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Phlegon of Tralles

2ND century

  • Origen of Alexandria quotes Phlegon saying Jesus knew about future events but also notes that Phlegon mistakenly attributes things Peter did to Jesus. There aren't any surviving texts to support what Origen says and Origen didn't include quotes of the text he's referring to. Origen also mentions in his commentary on Matthew "Phlegon, who mentioned an eclipse during the reign of Tiberius Caesar, did not say that it happened during the full moon."
  • Eusebius and Origen's quote tells us that the earliest version of the passage from Julius Africanus didn't make wild claims like the later manuscripts. Since Julius was a contemporary of Origen, Origen would have either cited Africanus or pointed out that his writings didn't quote Phlegon properly. We also know that Origen knew Africanus because he published their correspondence.
  • We also see that he says nothing about the eclipse lasting three hours or happening during a full moon.
George Syncellus dismisses Thallus claim of an eclipse then quotes Phlegon and embraces the eclipse.
Some of the information we have on Phlegon is related to Thallus. In the same document created by George Syncellus (d. post 810CE) where he quotes Julius Africanus (150CE-240CE) verbatim, Phlegon is mentioned in the paragraph immediately following the mention of Thallus.
However, the "it is clear that this is the one." phrase and the sensationalized references are a later addition by a scribe and were not from Julius Africanus. This should be obvious since Africanus had just appeared incredulous about the cause being an eclipse. The strongest indicator that it's an interpolation is that George Syncellus follows the quote from Africanus with a passage from Eusebius that quotes Phlegon verbatim.
Eusebius quotes Phlegon.
Eusebius' quotation is attested in Syncellus' writing in the original Greek, but also the Latin of Jerome, the Syrian epitome, and in an Armenian translation. And as you can see, Phlegon's quote contains no references to Jesus.
Distance from Nicæa to Jerusalem.
Phlegon recorded that the earthquake was in Nicæa, which is over 500 miles away from Jerusalem/Judea. Making the biblical account of the earthquake during the crucifixion, useless.