# Was Jesus born between 6 and 11 BC? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 12, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439 "2015-02-12T02:25:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/1 "2015-02-12T02:25:52Z")
I’ve heard that Jesus may have been born as much as a full decade before 1 AD, do you think that’s probable? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/2 "2015-02-12T02:40:24Z")
We know that the current calendar, based on the work of Dionysius Exiguus, was calculated incorrectly, placing the reputed birth of Jesus several years after the date in which the people of his time actually believed it occurred. Once it was on the calendar, of course, no one wanted to mess around fixing it. The Master Speaks, (a couple of times): [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1372/what-year-numbering-system-was-used-in-the-time-of-christ](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1372/what-year-numbering-system-was-used-in-the-time-of-christ) > **[What did the census at the time of the birth of Christ accomplish?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343138/what-did-the-census-at-the-time-of-the-birth-of-christ-accomplish)** > > A STAFF REPORT FROM THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/3 "2015-02-12T02:44:42Z")
Matthew places the birth of Jesus during the reign of Herod. If that’s correct, then Jesus must have been born not later than 4 BC, which is when Herod died. But of course Matthew’s nativity story is not necessarily historical. Luke says that Jesus was “about thirty” when he began his public ministry. He did this at a time when John the Baptist was preaching. John says that the incident when Jesus turned the moneylenders out of the Temple occurred 46 years after the Temple had been reconstructed, and John puts this incident at the beginning of his public ministry. Combining these two statements suggests a date within a couple of years either side of 1 BC for the birth of Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/4 "2015-02-12T11:31:50Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Matthew places the birth of Jesus during the reign of Herod. If that’s correct, then Jesus must have been born not later than 4 BC, which is when Herod died. Which ‘Herod’ would that be - there were at least half a dozen of them. It is usually assumed to be Herod Agrippa I (c. 10 BC–AD 44), > **[Herod](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod)** > > Herod may refer to: ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/5 "2015-02-12T12:39:37Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Which ‘Herod’ would that be - there were at least half a dozen of them. It is usually assumed to be Herod Agrippa I (c. 10 BC–AD 44), > > [Herod - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod) Your link to wikipedia does not support your assertion. Herod Agrippa is said to be the Herod of Acts, the Herod of Jesus’ birth is said to be Herod the Great who died in 4 BC. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/6 "2015-02-19T05:59:09Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Your link to wikipedia does not support your assertion. Herod Agrippa is said to be the Herod of Acts, the Herod of Jesus’ birth is said to be Herod the Great who died in 4 BC. What I don’t get is why do people think the claim Jesus was born under Herod proves he’s real? I could make up a character named Uri Spoonbender and say he lived during the time of Lincoln. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/7 "2015-02-19T10:52:11Z")
They all don’t. For many people it is like working out which case Sherlock Holmes was on in March 1897 based on clues in the books. ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/8 "2015-02-19T12:33:10Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > They all don’t. For many people it is like working out which case Sherlock Holmes was on in March 1897 based on clues in the books. The Devil’s Foot. [Cite.](http://www.sherlockpeoria.net/Who_is_Sherlock/SherlockTimeline.html) What prize do I win? ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/9 "2015-02-19T12:37:43Z")
wouldnt you first have to determine that he actually was born? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/10 "2015-02-19T15:04:22Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > Was Jesus born between 6 and 11 BC? Nitpick: This should be _“Was Jesus born between 11 and 6 BC?”_ ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/11 "2015-02-19T15:27:41Z")
There may be a factual answer to this, if you just get lucky, but no one will ever know. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/12 "2015-02-19T23:15:23Z")
Any person who claims they know the date of the birth of Jesus is lying since they weren’t there to witness it. At best were talking about hearsay. There is no factual answer to the question. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/13 "2015-02-19T23:54:51Z")
You mean he didn’t have a valid birth certificate? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/14 "2015-02-20T00:08:26Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Any person who claims they know the date of the birth of Jesus is lying since they weren’t there to witness it. At best were talking about hearsay. There is no factual answer to the question. By that logic there’s no factual answer to \*any \*historical question. It’s all based on documents of various degrees of perceived authenticity. For example, there’s nobody alive today who can authenticate anything about the US Civil War. 100% of what we think of as facts of that war are actually hearsay. Is that \*really \*what you mean? I agree with what I suspect is your real point: that the whole topic of Jesus has a big circle of hooey attached to it. But don’t throw the whole logic of history and archaeology out the window in an attempt to debunk X-ianism. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/15 "2015-02-20T00:13:16Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > You mean he didn’t have a valid birth certificate? I’ve been told by historical (compared with theological) scholars that the period of his birth was 3 to 6 B.C.E. As for a birth certificate, we don’t have one for Gaius Julius Caeser either. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/16 "2015-02-20T05:04:31Z")
In 1699 the Scots mathematician John Craig published his \*Theologiae Christianae Principia Mathematica \*. Craig worked out a calculus of moral evidence and its decay with time; his figures showed that in 1699 the evidence in favor of the truth of the Gospel, the birth of Christ, his crucifixion, etc, was equivalent to the testimony of twenty-eight contemporary disciples, but that it would diminish to zero in the year 3144. At that date it will presumably be certain that Christ was not born at all. I thus suggest the OP repost his question in a thousand years or so when we will be able to give him a more definitive answer. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/17 "2015-02-20T05:11:32Z")
How likely is it that Yeshua bar Joseph knew the year in which he was born? Or Miriam, for that matter? Would people of that social class and time know the year, and if so, in what calendar? Anno urbis conditae? The current Hebrew date is 5775, but how old is that calendar? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/18 "2015-02-20T05:25:44Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > How likely is it that Yeshua bar Joseph knew the year in which he was born? Or Miriam, for that matter? Would people of that social class and time know the year, and if so, in what calendar? Anno urbis conditae? The current Hebrew date is 5775, but how old is that calendar? There was a census that year, everybody had to travel all over Israel to get to the towns where their ancestors came from. Surely there are records? ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/19 "2015-02-20T12:41:32Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > There was a census that year, everybody had to travel all over Israel to get to the towns where their ancestors came from. Surely there are records? This is most unlikely to be true Why would the Romans care about which town a person’s ancestors came from? A census was for assessing where people lived now for tax purposes. Fulfilling biblical prophecy was not part of its remit. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439/20 "2015-02-20T14:29:41Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > There was a census that year, everybody had to travel all over Israel to get to the towns where their ancestors came from. Surely there are records? You realize that we don’t exactly have tons of ‘records’ from the era, right? Jerusalem was sacked and destroyed in 70 AD, so no records from there, and after 2000 years of subsequent history we don’t have all that much contemporary material from Rome either. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-between-6-and-11-bc/712439.md?page=2)