>>18685058
We actually have evidence for their existence
>Socrates
We have writings by contemporaries, most notably his student Plato.
>Plato
We have a multitude of writings by him as well as writings by contemporaries.
>Aristotle
We have a multitude of writings by him as well as writings by contemporaries.
>Alexander the Great
We have archeological evidence for his campaigns, coins, as well as writings by contemporaries. In addition, there is a Babylonian Astronomical Diary that records his death
>Julius Caesar
We have archeological evidence for his campaigns, coins, as well as writings by contemporaries. In addition, we also have a few works written by Caesar himself.
>Jesus of Nazareth
All we have for him are 4 anonymous writings by people weren’t even from Judea (otherwise they wouldn’t have gotten basic geographic details wrong) and the letters of a man who doesn’t even mention his earthly ministry.

>>18685058
Jesus' existence was extensively documented by roman and jewish historians.

>>18685080
Woah.

>>18685100
>Roman
extensively is a bit of a stretch. They really only mention Christians existing, not Jesus himself.
>Jewish
Josephus mentions him twice, once in a description of jesus, and secondly briefly in relation to his brother's execution, although the former is usually considered to be heavily interpolated at best.
there's some bits about him in the talmud but those are dated pretty late and are also pretty vague.

>>18685080
I'm increasingly willing to become a mythicist. How do I get more into this?

>>18685080
>writings by contemporaries
Paul's letters and the gospel of Mark are about as contemporary as you can get for someone as (at least during his own life) irrelevant as Jesus.
>inb4 paul didn't know Jesus
Obviously, but he did meet people who did, including James, his literal brother.

>>18685080
Unlike those people, jesus created an extremely unpopular religious movement. None of the pagans attacking christianity ever claimed he didn't exist though, that's an entirely modern innovation

>>18685058
>How come there aren't like, Pythagoras mythicists?
I'm unironically a Pythagoras mythicist because he sounds kinda made up plus there's the Pythagorean cult and shit.

>>18685058
>Why are Jesus mythicists so common?
Because all accounts of his life were written decades after his death.
The accounts differ from one another and people kept making up new accounts for two hundred years afterwards. The idea of Jesus evidently inspired a lot of pseudo-historical fiction authors.

>How come there aren't like, Pythagoras mythicists? Or any other historical figure that has as much (or as little) evidence as Jesus?
Because it does not really matter whether Pythagoras existed, was one person or multiple people. He is famous for his ideas, not for who he was as a person.
Jesus on the other hand was the jewish messiah, the (or a) son of God, or even God on Earth, depending on who you ask. It matters quite a lot whether he really existed or was wholesale invented. Because his message relies on his identity.

>>18685058
Pythagoras is attested as having existed by near-contemporary figures who we know have some reliability, and capability to investigate the matters.
It goes without saying that the bulk of claims about Pythagoras are mythical, or false.
It is more common, because Jesus is a very noteworthy subject of study.

>>18685146
The gospels are all already highly mythicized, and Paul's epistles are unusually waffling about whether this Jesus figure existed on Earth, if there is indeed this Jesus figure on Earth. The claim of knowing a sibling is perhaps the one straightforward exception, if it stands. However, it appears early Christians considered themselves in general, 'brothers of the Lord', and that this would not be a claim of literal biological relation.

>>18685160
Because it was unpopular apparently, even the NT writers say the contemporary Romans couldn't care less about the claims of Jesus. By the time counterchristian works were being written, there wouldn't have been a way to make such investigations with some real extra info, probably. In any case, many figures which we consider mythical today, were approached with less skepticism by various Romans. For example, the pagan counterchristian writers believed in magic, so there was not much possibility for them to suspect outright invention, on pain of inconsistency.

>>18685377
>all accounts of his life were written decades after his death.
This is the case for almost any ancient figure. It's nearly impossible to find actual contemporary written accounts of an ancient person's life unless they literally wrote them themselves (eg cicero or caesar). Otherwise contemporary evidence of someone is usually non-literary (eg inscriptions or papyri), and usually don't offer very many details about the subject.