Crucifixion of Jesus

According to the Gospels, Jesus came to Jerusalem at Passover, was arrested, examined by the chief priests and the Sanhedrin and handed over to Pilate, who sentenced him to death on the cross; Roman soldiers carried out the sentence at Golgotha (Calvary), a place of execution outside the city walls. Since the 4th century the traditional site has been marked by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Outside the Gospels the execution is recorded by Tacitus — Christus “suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus” — and by Josephus, whose passage on Jesus (the Testimonium Flavianum) is thought to contain later Christian additions around a probably authentic core.

The year is not recorded. Pilate governed Judaea from 26/27 to 36/37, and most scholars place the crucifixion between 30 and 33, on a Friday at Passover; the dates most often proposed are 7 April 30 and 3 April 33, reached by combining the Gospel accounts, the years of Pilate’s office, the chronology of Paul’s life and astronomical calculations of the Jewish calendar.

The disciples’ belief that Jesus had risen from the dead became the foundation of a new religion, which soon spread beyond Judaea — among others through the journeys of the apostle Paul.