Dating the crucifixion.

Every clue used to date Jesus' death, from the terms of Pilate and Caiaphas to the phases of the moon, each graded for how firm it is. The Passover dates for 26-36 CE are worked out from astronomy, with the method explained.

The resurrection What outsiders said Archaeology Dating the crucifixion

Firm 3Computed 1Probable 3Disputed 2Weak 3

Josephus, Ant. 18.89; Tacitus, Annals 15.44; the Pilate stone

Pilate was prefect of Judaea

Pilate governed Judaea for about ten years, from 26 to late 36 or early 37.

Firm

Josephus, Ant. 18.35, 18.95

Caiaphas was high priest

Joseph Caiaphas held the high priesthood through the whole of Pilate's term.

Firm

Mark 15:42; Matt 27:62; Luke 23:54; John 19:31, 42

The crucifixion was on a Friday

All four Gospels place the death on the "Preparation", the day before the Sabbath.

Firm

John 18:28; 19:14 against Mark 14:12-17

Passover eve or Passover day

John has Jesus die as the Passover lambs were killed; the first three Gospels place a Passover meal the night before.

Disputed

Astronomy (lunar calculation)

Friday Passovers, 26-36 CE

Of the years 26-36, the Friday dates are 7 April 30 and 3 April 33 for Nisan 14; Nisan 15 fits only under looser assumptions.

Computed

Luke 3:1-2

"The fifteenth year of Tiberius"

Luke dates the start of John the Baptist's preaching to Tiberius' fifteenth year.

Probable

John 2:20; Josephus, Ant. 15.380

"Forty-six years" building the Temple

John's figure, counted from Herod's start in about 20/19 BCE, gives a Passover early in Jesus' ministry around 27/28.

Probable

Mark (one Passover) against John (three)

The length of the ministry

The Synoptic outline fits a single year; John mentions three Passovers.

Disputed

Gal 1:18; 2:1; Acts 18:12 (Gallio)

Paul's chronology

Counting back from Paul's dated stay in Corinth, his conversion falls within a few years of the crucifixion.

Probable

Luke 3:23

"Jesus was about thirty"

Luke's "about thirty" at the start of the ministry is an approximation.

Weak

Acts 2:20; the lunar eclipse of 3 April 33

The "moon turned to blood"

A partial lunar eclipse rose over Jerusalem on 3 April 33; some read Peter's quotation of Joel as an allusion to it.

Weak

Africanus; Origen

The darkness reported by Thallus and Phlegon

No solar eclipse can occur at Passover, which falls at full moon.

Weak

← All clues

The "moon turned to blood"

GradeWeak

Source: ; the lunar eclipse of 3 April 33
Points to: 33 CE

The Christian case

At Pentecost Peter quoted the prophet Joel: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood" (). Humphreys and Waddington (1983) proposed that the partial eclipse of the moon on Friday 3 April 33, visible as the moon rose over Jerusalem, lies behind this quotation and behind the tradition of darkness at the crucifixion. The eclipse itself is real, and it falls exactly on one of the two dates the astronomy allows. If the proposal is right, it would favour 33 as the year of the crucifixion.

What the research found

Weak. The eclipse date is real and agrees with the Passover calculation. But its link to the crucifixion depends on reading Peter's quotation as a report of something people had just seen.

Explore the counterarguments

The words are Joel's, and Peter cites them to explain the events of Pentecost, not to describe the crucifixion. The text does not say that the moon had been seen red on the day Jesus died. Without that, the eclipse is a striking coincidence of dates, not evidence for the year.