Marcion's Revelation: The Eclipse of 118 CE

Hadrian Denarius 125-128 CE  with Eclipse of 118 CE

On September 3rd 118 CE there was a full eclipse whose course went over the entire northern frontier of the Romans Empire giving the garrisons and the Barbarian tribes a spectacular sight. But it was only a partial eclipse that would have only dimmed the skies for awhile, and would not have darkened like night any of the cities of the empire, with one notable exception city on the shores of Pontus Euxinos (Black Sea). That city was Sinope, where it was almost full strength. The weather, if what was typical nineteen hundred years ago is much the same as today, then at mid afternoon it most likely would be about 74 F (23.3 C), almost cloudless and sunny, any fog long burned off, and likely a mild breeze coming off the Sea, as the eclipse occurred.

Paul, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Circumcision, Roman Law, Torah Law, Desolating Sacrilege (Revised 8-22-13)

Hadrian, Emperor 117-138 CE

When Hadrian became Caesar in 117 CE it was under controversial circumstances, Historia Augusta 1.4, a rather gossipy work [1], paints the issue of his adoption by Trajan as something of a deathbed scandal. But the machinations described surrounding his ascension to the throne are consistent with the more reliable account of Cassius Dio Historiae Romanae 69.1 [2], which describes the murky circumstances under which he became Emperor. When taken in conjunction with his immediate decisions on the throne to extricate the Empire from Parthia, to reorganize the legions of the east, secure defensible borders, and put down rebellions in recently conquered territories, it looks for all the world to have been something of a consensus move by the powerful in the Military and the government. They wanted to correct the dangerously unsustainable expansionist policies of Trajan that were overtaxing the Empire and had led to the a quagmire in Mesopotamia, an expensive and failing campaign despite the propaganda. Hadrian was the man to do that job.

Interpolations in the Witnesses, Tacitus Annals 15.44, Suetonius De Vita Caesarum 6.16.2

The impulse for pious fraud has been extremely strong in Christian history; and to be sure other religions most notably we also see it today also in Judaism and Islam. The modern virus affects mostly archeology, with every decade some falsified inscription or fabricated artifact surfacing which conveniently "proves" the ideology of today with respect the the origin of Christianity, or King David, or Islam.