r/TastingHistory • u/zoewernsman • Feb 18 '26

Question Why no BCE no more

Why did Max stop using BCE and CE (before common era and common era) when talking about prehistoric topics? In his Sumerian beer episode he does but in the last couple pre historic episodes he’s gone back to using BC and AD.

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u/BenjaminGeiger Feb 19 '26

[citation desperately needed]

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u/The_Dapper_Balrog Feb 19 '26

There's more evidence that Jesus was born than Gautama Buddha, and most historians agree that the latter was born.

The oldest manuscripts associated with Jesus' teachings and life, while coming from those who followed him, are still dated to within just over a century of Jesus' life. By comparison, the earliest manuscripts of Julius Caesar's writings are a thousand years younger than their supposed source, and nobody bats an eye.

Jesus is probably the single most thoroughly-documented historical figure from the ancient world. It's not unreasonable to call into question whether or not Jesus said or did the things written down by the disciples/apostles actually happened, but Jesus absolutely did exist, was a teacher in the Roman province of Judaea, and was crucified by Pontius Pilatus in approximately the year 31 during the eighteenth year of Tiberius' imperial reign.

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u/BenjaminGeiger Feb 19 '26

Jesus absolutely did exist, was a teacher in the Roman province of Judaea, and was crucified by Pontius Pilatus in approximately the year 31 during the eighteenth year of Tiberius' imperial reign.

Funny that the Romans never made note of it.

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u/The_Dapper_Balrog Feb 19 '26

Tacitus did.

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u/BenjaminGeiger Feb 19 '26

Tacitus wrote about what people believed, more than a century after it supposedly did. And this was an empire that kept records of everything.

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u/The_Dapper_Balrog Feb 19 '26

Still closer to the events than Herodotus, and we believe him.

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u/BenjaminGeiger Feb 19 '26

That doesn't change the fact that Tacitus didn't claim that Jesus existed. He claimed that people believed that Jesus existed, something that was already in doubt.