Caesar's Messiah

A Timeline of Jesus' and Titus' Lives 

LIFE OF JESUS 

1 C.E. Purported birth of Jesus.
30 C.E. Ministry begins. 

• At the Lake of Galilee Jesus begins his ministry by
calling followers to become "fishers of men" (Matt.
4:19 and parallels). 

• At Gadara, Jesus expels 2,000 demons from a man.
The demons migrate into pigs that then jump off a
cliff into the river (Mark 5:1-20). 

33 C.E. Jesus goes to Jerusalem (Luke 18:15 and parallels). 

• A naked young man escapes at the Garden of Geth-
semane (Mark 14:51-52). 

• Jesus predicts that Jerusalem will be surrounded by
a wall (Luke 19:43). 

• Three men are crucified at the Hill of the Skulls
(Golgotha), one man is taken down from the cross
by joseph(us) (ben) AriMathea, and later appears
alive (Matt. 27:33, 27:57-58 and parallels). 

• At the end of the last Gospel, Jesus declares that
John (the beloved disciple) will live, but that Simon
(Peter) will be bound and taken where he does not
want to go, to be killed (John 21). 

LIFE OF TITUS 

39 C.E. Titus Flavius Vespasianus (hereafter Titus) is born. 

66 C.E. His father, Vespasian, is appointed to put down the 

revolt in Judea, and takes Titus with him. 

67 C.E. Roman campaign begins in Galilee. 

• At the Lake of Galilee Titus begins his campaign
with a battle in which Jews fall into the water and
are fished out (War 3,10,5-8). 

68 C.E. Emperor Nero dies. 

• At Gadara, rebels are forced to rush like beasts into
the river (War 4,7,1-6). 

69 C.E. In July, the army in Judea, Egypt, and Syria backs 

Vespasian for emperor.

Appendix 347

69 C.E. Vespasian arrives in Rome, quells civil war, and is 

made emperor, leaving Titus to complete the war in
Judea. 

70 C.E. Titus goes to Jerusalem. 

• Titus, "naked" — without his armor — escapes attack
at the Garden of Gethsemane (War 5,12). 

• Titus builds a siege wall around Jerusalem (War
5,12). Titus pitches camp at Jerusalem exactly forty
years from the start of Jesus' ministry 

• Three men are crucified at the Village of the Inquir-
ing Mind (Thecoe/a). One man is taken down from
the cross by Josephus ben Matthias and miracu-
lously survives (Josephus Life, 26). 

• John is captured but allowed to live (War 6,9,4) but
Simon is seized and is taken to Rome to die (War
7,2,1). 

71 C.E. Titus and Vespasian have a joint triumph in Rome. 

Titus is given various honors and begins sharing con-
trol of the administration. 

73 C.E. The massacre at Masada occurs exactly forty years
from Jesus' resurrection. 

79 C.E. Josephus writes the authorized history War of the Jews,
which is dedicated to Titus. 

71-79 C.E. Gospels are probably written. 

79 C.E. Following Vespasian's death, Titus becomes emperor. 

80 C.E. Titus establishes an imperial cult to worship Vespasian 

as a god. 

81 C.E. Titus dies in September, and an imperial cult is created 

to worship him as a god. Arch of Titus is constructed
posthumously in Rome, acclaiming him as "the son of
a god." 

81 C.E. His younger brother Domitian becomes the third Fla-
vian emperor. 

94 C.E. Josephus publishes his Jewish Antiquities in twenty vol-
umes, written in Greek and containing the "Testimo-
nium Flavianum," which supposedly testifies inde-
pendently to the historic existence of Jesus.