Primary sources

The Roman historian’s account of the fire of 64 CE and the punishment of the Christians — the earliest surviving non-Christian reference to the execution of Jesus.

The classic English translation of the Egyptian historical records for the Nineteenth Dynasty, including the Merneptah Stele and the earliest known occurrence of the name Israel.

The Babylonian chronicle covering the eighth and seventh centuries BCE, including the entry that names the Assyrian king who took Samaria — and names a different king from the one who later claimed the victory.

A Roman provincial governor’s letter to the emperor about how to deal with Christians, written around 112 CE from the same provinces addressed by 1 Peter — the earliest detailed non-Christian description of Christian practice.

Hebrew military correspondence written on potsherds during the last weeks of the kingdom of Judah — the only surviving letters from Judaeans of that moment.

The classic English translation of the Egyptian historical records, cited here for the Karnak inscription of Sheshonq I — the pharaoh usually identified with the Shishak of 1 Kings 14.

The excavation report that published the Merneptah Stele — the earliest known mention of the name Israel in any source, Egyptian or otherwise.

The modern standard English edition of the North-West Semitic inscriptions, and the one to prefer over older collections wherever a reading is contested.

A classic edition of the Moabite, Hebrew, Phoenician and Aramaic inscriptions, including the Mesha Stele and the Siloam tunnel inscription — the two Iron Age inscriptions that bear most directly on the biblical narrative.

The Babylonian record of the last years of the Neo-Babylonian empire, the absence of the king from Babylon, and the Persian capture of the city. The tablet that made Belshazzar a historical figure.