The Library
1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
1–100
1 work
c. 55; lost, one disputed fragment
Greek
Thallus
A universal history from the Trojan war to the writer's own day, lost entirely. Julius Africanus reports that Thallus explained the darkness at the crucifixion as an eclipse of the sun, and objects that an eclipse is impossible at full moon.
101–200
1 work
c. 140; survives in fragments
Greek
Phlegon of Tralles
A chronicle by a freedman of Hadrian, lost apart from quotations. Origen and Africanus report that it recorded a great eclipse and an earthquake in Bithynia in the fourth year of the two hundred and second Olympiad, and Origen adds that Phlegon mentioned Christ's foreknowledge of events.
201–300
2 works
c. 200–250
Greek, surviving in Coptic
Anonymous
Christ speaks in the first person and says that it was not he who died: another drank the gall and vinegar, another carried the cross on his shoulder, and he himself was above, laughing at their ignorance.
c. 200–250
Greek, surviving in Coptic
Anonymous
Peter watches the crucifixion and sees two figures — one being nailed, and one above the cross, glad and laughing — and is told that the living Jesus cannot be touched. It attacks the bishops and deacons as dry canals who call themselves what they are not.
4 of 1774 works