Crucifixion of Jesus
Traditional AD 29 dating of the crucifixion of Jesus
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗Tertullian pinned the Passion not merely to a year but to two named Roman consuls and the eighth day before April — a precision the modern evidence cannot support.
Where the year AD 29 comes from
The date attached to this entry is an ancient traditional chronology rather than a recovered historical fact. Writing in the early third century, Tertullian dated the Passion to the consulship of Rubellius Geminus and Fufius Geminus — AD 29 — and to 25 March, expressed in Roman fashion as the eighth day before the Kalends of April.
Modern scholarship is far more cautious. One study concludes only that Jesus died around Passover sometime between AD 29 and 34; AD 30 and AD 33 are the most commonly proposed years, and the precise date cannot now be recovered.
What the earliest narratives describe
The Gospel accounts say Pontius Pilate handed Jesus over to Roman soldiers, who led him to Golgotha outside Jerusalem and crucified him. Mark reports two others crucified alongside, soldiers dividing his clothing by lot, and an inscription identifying him as 'King of the Jews' — which John says was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek, with wording that differs slightly between accounts.
Mark places the crucifixion at the third hour and death at the ninth, conventionally about 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., and says Joseph of Arimathea then obtained Pilate's permission, took down the body, wrapped it in linen and placed it in a rock-hewn tomb before the Sabbath.
Reading the sources carefully
These are theological literary narratives, not trial transcripts, and they differ from one another on the inscription, the chronology relative to Passover and the reported hour. The familiar 'seven last words' appear as a sequence in no single Gospel; they are assembled from four separate accounts.
Outside the Christian sources, the Roman historian Tacitus independently placed the execution of Christus under Pontius Pilate during Tiberius's reign, though he supplied neither a year nor narrative detail.
Sources
Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 3 audit passes Traditional date
How this was checked
Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →
Traditional date. This date is the conventional one, not one fixed by a contemporary record.
What the sources leave uncertain
- AD 29 is an ancient traditional chronology, not a securely recoverable historical date. Tertullian anchors it to the consuls Rubellius and Fufius Geminus.
- A modern scholarly study concludes only that Jesus died around Passover sometime between AD 29 and 34; AD 30 and AD 33 are the most popular proposed exact years, but the precise date cannot now be recovered: https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/10489469/Dating_the_Death_of_Jesus_Memory_and_the_Religious_Imagination.pdf
- The Catholic Encyclopedia preserves a tradition assigning the death to AD 29, but this is not equivalent to a binding Roman Catholic definition of the historical year: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08377a.htm
- The Synoptic and Johannine chronologies differ in important details, including the relationship of the crucifixion to the Passover meal and the reported hour. The USCCB note on Mark explicitly cautions that Mark's sequence may be liturgical or catechetical rather than precise.