Thallus the Samaritan - darkness without an eclipse?

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Author's Background

Thallus (circa AD 52) wrote a history about the middle east from the time of the Trojan War to his own time. The work has been lost and the only record we have of his writings is through Julius Africanus (AD 221). Below Julius Africanus refers to Christ's crucifixion and the darkness that covered the earth prior to his death.

Reference To Jesus Christ

This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as it appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun. For the Hebrews celebrate the passover on the 14th day according to the moon, and the passion of our Savior falls on the day before the passover; but an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes under the sun. And it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, that is, at their junction: how then should an eclipse occur when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun?

Phlegon records that in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth — manifestly that one of which we speak." - The Extant Writings of Julius Africanus 18

Conclusion

This reference reveals several key things:

	1) Darkness covered the earth at Christ's death.
	2) The only question was: "What caused it?"
	3) The time of the darkness agrees with Matthew 27:45.
	4) An eclipse cannot account for the darkness - this was a miracle.

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