How reliable are ancient documents like Caesar’s manuscripts on the Gallic War?
How reliable is history?
Many people take for granted the historical documents of Napoleon, Alexander the Great, Caesar, etc, but they try to say that biblical documents are not to be trusted.
But in fact, more documents support the Gospels and the Bible compared to written secular accounts of famous historical leaders’ battles and conquests.
This article delves into the fascinating topic of historical reliability, comparing historical accounts with biblical New Testament documents.
Table of Contents:
1. How accurate are historical documents
Critical analysis and interpretation:
‘1.2: What is Historical Analysis?’ Stephanie Cole, Kimberly Breuer, Scott W. Palmer, and Brandon Blakeslee. University of Texas at Arlington via Mavs Open Press. The LibreTexts libraries. 1
Writing history requires making informed judgments; we must read primary sources correctly, and then decide how to weigh the inevitable conflicts between those sources correctly…
In order to weigh the value of one source against other sources, we must be as informed as possible about that source’s historical context, the outlook of the source’s creator, and the circumstances of its creation.
Indeed, as they attempt to uncover what happened, historians must learn about those circumstances and then be able to evaluate their impact on what the source reveals.”
Many people accept historical documents as being accurate and true representations of battles, leaders and history itself.
But how reliable are sources in history like these ancient documents:
- Caesar’s manuscripts on the Gallic War
- The Gospels in the Bible
- Thucydides′ History of the Peloponnesian War
- Tacitus Histories?
- The New Testament
The answer depends on who the writer was and what were their motives:
Some wrote for entertainment, hype and sensationalism:
Perhaps the most well-known Greek historian is Herodotus, who lived from around 484 to 425 BCE.
‘Can We Trust Ancient Historical Accounts?’ by Adrian Altieri. Discentes. 2
Although a fair portion of his magnum opus, Histories, has been confirmed by modern historians (particularly many of the details concerning the Greco-Persian wars), Herodotus has been criticized by both contemporary and current writers for fabricating many of his accounts in order to entertain his audience.
One of the most obvious examples of a made-up historical account is in Book III of Histories—in Chapter 102, Herodotus describes gold-digging ants which are bigger than foxes roaming through a region in India.”
There are examples of historians with honourable aims who wanted to pass on a factual account:
In his seminal work, History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides makes an assertion that most modern historians believe is an affront to Herodotus:
‘Can We Trust Ancient Historical Accounts?’ by Adrian Altieri. Discentes.
‘In fine, I have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time’ (1.22).
Unlike Herodotus, Thucydides’ intention is not to create a piece of entertainment whose main purpose is to keep the reader involved, but rather to create an accurate account of events to assist future generations.”
Then there are the despots of the day who either wrote about their exaggerated conquests or who had a puppet writer doing the same.
Adrian Altieri comments that:
“the historicity of Caesar’s claims are often called into question by modern classicists, who view large sections of his writings as either gross exaggerations or even baseless lies.”
So, a personal bias can affect how history is written.
The Pharaohs were notorious for exaggerating their achievements, downgrading other leaders and creating fake news of battles, etc.
One obvious clue as to whether something is genuine is if the central figure has written down their exploits and failures for everyone to see.
This is what the biblical writings include; some reveal massive deficiencies and defeats.
This makes the Bible, including the Gospels, trustworthy and a joy to read.
However, some people with a bias of hatred toward Christianity can view any Christian documents with ridicule, rather than accept them.
2. Some question the reliability of the New Testament or the Gospels
The image above is of John Rylands Library’s papyrus fragment of the Gospel of John, Chapter 18, verses 31-33 (recto) and 37-38 (verso), in which Christ appears before Pilate.
The fragment has a palaeography dating of 100 to 150 AD, and a recent dating of nearer to 200 AD.
Some people would question the historical validity of the four Gospels of the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), and also the New Testament in general.
So would those same people question the validity of Caesar’s manuscripts on the Gallic War or Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War?
3. Comparison of historical documents for when written and how long after the event
Let’s see the evidence for the writings of Thucydides, Caesar, and Tacitus compared with the four Gospels and the New Testament:
(Appendix 1 at the bottom of the page details what the image is showing).
For an explanation of the ’50 years’ time between the original document and the oldest surviving (marked with [2] on the chart) see ‘The four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John‘ section below.
As the chart shows, the time difference between the originals of the gospels, (and the New Testament), and the oldest surviving documents is very favourable when compared with the other historical books – of which people do not doubt that they are reliable texts.
Professor Gary R. Habermas shares some thoughts on the importance of eyewitnesses:
Whenever these early sources are also derived from eyewitnesses who actually participated in some of the events, this provides one of the strongest evidences possible.
‘Recent Perspectives on the Reliability of the Gospels’ By Professor Gary R. Habermas (Distinguished Research Professor and Chair of the Philosophy and Theology Department at Liberty University in Virginia, USA.) Be Thinking. 7
Historian David Hackett Fischer dubs this ‘the rule of immediacy’ and terms it ‘the best relevant evidence.’ 5
When scholars have ancient sources that are both very early and based on eyewitness testimony, they have a combination that is very difficult to dismiss.
In our previous example, one reason critical scholars take Paul’s testimony so seriously is that his writings provide both a very early date as well as eyewitness testimony to what Paul believed was a resurrection appearance of Jesus.
This is even conceded by atheist scholar Michael Martin. 6
Primary sources of history are the things that were written, or made, at that time.
These are often the hardest to find but offer the strongest evidence.
Thucydides′ History of the Peloponnesian War
Thucydides (c. 460 BC – c. 400 BC) wrote about almost 30 years of war between Athens and Sparta during his lifetime.
Thucydides relied on the testimony of eyewitnesses and his own experiences as a war general.
He considered what made nations rise up in hostilities, how leaders influence a nation and what political systems work best.
Aristotle wrote about the same period and lived a few decades later, but he never mentions Thucydides.
By the first century B.C., writers such as Cicero declared him a great historian.
Over the next centuries, numerous copies were made of the work, ensuring its survival past the dark ages.8
Thucydides is nowhere referred to in surviving 4th-century BC literature, not even in Aristotle, who, in his Constitution of Athens, describes the revolution in Athens in 411 and diverges in many ways from Thucydides’ account…
‘Thucydides’ Gomme, Arnold Wycombe. Encyclopedia Britannica9
Little is known of what the scholars of Alexandria and Pergamum did for his book; but copies of it were being made in considerable numbers in Egypt and so, doubtless, elsewhere, from the 1st to the 5th century AD.
By the 1st century BC, as is clear from the writings of Cicero and Dionysius (who vainly disputed his preeminence), Thucydides was established as the great historian.”
So, how reliable are Thucydides writings in history?
Thucydides relied on the testimony of eyewitnesses and he lived at the time he was writing about.
But it was about 400 years later in 46 BC10 or 55 BC 11 that Marcus Tullius Cicero mentions Thucydides as a historian.
There are a few 1st-century fragments that have been found and complete works by 900 AD. 12
There is a 15th-century manuscript entirely dedicated to Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the war between Sparta and Athens (431-404 BCE) down to the year 411 BCE. The scribe was Andronicus Callistus, who died in 1478. The manuscript was created around 1455-1475.
Therefore, there was a gap of 400 years between the actual event and the date of the existing manuscript fragments.
Caesar’s manuscripts on the Gallic War
The original publication time of the Bello Gallico is uncertain.
‘Commentarii de Bello Gallico’ Wikipedia. 14
It had been definitely published by 46 BC, when Cicero reviewed it and gave it great praise. 13
It is unclear whether the books were released individually, or all at once. Nipperdey’s 1847 account believed that they had been mostly all composed at once in 50 BC.”
The oldest existing manuscripts of the Commentaries of the Gallic War (Commentarii de Bello Gallico) are from about 850 AD.
Therefore, there was a large gap of 900 years between the time of writing to the date of the existing manuscripts.
‘Histories’ (Latin: ‘Historiae’) by Tacitus
‘Histories’ were written in c. 100–110 AD and in their complete form covered c. 69–96 AD, but the surviving manuscripts only go up to 70 AD.
Together, ‘The Histories’ and ‘The Annals’ amounted to 30 books.
‘Histories (Tacitus)’ Wikipedia. 15
Saint Jerome refers to these books explicitly, and about half of them have survived.”
The first six books of the Annals survived in a single manuscript written in Germany about 1000 AD, probably in the Benedictine Abbey of Fulda.
‘The Text of Tacitus’ Annals and Histories Survived in Only Two Manuscripts’ History of Information. 16
This manuscript was later at Corvey Abbey and is now in Florence at the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana…
Books 11-16 of the Annals, and what remains of the Histories, also survived in a single manuscript, written at the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino and also preserved in the Laurentian library.”
Therefore, there was a large gap of 900 to 1000 years* between the time of writing to the date of the existing manuscripts.
(* The two manuscripts had been dated at c. 850 AD; however, in 2019 the Laurenziana estimated their date as 1000-1100 AD.)
The four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
The number of Greek New Testament manuscripts (fragments or complete) as of October 2023 is 5,700.
‘The Greek New Testament Collation Project’ Greek New Testament. 17
There are 135 papyri [written on papyrus], 283 majuscules [large lettered], 2,860 minuscules [small lettered], and 2,422 lectionary (i.e. the New Testament text is divided into separate pericopes [sections]) manuscripts.
The number of manuscripts surpasses that of all other ancient documents by hundreds of times.
Additionally, there are over 15,000 manuscripts in versions like Latin, Armenian, Syriac, Coptic, Gothic, Georgian, and Ethiopic.
The earliest church fathers acted as guardians of the text, distinguishing between common and the best and oldest copies.
They left more than one million quotations of the New Testament.
No classical writings of the ancients have as much testimony as the New Testament.”
For the quoted dates given below please see a timeline of when the Gospels and the books (letters/Epistles) of the New Testament were written.
The numbers and dates for the earliest fragments (but not John’s Gospel) come from ‘The Greek New Testament Collation Project’ Greek New Testament website.
Matthew’s Gospel could have been written as early as 40-45 AD or as late as 55 AD.
The earliest are fragments from 200-300 AD.
Therefore, there is a gap of 160 to 260 years between the time of writing to the date of the existing manuscripts.
Mark’s Gospel was either written during Peter’s lifetime which ended around 64-67 AD or shortly after that.
So, the Gospel of Mark could have been written between AD 50 to mid-60s.
The earliest are fragments from the 5th century AD.
Therefore, there is a gap of 435 to 550 years between the time of writing to the date of the existing manuscripts.
Luke’s Gospel was written shortly before 70 AD (when the temple was destroyed).
The earliest are fragments from the 4th century AD.
Therefore, there is a gap of 330 to 430 years between the time of writing to the date of the existing manuscripts.
John′s Gospel was written about 90 to 110 AD, but it could have been written earlier.
There is a fragment of the Gospel of John in The John Rylands Library, a small scrap of papyrus measuring 8.9 x 6.0 cm:
The Fragment is widely regarded as the earliest portion of any New Testament writing ever found…
‘St John Fragment’ John Rylands Research Institute and Library. The University of Manchester Library. 18
The first editor dated the Fragment to the first half of the second century (between 100-150 AD). The date was estimated palaeographically, by comparing the handwriting with other manuscripts.
However, palaeography is not an exact science – none of the comparable Biblical manuscripts are dated and most papyri bearing a secure date are administrative documents.
Recent research points to a date nearer to 200 AD, but there is as yet no convincing evidence that any earlier fragments from the New Testament survive.
Carbon dating is a destructive method and has not been used on the Fragment.”
Therefore, there is a gap using palaeography dating of about 50 years between the time of writing to the date of the existing manuscripts, or 90 to 110 years based on recent research.
4. Comparison of historical documents for how many exist today
The Gospels and New Testament have an even stronger case of accuracy than these other historic books when you look at the volume of documents in existence.
(Appendix 2 at the bottom of the page details what the image is showing).
For an explanation of ‘The four Gospels in the Bible’ number of ancient in existence today (marked with [4] on the chart) the Greek New Testament website lists:
- 44 fragments of Matthew’s Gospel written before 1000 AD
- 29 fragments of Mark’s Gospel written before 1000 AD
- 30 fragments of Luke’s Gospel written before 1000 AD
- 29 fragments of John’s Gospel written before 1000 AD
That is 132 fragments of the four gospels written before 1000 AD.
For an explanation of note [5] on the chart above where it shows there are 5000 ancient manuscripts from the New Testament that are still in existence, Professor Gary R. Habermas states:
…the New Testament documents enjoy superior manuscript evidence.
‘Recent Perspectives on the Reliability of the Gospels’ By Professor Gary R. Habermas (Distinguished Research Professor and Chair of the Philosophy and Theology Department at Liberty University in Virginia, USA.) Be Thinking.
Recent indications are that the New Testament is supported by more than 5500 copies and partial copies in Greek and other languages, while most ancient classical Greek and Roman texts have fewer than 10 each.
Moreover, there is comparatively little significant variation between these manuscripts, even when they are derived from different textual families.”
Matthew’s Gospel:
There is a list of found Greek manuscripts of Matthew’s Gospel that is being collated which stands at 2162 as of August 2024. 19
Mark’s Gospel:
There is a list of found Greek manuscripts of Mark’s Gospel that is being collated which stands at 1797 as of August 2024. 20
Luke’s Gospel:
There is a list of found Greek manuscripts of Luke’s Gospel that is being collated which stands at 1846 as of August 2024. 21
John’s Gospel:
There is a list of found Greek manuscripts of John’s Gospel that is being collated which stands at 1843 as of August 2024.22
The gospels and the New Testament:
The dates of the originals of the Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Revelation, vary from A.D. 50 to A.D. 80.
‘The Greek New Testament Collation Project’ Greek New Testament.
The Greek New Testament was first printed in 1514 by Francisco Ximenes.
But as its issue was delayed and not issued to the public till 1522, the first published Greek Testament (for sale) was Desiderius Erasmus’ first edition of ‘Novum Instrumentum omne,’ printed by Johann Froben (Johannes Frobenius), at Basel, in 1516.”
The Gospels were originally written by four men, three of which were eyewitnesses to the phenomenon that was going on.
Luke was not an eyewitness but he interviewed those who were:
He [Luke] also did interviews with witnesses, as he implies.
‘How Did Luke get his historical information? Did he interview eye-witnesses?’ by Dr. John Oakes. Evidence for Christianity. 23
Like he says, he ‘carefully investigated everything from the beginning.’
We do not know who he interviewed.
That would require speculation, but we can assume that he talked to many eye-witesses, as he traveled with Paul to Jerusalem.
Luke may very well have used written documents as well.
Most scholars believe that he had Mark in front of him when he wrote Luke, or one of the sources Mark used.”
The gospel writers wrote four separate accounts of Jesus′ life, death, and resurrection from the dead.
So we can trust that the copies of the Gospels and the New Testament that we have today, are accurate with the written originals.
So the thousands of existing copies accurately represent the original texts, and they correctly report what occurred.
In other words, we know what the original authors wrote and that they were trustworthy eyewitnesses who left an accurate historical account.
Here are two modern examples of how difficult it would be to write about a well-known person such as Winston Churchill or Donald Campbell, making out that they performed miracles, etc, when their peers were still alive.
Appendix 1 (information on chart one)
Thucydides′ History of the Peloponnesian War was:
- originally written 430 – 400 BC
- the oldest surviving document is a few 1st-century fragments.
- Grenfell and Hunt discovered about 20 papyrus fragments copied sometime between the 1st and 6th centuries AD in Oxyrhynchus24 including Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 16 25 and Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 17 26.
- The time between the original and oldest surviving 400 years
Caesar’s manuscripts on the Gallic War were:
- originally written 52 – 51 BC
- oldest surviving AD 850
- The time between the original and oldest surviving was 900 years
Tacitus Histories was:
- originally written AD 104 – 109
- oldest surviving document AD 800
- The time between the original and oldest surviving was 700 years
The 4 Gospels in the Bible were:
- originally written AD 65 – 90
- oldest surviving document AD 130 fragments of John’s Gospel 27
- The time between the original and oldest surviving was 50 years
The New Testament of the Bible was:
- originally written AD 65 – 90
- oldest surviving document AD 350 28
- The time between the original and oldest surviving less than 300 years
Appendix 2 (information on chart two)
Thucydides′ History of Peloponnesian War has:
- 8 surviving documents in existence today
Caesar’s manuscripts on the Gallic War have:
- 10 surviving documents in existence today
Tacitus Histories has:
- 2 surviving documents in existence today
The 4 Gospels in the Bible have:
- 100’s written before AD 1000 29 surviving documents in existence today
The New Testament of the Bible has:
See this article about Winston Churchill, myth or true stories?
References and credits – open in new tabs:
‘1.2: What is Historical Analysis?’ Stephanie Cole, Kimberly Breuer, Scott W. Palmer, and Brandon Blakeslee. University of Texas at Arlington via Mavs Open Press. The LibreTexts libraries. ↩
‘Can We Trust Ancient Historical Accounts?’ by Adrian Altieri. Discentes. 12 June 2022 ↩
The John Rylands Library’s papyrus fragment of the Gospel of John, Greek P 457. NonCommercial 4.0 International License ((CC BY-NC 4.0). ↩
‘The Case Against Christ: Some Statements for the Defence.’ John Young. Falcon, London. ISBN 0 85491 556 7 ↩
David Hackett Fischer, ‘Historian’s Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought’ (New York: Harper and Row, 1970), 62. Fischer includes the archaeological ‘remains’ of an occurrence and treats these as more primary than ‘direct observations.’ For eyewitness reporting in ancient Greek writing, see Ernst Breisach, ‘Historiography: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern’, second edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 38-39. For some concerns by one of the only ancient historians to address meta-historical issues, see Lucian of Samosata, ‘How to Write History’ (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1959), especially 7-15. ↩
Michael Martin, The Case Against Christianity (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991), 81. ↩
‘Recent Perspectives on the Reliability of the Gospels’ By Professor Gary R. Habermas (Distinguished Research Professor and Chair of the Philosophy and Theology Department at Liberty University in Virginia, USA.) Be Thinking. Originally published in the Christian Research Journal Vol.28, No.1, 2005. ↩
‘Thucydides’ History.com Updated 30 June 2023 ↩
‘Thucydides’ Gomme, Arnold Wycombe. Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 July 2024. Accessed 5 August 2024. ↩
‘Orator (Cicero)’ Wikipedia Last edited on 28 October 2023 ↩
‘The Case Against Christ: Some Statements for the Defence.’ John Young. Falcon, London. ISBN 0 85491 556 7 ↩
‘Cicero: Brutus – translation (4)‘. Retrieved 2022-08-22. ↩
‘Commentarii de Bello Gallico’ Wikipedia. Last edited on 22 June 2024 ↩
‘Histories (Tacitus)’ Wikipedia. Last edited on 8 April 2024 ↩
‘The Text of Tacitus’ Annals and Histories Survived in Only Two Manuscripts’ History of Information. ↩
‘The Greek New Testament Collation Project’ Greek New Testament. ↩
‘St John Fragment’ John Rylands Research Institute and Library. The University of Manchester Library. ↩
‘Manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew’ Greek New Testament. ↩
‘Manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark’ Greek New Testament. ↩
‘Manuscripts of the Gospel of Luke’ Greek New Testament. ↩
‘Manuscripts of the Gospel of John’ Greek New Testament. ↩
‘How Did Luke get his historical information? Did he interview eye-witnesses?’ by Dr. John Oakes. Evidence for Christianity. 20 January 2020 ↩
‘History of the Peloponnesian War’ Wikipedia. Last edited on 4 July 2024 ↩
John Rylands Library in Manchester. ↩
2 copies of N.T. including Gospels; one in British Museum, & the other in Vatican Library. ↩
Information from Tyndale House in Cambridge, who specialises in Biblical Research. ↩
Professor Bruce of Manchester University; There are about 5000 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament in whole or part. The New Testament Documents: Are they Reliable? by F. F. Bruce IVP. ↩
See the article ‘F F Bruce’ Wikipedia ↩