Josephus (75 AD):
"Besides these [signs], a few days after that feast, on
the one- and-twentieth day of the month Artemisius,
[Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon
appeared; I suppose the account of it would seem to
be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and
were not the events that followed it of so considerable
a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun
setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour
were seen running about among the clouds, and
surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we
call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into
the inner [court of the] temple, as their custom was,
to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that,
in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a
great noise, and after that they heard a sound as
of a great multitude, saying, "Let us remove hence"
(Jewish Wars, VI-V-3).
"A supernatural apparition was seen, too amazing to
be believed. What I am now to relate would, I imagine,
be dismissed as imaginary, had this not been vouched
for by eyewitnesses, then followed by subsequent
disasters that deserved to be thus signalized. For before
sunset chariots were seen in the air over the whole country,
and armed battalions speeding through the clouds and
encircling the cities." (rendered in Chilton)
Tacitus (A.D. 115) - Roman historian:
"13. Prodigies had occurred, but their expiation by
the offering of victims or solemn vows is held to be
unlawful by a nation which is the slave of superstition
and the enemy of true beliefs. In the sky appeared
a vision of armies in conflict, of glittering armour.
A sudden lightning flash from the clouds lit up the
Temple. The doors of the holy place abruptly opened,
a superhuman voice was heard to declare that the gods
were leaving it, and in the same instant came the rushing
tumult of their departure. Few people placed a sinister
interpretation upon this. The majority were convinced
that the ancient scriptures of their priests alluded to the
present as the very time when the Orient would triumph
and from Judaea would go forth men destined to rule
the world." (Histories, Book 5, v. 13).
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Abortion = 1 dead, 1 wounded.
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