The darkness reported by Thallus and Phlegon
GradeWeak
The Gospels report that "when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour" (). Early Christian writers found echoes of this in non-Christian historians. The chronographer Julius Africanus (about 221 CE) wrote that "This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun", and that "Phlegon records that, in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth". Origen also cited Phlegon for the darkness and an earthquake. Africanus himself rejected the eclipse explanation, because Passover falls at full moon: "how then should an eclipse be supposed to happen when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun?"
Weak. These reports do not help to date the crucifixion. A solar eclipse cannot occur at Passover, which falls at full moon, so the eclipse reports cannot fix the date.
Explore the counterarguments
Thallus' own words are lost; we have only Africanus' paraphrase, preserved by a much later writer, and Thallus' date is unknown. We cannot tell whether Thallus mentioned Jesus at all, or simply recorded an eclipse that Africanus connected with the passion. Phlegon's chronicle also survives only in Christian summaries, and "at full moon" is Africanus' framing. The eclipse Phlegon recorded was probably the total eclipse of the sun on 24 November 29 CE, not a darkness at Passover.