E., married Domitian’s sister Domitilla, and was executed by Domitian. Supposedly the father or uncle of Clemens.

  TITUS - Titus Flavius Vespasianus (39–81 C.E.), the elder son of Vespasian. After serving in Britain as a legate, he went as legate of the 15th legion to Judea under his father’s command. After Vespasian returned to Rome to be crowned emperor, Titus was left in command of the campaign in Judea. He directed the building of the siege wall that surrounded Jerusalem and led to the fall of the city. On his return to Rome he shared in his father’s administration, and became emperor on Vespasian’s death in 79 C.E. Historians regard him as an efficient, frugal administrator like his father.