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Comment by i_love_retros | Hacker News Reader

Curious, what events are documented in the bible that correspond to actual historical events? Does it have good historical accuracy for the time it was written? (forgive my ignorance, I have never read the bible)

Have you read Jerusalem by Simon Sebag Montefiore? I admit I didn't finish it, but what I did read was very interesting. Although I admittedly didn't fact check it.

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With respect to the New Testament, Josephus' "Antiquities of the Jews" is the most contemporary historical account of the region, written in the late 1st century, and attests to the execution of John the Baptist by Herod Antipas, the rule of Pontius Pilate in Judea, and some other events attested to in the New Testament. Some of these events are themselves corroborated by Roman authors and archaeological evidence, such as coins and the Pilate stone.

I’d recommend to just start reading it to get a feel for it. It’s not all history, there is poetry, proverbs, lawgiving, etc.

The relationship of the Bible to history is complicated. I recommend the “Pete Ruins ____” episodes of The Bible for Normal People podcast, which is fun but also grounded in the academic field of biblical studies. Here’s the first one for Genesis, where the historical aspects are especially complex and interesting: https://thebiblefornormalpeople.com/episode-277-pete-enns-pe...

The Bible is a mixture of history, poetry, wisdom literature, and much more. There's a really fascinating study Bible (ESV Archaeology Study Bible) that does a fantastic job of putting everything into its historical, sociopolitical, and geographical context.

A prince of Egypt that believed in the religion of the sun was forced to leave and took some slaves with him. For example.

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