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.

How Can We Explain the Gnostic Christians?

A Flight of Fancy: A Speculative Explanation for the Gnostics

The premise that I have been working on is that Christianity, at least as a distinct group with its own literature, came into being in the 2nd century, more or less concurrent or shortly after the Bar Kochba revolt in Judea and neighboring provinces. Before that Christianity is essentially prehistoric, we really know nothing. It is from that I posit my ten thousand foot overview of how the Heresies evolved.

The erstwhile church history that is the Acts of the Apostles is very dependent upon Josephus Antiquities (c. 94 AD) for characters and storylines, indicating a 2^nd century providence. The very reference to Hellenist (Greek) Ἑλληνιστάς in an internal Christian conflict with Hebrews (Jewish) Ἑβραίους in 6:1 (also 9:29, 11:20), but the term seems to fit the era of the known Roman Hellenist in Caesar Hadrian (117-138 AD) not that of the Tiberius or Claudius reigns; the source text of Josephus makes no mention to any Hellenist Jewish faction in Temple worship. So how are we to read the New Testament in order to understand the development of the Heterodox movements and more specifically how did the Gnostic come about?