Stephen E. Jones

Jesus is Jehovah Quotes: Unclassified quotes: May 2008

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The following are quotes added to my Jesus is Jehovah unclassified quotes database in May 2008.
The date format is dd/mm/yy. See copyright conditions at end.

2008: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.

1/05/2008
"The second level of doctrinal reinforcement is what I call the secondary doctrinal matters. These are 
doctrines of the Jehovah's Witnesses that do not tie into the primary doctrinal system and could be altered 
or dropped without any logical impact on the primary system. Yet; their importance is such that for many 
Jehovah's Witnesses if these secondary doctrines are suspect the whole religion is suspect. The kinds of 
doctrines I have in mind here are especially the Jehovah's Witness `don'ts': blood transfusions, war, 
participation in political affairs, various celebrations (Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, birthdays), the use of 
the cross as a religious symbol, and the like. On most or all of these issues Jehovah's Witnesses have 
changed or reversed their earlier positions, with no appreciable impact on their belief system generally. Yet 
many people are attracted to the Witnesses because of one or more of these `don'ts,' and thus would feel 
even more challenged by criticisms of these doctrines than of the Witness rejection of the Trinity, for 
instance. Because the Jehovah's Witnesses are typically alone in their views on these matters, their 
distinctive position is regarded by Witnesses as further evidence that they have `the truth.' If the Bible 
forbids blood transfusions, they reason, and if we Jehovah's Witnesses are the only ones who recognize 
this, then obviously we must be blessed by God with the truth. Thus many Jehovah's Witnesses remain 
confident about their views on God and Christ, even when they are soundly refuted by evangelical 
apologists, because they know they are right about not celebrating birthdays and Christmas!" (Bowman, 
R.M., Jr., "Understanding Jehovah's Witnesses: Why They Read the Bible the Way They Do," Baker: Grand 
Rapids MI, 1991, pp.93-94. Emphasis original) 

1/05/2008
"But how great the bloodshed was may be calculated from this alone, that 6000 armed men were butchered 
within the city's [Tyre's] ramparts. After that the king's [Alexander's] wrath furnished the victors with an 
awful spectacle; 2000 men, for the slaying of whom frenzy had spent itself, hung nailed to crosses 
[crucibus affixi] along a great stretch of the shore. was taken in the seventh month after the beginning of 
the siege, a city worthy of note in the memory of later times both for its ancient origin and its frequent 
changes of fortune." (Curtius Rufus, "History of Alexander," Book 4.4.16-17, Rolfe, J.C., transl., Loeb 
Classical Library, Vol. I., Heinemann: London, 1946, Reprinted, 1963, pp.203,205)

1/05/2008
"But first it is only right, so we think, to record the punishment which was visited by the gods [346/5 BC] 
upon those who had committed the outrage on the oracle. For, speaking generally, it was not merely the 
perpetrators of the sacrilege but all persons who had the slightest connection with the sacrilege that were 
hounded by the inexorable retribution sent of Heaven. In fact the man who first schemed for the seizure of 
the shrine, Philomelus, in a crisis of the war hurled himself over a cliff, while his brother Onomarchus, after 
taking over the command of his people, now become desperate, was cut to pieces in a battle in Thessaly, 
along with the Phocians and mercenaries of his command, and crucified [estaurothe]. " (Diodorus, 
Siculus, "Library of History," Book 16.61.2, Sherman, C.L., transl., Heineman: London, Vol. VII, 1952, 
Reprinted, 1967, p.409) 

2/05/2008
"The dread formula of the law ran thus: `Let the duumvirs pronounce him guilty of treason; if [B.C. 672-640] 
he shall appeal from the duumvirs, let the appeal he tried; if the duumvirs win, let the lictor veil his head; let 
him bind him with a rope to a barren tree [infelici arbori]; let him scourge him either within or without the 
pomerium. ... `... can you bear ... to see him bound beneath a fork [furca] and scourged and tortured?''" 
(Livy, "History of Rome," 1.26.6,10, Foster, B.O., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. I, 
1919, Reprinted, 1957, pp.93, 95) 

3/05/2008
"When Astyages learnt of the disgraceful collapse of the Median army, he swore that even so Cyrus should 
not get away with it so easily; then, having first impaled the Magi who had advised him to let Cyrus go, he 
armed all Medes, both under and over military age, who had been left in the city, led them out to battle and 
was defeated. His men were killed and he himself was taken alive." (Herodotus, "The Histories," Book 1.128, 
de Selincourt, A., transl., Penguin: London, 1954, Revised 1996, p.55)

4/05/2008
"In spite of many -attempts by his friends and by professional soothsayers to dissuade him, Polycrates now 
prepared to visit Oroetes in person. His daughter, too, did her best to stop him; for she had dreamt she saw 
her father hanging in the air, washed by Zeus and anointed by the sun-god Helios, and the dream had 
frightened her so much that she would have done anything in the world to prevent her father from going to 
Oroetes; and she did, in fact, follow him to the ship with words prophetic of disaster. .... But all warnings 
were lost upon Polycrates ... he sailed for Magnesia, where he met an end unworthy of his personal 
distinction and high ambition. ... In a manner not worthy to be recorded Oroetes had him murdered, and the 
dead body hung on a cross. ... The dream of Polycrates' daughter was thus fulfilled by his impalement; when 
rain fell he was `washed by Zeus', and he was `anointed by Helios' when under the sun's heat the moisture 
was sweated out from his body. This, then, was the end of the long-continued prosperity of Polycrates: it 
was just as Amasis, king of Egypt, had previously foretold." (Herodotus, "The Histories," Book 3.124-125, 
de Selincourt, A., transl., Penguin: London, 1954, Revised 1996, p.202)

4/05/2008
"After his successful treatment of Darius, Democedes lived in a large house in Susa, took his meals at the 
king's table, and enjoyed every privilege but one - the liberty of returning to Greece. The Egyptian doctors 
who had tried to cure Darius in the first place were about to be impaled as a punishment for being outdone 
by a Greek; but so great was Democedes' influence with the king, that they were let off as a result of his 
intercession in their favour; and - another instance of his power - he procured the release of a professional 
soothsayer from Elis, who had gone with Polycrates and was lying neglected amongst his slaves. He stood 
very high with the king." (Herodotus, "The Histories," Book 3.132, de Selincourt, A., transl., Penguin: 
London, 1954, Revised 1996, p.205)

4/05/2008
"Thus Babylon was captured for the second time, and Darius after his victory - unlike Cyrus, its previous 
conqueror - destroyed its defences, pulled down all the city gates, and impaled the leading citizens to the 
number of about three thousand." (Herodotus, "The Histories," Book 3.159, de Selincourt, A., transl., 
Penguin: London, 1954, Revised 1996, p.215)

4/05/2008
"This is how Libya was first discovered to be surrounded by sea, and the next people to make a similar 
report were the Carthaginians; for Sataspes, son of Teaspes, the Achaemenian, though sent out for the 
purpose, took fright at the length and loneliness of the voyage and turned back. It was Sataspes' mother 
who sent him upon this venture; he had raped a daughter of Megabyzus' son Zopyrus, and was about to be 
impaled as a punishment by Xerxes, when his mother, who was a sister of Darius, begged him off by 
promising to inflict upon him a punishment even more severe; this was to force him to circumnavigate Libya, 
returning by way of the Arabian gulf. Xerxes agreed; and Sataspes, on his arrival in Egypt, procured a 
vessel and crew and sailed to the Straits of Gibraltar. ... Xerxes, however, refused to pardon him, and, on the 
ground that he had failed to accomplish his set task, exacted the original penalty and had him impaled." 
(Herodotus, "The Histories," Book 4.43, de Selincourt, A., transl., Penguin: London, 1954, Revised 1996, 
p.229)

4/05/2008
"The tribes in the neighbourhood of Mt Pangaeum and on the lake itself were not subjugated by Megabazus - 
though he did attempt the conquest of the latter. The houses of these lake-dwellers are actually in the water, 
and stand on platforms supported on long piles and approached from the land by a single narrow bridge."
(Herodotus, "The Histories," Book 5.16, de Selincourt, A., transl., Penguin: London, 1954, Revised 1996, 
p.285)

4/05/2008
"The Greeks fled; and Histiaeus, who did not expect Darius to punish his fault with death, made a last bid to 
save himself. He was overtaken by a Persian as he ran, and, just as he was about to be speared, he cried out 
in Persian, `I am Histiaeus, the Milesian.' Now if after his capture he had been taken to Darius, he would not, 
in my opinion, have found himself in serious trouble, but Darius would have pardoned him; but as it was, for 
this very reason - to prevent him, that is, from rising once more to a position of influence in Darius' court - 
Artaphernes, the governor of Sardis, and Harpagus, his actual captor, resolved upon his death. As soon as 
he reached Sardis he was impaled; his head was cut off, mummified, and sent to Darius in Susa." (Herodotus, 
"The Histories," Book 6.29-30, de Selincourt, A., transl., Penguin: London, 1954, Revised 1996, p.333) 

4/05/2008
"Sandoces, who was one of the royal judges, had been arrested by Darius some time before and crucified, 
on a charge of perverting justice for money. But while he was actually on the cross, Darius came to the 
conclusion that his services to the royal house outweighed his offences, and realizing in consequence that 
he had acted with more promptitude than wisdom, caused him to be taken down." (Herodotus, "The 
Histories," Book 7.194, de Selincourt, A., transl., Penguin: London, 1954, Revised 1996, p.437)

4/05/2008
"When Leonidas was killed at Thermopylae, Xerxes and Mardonius had his head cut off and stuck on a 
pike: have your revenge, then; render like for like, and you will win the praise not only of every man in 
Sparta, but of every man in Greece. Impale Mardonius' body, and Leonidas, your father's brother, will be 
avenged.' Lampon really thought that this would be an acceptable suggestion; Pausanias, however, replied: 
`I thank you, my Aeginetan friend, for your goodwill and concern for me; but, in regard to your judgement, 
you have failed to hit the mark. First, you exalt me and my country to the skies by your praise of my 
success; and then you would bring it all to nothing by advising me to insult a dead body, and by saying 
that my good name would be increased if I were to do an improper thing fitter for barbarians than Greeks - 
and even then we think it repulsive." (Herodotus, "The Histories," Book 9.78-79, de Selincourt, A., transl., 
Penguin: London, 1954, Revised 1996, pp.527-528)

4/05/2008
"Such was Artayctes' offer; but Xanthippus, the Athenian commander, refused to accept it. The people of 
Elaeus wanted their revenge for Protesilaus, and urged his death; moreover Xanthippus' own feelings were 
in sympathy with them. So they took him to the spit of land where Xerxes' bridge had been - or, as some say, 
to the hill above the town of Madytus - and there they nailed him to a plank and hung him up. His son was 
stoned to death before his eyes. ... This Artayctes who suffered death by crucifixion had an ancestor named 
Artembares; and he it was who made the Persians a proposal, which they readily accepted and passed on to 
Cyrus." (Herodotus, "The Histories," Book 9.120-122, de Selincourt, A., transl., Penguin: London, 1954, 
Revised 1996, pp.542-543)

5/05/2008
"Thus this undertaking of the Hellenes came to naught after a war of six years; and but few out of many, making 
their way through Libya into Cyrene, escaped with their lives; the most of them perished. And all Egypt again 
came under the King's dominion, except Amyrtaeus, the king of the marshes; for the Persians were unable to 
capture him, both on account of the extent of the marsh and because the marsh people are the best fighters 
among the Egyptians. Inaros, however, the king of the Libyans, who had been the originator of the whole 
movement in Egypt, was taken by-treachery and impaled [anestaurothe]." (Thucydides, "History of the 
Peloponnesian War," 1.110.3, Smith, C.F., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. I, 1923, 
Reprinted, 1928, pp.183,185)

5/05/2008
"Which, then, of us two, Labienus, is the people's friend? You, who think it right to threaten Roman citizens 
even in the midst of their assembly with the executioner and with bonds; who, on the Campus Martius, a at 
the Assembly of the Centuries, in that holy place, give orders for the construction and erection of a cross 
[crucem] for the punishment of citizens; or I, who refuse to allow the assembly to be defiled by contact 
with the executioner; who assert that the Forum of the Roman people must be purified from those traces of 
hideous crime, who urge against you the need to keep the assembly undefiled, the Campus holy, the person 
of every Roman citizen inviolable, the rights of a free people unimpaired?" (Cicero, "Pro Rabiro 
Perduellionis," in "The Speeches," Book 4.11, Loeb Classical Library, Hodge, H.G., transl., Heinemann: 
London, 1927, Reprinted, 1959, p.463)

5/05/2008
"For those phrases of yours which, being a merciful man and a friend of the people, you are so fond of, such 
as `Lictor, go bind his hands,' are foreign not only to Roman liberty and clemency but even to Romulus a or 
Numa Pompilius: Tarquin, haughtiest and most cruel of tyrants, provides your torture- chamber with those 
mottoes which, like the gentle soul, the people's friend that you are, you delight to record, such as `Veil his 
head, hang him to the tree of shame [arbor infelix].' Such phrases, I say, have long since disappeared from 
our state, overwhelmed not only by the shadows of antiquity but by the light of Liberty." (Cicero, "Pro 
Rabiro Perduellionis," in "The Speeches," Book 4.13, Loeb Classical Library, Hodge, H.G., transl., 
Heinemann: London, 1927, Reprinted, 1959, pp.463-465)

5/05/2008
"Behold all the leaders who have been handed down to posterity as instances of an evil fate--anger stabbed 
this one in his bed, struck down this one amid the sanctities of the feast, tore this one to pieces in the very 
home of the law and in full view of the crowded forum, forced this one to have his blood spilled by the 
murderous act of his son, another to have his royal throat cut by the hand of a slave, another to have his 
limbs stretched upon the cross [in cruce membra distendere]." (Seneca, "De Ira," 1.2.2, in "Moral 
Essays,"  Basore, J.W., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. I, 1928, Reprinted, 1958, 
p.111)

5/05/2008
"The other kind of evil comes, so to speak, in the form of a huge parade. Surrounding it is a retinue of 
swords and fire and chains and a mob of beasts to be let loose upon the disembowelled entrails of men. 
Picture to yourself under this head the prison, the cross [et cruces], the rack, the hook, and the stake [et 
adactum] which they drive straight through a man until it protrudes from his throat. Think of human limbs 
torn apart by chariots driven in opposite directions, of the terrible shirt smeared and interwoven with 
inflammable materials, and of all the other contrivances devised by cruelty, in addition to those which I have 
mentioned!" (Seneca, "On the Reasons for Withdrawing from the World," 14.5, in "Ad Lucilium Epistulae 
Morales," Gummere, R.M., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. I, 1917, Reprinted. 1953, 
pp.85,87) 

5/05/2008
"Thence came that most debased of prayers, in which Maecenas does not refuse to suffer weakness, 
deformity, and as a climax the pain of crucifixion [crucem]-provided only that he may prolong the breath 
of life amid these sufferings ... All is well, if my life remains. Save, oh, save it, I pray you, Though I sit on the 
piercing cross [cruce]! There he is, praying for that which, if it had befallen him, would be the most 
pitiable thing in the world! And seeking a postponement of suffering, as if he were asking for life! I should 
deem him most despicable had he wished to live up to the very time of crucifixion [crucem]: ... `Maim me if 
you will, but allow me, misshapen and deformed as I may be, just a little more time in the world! You may nail 
me up and set my seat upon the piercing cross [crucem]!' Is it worth while to weigh down upon one's own 
wound, and hang impaled upon a gibbet [patibulo], that one may but postpone something which is the 
balm of troubles, the end of punishment? ... Can any man be found willing to be fastened to the accursed 
tree [infelix lignum], long sickly, already deformed, swelling with ugly tumours on chest and shoulders, 
and draw the breath of life amid long-drawn-out agony? I think he would have many excuses for dying even 
before mounting the cross [crucem]!" (Seneca, "On the Futility of Planning Ahead," 101.10-14, in "Ad 
Lucilium Epistulae Morales," Gummere, R.M., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. III, 
1917, Reprinted, 1953, pp.165,167)

6/05/2008
"[Est 5:14] The initiative in suggesting a course of action comes from his wife, supported by the `friends'. A 
gallows (Heb. `es) is literally `tree'; it could- have been a pole or indeed anything made of wood. The 
word haunts the book (cf. 2:23; 6:4; 7:9-10; 8:7; 9:13, 25). The height of the gallows, 75 feet, strikes western 
commentators as exaggerated. It certainly is unnecessarily high, but then everything constructed by Persian 
rulers was on a grand scale, like the image of Babylonian Nebuchadrezzar (Dn. 3:1), which was 10 cubits (15 
feet) higher." (Baldwin, J.G., "Esther: An Introduction and Commentary," Tyndale Old Testament 
Commentaries," Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester UK, 1984, p.88)

6/05/2008
"Thus the Median army was foully scattered. Astyages, hearing this, sent a threatening message to Cyrus, 
`that even so he should not go unpunished'; and with that he took the Magians who interpreted dreams and 
had persuaded him to let Cyrus go free, and impaled [aneskolopise] them; then he armed the Medes who 
were left in the city, the youths and old men. Leading these out, and encountering the Persians, he was 
worsted: Astyages himself was taken prisoner, and lost the Median army which he led." (Herodotus, 
"History," 1.128, Godley, A.D., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, 1920, Reprinted, 
1946, Vol. I., p.169)

6/05/2008
"But Polycrates would listen to no counsel. He sailed to meet Oroetes, with a great retinue of followers, 
among whom was Democedes, son of Calliphon, a man of Crotona and the most skilful physician of his time. 
But no sooner had Polycrates come to Magnesia than he was foully murdered, making an end which ill 
beseemed himself and his pride; for, saving only the despots of Syracuse, there is no despot of Greek race 
to be compared with Polycrates for magnificence. Having killed him (in some way not fit to be told) Oroetes 
then crucified [anestaurose] him; as for the Samians in his retinue he let them go, bidding them thank 
Oroetes for their freedom; those who were not Samians, or, were servants of Polycrates' followers, he kept 
for slaves. So Polycrates was hanged aloft, and thereby his daughter's dream came true; for he was washed 
by Zeus when it rained, and the moisture from his body was his anointment by the sun." (Herodotus, 
"History," 3.125, Godley, A.D., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, 1921, Reprinted, 
1957, Vol. II., pp.153,155)

6/05/2008
"So now for having healed Darius at Susa Dernocedes had a very great house and ate at the king's table; all 
was his, except only permission to return to his Greek home. When the Egyptian chirurgeons who had till 
now attended on the king were about to be impaled [aneskolopieisthai] for being less skilful than a Greek, 
Democedes begged their lives of the king and saved them; and he saved besides an Elean diviner, who had 
been of Polycrates' retinue and was left neglected among the slaves. Mightily in favour with the king was 
Democedes." (Herodotus, "History," 3.132, Godley, A.D., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: 
London, 1921, Reprinted, 1957, Vol. II., p.163)

6/05/2008
"Having mastered the Babylonians, Darius destroyed their walls and reft away all their gates, neither of 
which things Cyrus had done at the first taking of Babylon; moreover he impaled [aneskolopise] about 
three thousand men that were chief among them; as for the rest, he gave them back their city to dwell in. 
Further, as the Babylonians, fearing for their food, had strangled their own women, as I have shown above, 
Darius provided that they should have wives to bear them children, by appointing that each of the 
neighbouring nations should send a certain tale of women to Babylon; the whole sum of the women thus 
collected was fifty thousand: these were the mothers of those who now inhabit the city." (Herodotus, 
"History," 3.159, Godley, A.D., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, 1921, Reprinted, 
1957, Vol. II., pp.193,195)

6/05/2008
"The next story is that of the Carchedonians: for as for Sataspes son of Teaspes, an Achaemenid, he did not 
sail round Libya, though he was sent for that end; but he feared the length and the loneliness of the voyage 
and so returned back without accomplishing the task. laid upon him by his mother. For he had raped the 
virgin daughter of Zopyrus son of Megabyzus; and when on this charge he was to be impaled 
[aneskolopieisthai] by King Xerxes, Sataspes' mother, who was Darius' sister, begged for his life, saying 
that she would lay a heavier punishment on him than did Xerxes; for he should be compelled to sail round 
Libya, till he completed his voyage and came to the Arabian Gulf. Xerxes agreeing to this, Sataspes went to 
Egypt, where he received a ship and a crew from the Egyptians, and sailed past the Pillars of Heracles. 
Having sailed out beyond them, and rounded the Libyan promontory called Solois, he sailed southward; but 
when he had been many months sailing far over the sea, and ever there was more before him, he turned back 
and made sail for Egypt. Thence coming to Xerxes, he told in his story how when he was farthest distant he 
sailed by a country of little men, who wore palm-leaf raiment; these, whenever he and his men put in to land 
with their ship, would ever leave their towns and flee to the hills; he and his men did no wrong when they 
landed, and took naught from the people but what they needed for eating. As to his not sailing wholly 
round Libya, the reason (he said) was that the ship could move no farther, but was stayed. But Xerxes did 
not believe that Sataspes spoke truth, and as the task appointed was unfulfilled he impaled 
[aneskolopise] him, punishing him on the charge first brought against him." (Herodotus, "History," 
4.43, Godley, A.D., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, 1921, Reprinted, 1957, Vol. II., 
pp.241,243) 

7/05/2008
"But those near the Pangaean mountains and the country of the Doberes and the Agrianes and the 
Odomanti and the Prasiad lake itself were never subdued at all by Megabazus; albeit he tried to take the 
lake-dwellers, whose dwellings were such as I shall show :-There is set in the midst of the lake a platform 
made fast on tall piles [stauron], whereto one bridge gives a narrow passage from the land. The piles 
[staurous] which support the platform were set there in old times by all the people working together, but 
by a later custom this is the manner of their setting: the piles [staurous] are brought from a mountain 
called Orbelus, and every man plants three for each woman that he weds; and each has many wives. " 
(Herodotus, "History," 5.16, Godley, A.D., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, 1922, 
Reprinted, 1957, Vol. III., p.15)

7/05/2008
"Now had he been taken prisoner and brought on his way to king Darius, no harm had been done him (to my 
thinking) and the king had forgiven his guilt; but as it was, Histiaeus being brought to Sardis, there both by 
reason of what he had done, and for fear that he might escape and again win lower at the court, 
Artaphrenes, viceroy of Sardis, and Harpagus who had taken Histiaeus, impaled [anestaurosan] his body 
on the spot, and sent his head embalmed to king Darius at Susa. When Darius learnt of this he blamed those 
who had so done, because they had not brought Histiaeus before him alive; for the head, he gave command 
that it should be washed and buried with full observance, as the head of one that had done great good to 
Darius himself and to Persia." (Herodotus, "History," 6.30, Godley, A.D., transl., Loeb Classical Library, 
Heinemann: London, 1922, Reprinted, 1957, Vol. III., pp.175, 177)

7/05/2008
"Fifteen of those ships had put to sea a long time after all the rest, and it chanced that they sighted the 
Greek ships off Artemisium. Supposing these to be their own fleet, the foreigners held on their course into 
the midst of their enemies. Their captain was the viceroy from Cyme in Aeolia, Sandoces son of Thumasius; 
he had once before this, being then one of the king's judges, been taken and crucified [anestaurose] by 
Darius because he had given unjust judgment for a bribe. But Sandoces having been hung on the cross 
[anakremasthentos], Darius found on a reckoning that his good services to the royal house were more 
than his offences; whereat the king perceived that he had acted with more haste than wisdom, and so set 
Sandoces free." (Herodotus, "History,"  7.194, Godley, A.D., transl., Loeb classical library, Heinemann: 
London, 1922, Reprinted, 1957, Vol. III., p.511)

7/05/2008
"Now there was at Plataeae in the army of the Aeginetans one Lampon, son of Pytheas, a leading man of 
Aegina; he sought Pausanias with most unrighteous counsel, and having made haste to come said to him: 
`Son of Cleombrotus, you have done a deed of surpassing greatness and glory; by heaven's favour you 
have saved Hellas, and thereby won greater renown than any Greek known to men. But now you must finish 
what remains to do, that your fame may be yet the greater, and that no foreigner may hereafter make bold 
unprovoked to wreak his mad and wicked will on the Greeks. When Leonidas was slain at Thermopylae, 
Mardonius and Xerxes cut off his head and set it on a pole; make them a like return, and you will win praise 
from all Spartans, and the rest of Hellas besides; for if you impale [anestaurosan] Mardonius you will be 
avenged for your father's brother Leonidas.'" (Herodotus, "History," 9.78, Godley, A.D., transl., Loeb 
classical library, Heinemann: London, 1925, Reprinted, 1946, Vol. IV, pp.251,253)

7/05/2008
"But Xanthippus the general was unmoved by this promise; for the people of Elaeus entreated that 
Artayetes should he put to death in justice to Protesilaus, and the general himself likewise was so minded. 
So they carried Artayctes away to the headland where Xerxes had bridged the strait (or, by another story, to 
the hill above the town of Madytus), and there nailed him to boards and hanged [anekremasan] him aloft; 
and as for his son, they stoned him to death before his father's eyes. ... This Artayctes who was crucified 
[anakremasthentos] was grandson to that Artembares who instructed the Persians in a design which they 
took from him and laid before Cyrus ..." (Herodotus, "History," 9.120,122, Godley, A.D., transl., Loeb 
classical library, Heinemann: London, 1925, Reprinted, 1946, Vol. IV, pp.299-300)

7/05/2008
"It so happened that at Rome preparations were making; to repeat the Great Games. The reason of [B.C. 491] 
the repetition was as follows: at an early hour of the day appointed for the games, before the show had 
begun, a certain householder had driven his slave, bearing a yoke[furca], through the midst of the circus, 
scourging the culprit as he went. The games had then been begun, as though this circumstance had in no 
way affected their sanctity. Not long after, Titus Latittius, a plebeian, had a dream. He dreamt that Jupiter 
said that the leading dancer at the games had not been to his liking; that unless there were a sumptuous 
repetition of the festival the City would be in danger ; that Latinius was to go and announce this to the 
consuls." (Livy, "History of Rome," Book 2.36, Foster, B.O., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: 
London, Vol. I, 1919, Reprinted, 1957, p.337)

8/05/2008
"POWER: To earth's remotest confines we are come, to the Scythian tract, an untrodden solitude. And now, 
Hephaestus, thine is the charge to observe the mandates laid upon thee by the Father-to clamp this 
miscreant upon the high-beetling crags in shackles of binding adamant that cannot be broken. For thine own 
pride, even flashing fire, source of all arts, he hath purloined and bestowed upon mortal creatures. Such is 
his offence; wherefore he is bound to make requital to the gods, that so he may be lessoned to brook the 
sovereignty of Zeus and forbear his championship of man." (Aeschylus," "Prometheus Bound," in 
"Aeschylus," Smyth, H.W., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, 1922, Reprinted, 1956, p.215. 
Emphasis original)

8/05/2008
"HEPHAESTUS: Well, there then! The bracelets are ready, as thou mayest see. POWER: Cast them about his 
wrists and with might and main smite with thy hammer; rivet him to the rocks. HEPHAESTUS: There! The 
work is getting on and is not done amiss. POWER: Strike harder, clamp him tight, leave nothing loose; for he 
is wondrous clever at finding a way even out of desperate straits. HEPHAESTUS: This arm, at least, is fixed 
beyond all loosening. POWER: Now rivet this one too and securely, that he may; learn, for all his cleverness, 
that he is but a dullard compared to Zeus." (Aeschylus, "Prometheus Bound," 55-57, in "Aeschylus," Smyth, 
H.W., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, 1922, Reprinted, 1956, p.221. Emphasis original)

8/05/2008
"Meanwhile Hippocrates levied all the forces of Athens, both citizens and resident aliens, and such 
foreigners as were in the city. But he arrived at Delium too late, after the Boeotians had already with drawn 
from Siphae. Then, after settling his army in camp, he proceeded to fortify Delium in the following manner. 
They dug a ditch round the temple and the sacred precinct and threw up the earth from the ditch to serve for 
a wall, fixing stakes [staurous] along it; and cutting down the grape-vines round the sanctuary, they 
threw them in, as well as stones and bricks from the neighbouring homesteads which they pulled down, and 
in every way strove to increase the height of the fortification." (Thucydides, "History of the Peloponnesian 
War," Book 4.90.2, Smith, C.F., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. IV, 1920, Revised, 
1930, Reprinted, 1958, pp.365,367)

8/05/2008
"Skirmishing also occurred in the harbour about the piles [stauron] which the Syracusans drove down in 
the sea in front of their old dockyards with the object that the ships might lie moored inside the piles and the 
Athenians might not sail up and ram their ships.The Athenians brought up against the piles [staurous] a 
ship of ten thousand talents burden on whose deck were wooden towers and bulwarks; then from small 
boats they attached ropes to the piles [stauron] and pulled them up with windlasses or broke them off, or 
else they dived down and sawed them off. Meanwhile the Syracusans kept hurling missiles at them from the 
dockyards, and they returned the fire from the merchant-ship; and finally the Athenians destroyed most of 
the piles [stauron]. But the most troublesome part of the stockade [stauroseos] was that which was out 
of sight; for there were some of the piles [stauron] which they had, driven down so that they did not 
project above the surface of the water, and consequently it was dangerous to approach the stockade 
[stauroseos] , for any one if he did not look out might impale his ship as on a sunken rock. But these also 
were disposed of by divers, who dived down and sawed them off for pay. But nevertheless the Syracusans 
drove their piles [estaurosan] down again." (Thucydides, "History of the Peloponnesian War," Book 
7.25.5-8, Smith, C.F., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. IV, 1923, Reprinted, 1958, 
pp.43,45)

9/05/2008
"How grievous a thing it is to be disgraced by a public court; how grievous to suffer a fine, how grievous to 
suffer banishment; and yet in the midst of any such disaster some trace of liberty is left to us. Even if we are 
threatened with death, we may die free men. But the executioner, the veiling of the head, and the very word 
`cross' [crucem] should be far removed not only from the person of a Roman citizen but from his 
thoughts, his eyes and his ears. For it is not only the actual occurrence of these things or the endurance of 
them, but liability to them, the expectation, nay, the mere mention of them, that is unworthy of a Roman 
citizen and a free man. Or shall it be said that while a kind master, by a single act of manumission, frees a 
slave from the fear of all these punishments, we are not to be freed from scourgings, from the executioner's 
hook, a nor even from the dread of the cross [crucis] by our achievements, by the lives we have led or 
even by the honours you have bestowed upon us?" (Cicero, "Pro Rabiro Perduellionis," in "The Speeches," 
Book 5.16, Loeb Classical Library, Hodge, H.G., transl., Heinemann: London, 1927, Reprinted, 1959, 
pp.467,469)

9/05/2008
"What else was the meaning of your order to the Messanians, who had followed their regular custom by 
setting up the cross [crucem] on the Pompeian Road behind the town, to set it up in the part of the town 
that looks over the Straits? and why did you add words that you cannot possibly deny having used, words 
that you said openly in the hearing of all-that you purposely chose this spot to give this man, since he 
claimed to be a Roman citizen, a view of Italy and a prospect of his home country as he hung on his cross 
[cruce]? That is the only cross [crux] , gentlemen, ever set up in this spot in all Messana's history; and 
you now see why. This place with its view of Italy was deliberately picked out by Verres, that his victim, as 
he died in pain and agony, might feel how yonder narrow channel marked the frontier between the land of 
slavery and the land of freedom, and that Italy might see her son, as he hung there, suffer the worst extreme 
of the tortures inflicted upon slaves." (Cicero, "Against Verres II," in "The Verrine orations," 5.66.169, 
Greenwood, L.H.G., Loeb Classical Library, transl., Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. II, 1935, 
Reprinted, 1988, p.655) 

9/05/2008
"To bind a Roman citizen is a crime, to flog him is an abomination, to slay him is almost an act of murder: to 
crucify him [crucem] is-what? There is no fitting word that can possibly describe so horrible a deed. Not 
satisfied with all the cruelty I have told you of, `Let him be in sight of his native land,' he cries, `let him die 
with justice and freedom before his eyes.' It was not Gavius, not one obscure man, whom you nailed upon 
that cross of agony [cruciatum et crucem]: it was the universal principle that Romans are free men.-Nay, 
do but mark the villain's shamelessness! One can imagine how it vexed him to be unable to set up that cross 
to crucify [crucem] us Roman citizens in our Forum, in our place of public assembly and public speech: for 
he picked out the corner if his province that should be most like Rome in its populousness, and nearest to 
Rome in its position; he would have this memorial of his abandoned wickedness stand in sight of Italy, at 
the entrance-gate of Sicily, in a place where all who came or went that way by sea must pass close by it." 
(Cicero, "Against Verres II," in "The Verrine orations," Book 5.66.169-170, Greenwood, L.H.G., Loeb classical 
library, transl., Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. II, 1935, Reprinted, 1988, pp.655, 657) 

10/05/2008
"The Jews, indeed, had done much injury to the Romans, for the race is very bitter when aroused to [BC 38] 
anger, but they suffered far more themselves. The first of them to be captured were those who were fighting 
for the precinct of their god, and then the rest on the day even then called the day of Saturn. And so 
excessive were they in their devotion to religion that the first set of prisoners, those who had been captured 
along with the temple, obtained leave from Sosius, when the day of Saturn came round again, and went up 
into the temple and there performed all the customary rites, together with the rest of the people. These 
people Antony entrusted to a certain Herod to govern; but Antigonus he bound to a cross [stauro] and 
flogged,-a punishment no other king had suffered at the hands of the Romans, - and afterwards slew him." 
(Dio, Cassius, "Roman History," Book 5.49, Cary, E., transl., Heineman: London, Vol. V, 1917, pp.387,389)

10/05/2008
"Now that he took these measures, not in anger, but as really conducive to the public good, he [BC. 22] 
gave very strong proof; at any rate, when Caepio's father freed one of the two slaves who had accompanied 
his son in his flight because this slave had wished to defend his young master when he met his death, but in 
the case of the second slave, who had deserted his son, led him through the midst of the Forum with an 
inscription making known the reason why he was to be put to death, and afterwards crucified 
[staurosantos] him, the emperor was not vexed. Indeed, he would have allayed all the criticism of those 
who were not pleased with what had been done, had he not gone further and permitted sacrifices to be both 
voted and offered as for a victory." (Dio, Cassius, "Roman History," Book 6.54, Cary, E., transl., Heineman: 
London, Vol. VI, 1917, pp.289,291)

10/05/2008
"'Saints' Cannot Intercede with God; Pray to Jehovah Through Jesus Christ" (Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, 
"Make Sure of All Things, Hold Fast to What Is Fine," Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York: Brooklyn 
NY, 1965, p.138)

10/05/2008
"Religious arguments to the contrary, this automatically bars any prayers from reaching Jehovah by way of a 
`back door'; whether it be through the pope at Vatican City or a numberless list of `saints' or, yes, even through 
Jesus' mother Mary. Not one scripture indicates prayers should be addressed through any of these. Jesus said: 
`If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.' - John 14:14, NW" (Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, "Let God Be 
True," [1946], Watchtower Bible & Tract Society: Brooklyn NY, Second edition, 1952, p.159)

10/05/2008
"If you, for your part, are preparing a peroration of that sort, why do you mount the platform at all, why 
answer the summons? For if you wish to be crucified [staurothenai], wait and the cross [stauros] will 
come; but if reason decides that you should answer the summons and do your best to have what you say 
carry conviction, you must act in accordance therewith, but always maintaining what is your own proper 
character." (Epictetus, "The Discourses as Reported by Arrian, the Manual and Fragments," Book 2.2.20, 
Oldfather, W.A., transl., Vol. I, Loeb Classical Library, . Heinemann: London, 1925, Reprinted, 1928, 
pp.229,231)

10/05/2008
"Yet it is not hunger that you fear, but you are afraid that you will not have a professional cook, you 
will not have another servant to buy the delicacies, another to put on your shoes for you, another to 
dress you, others to give you your massage, others to follow at your heels, in order that when you 
have undressed in a bath, and stretched yourself out [ekteinas] like men who have been crucified 
[estauromenoi], you may be massaged on this side and on that; and that then the masseur may stand 
over you and say, `Move over, give me his side, you take his head, hand me his shoulder'; and then, 
when you have left the bath and gone home, that you may shout out, `Is no one bringing me something 
to eat?' and after that, `Clear away the tables; wipe them off with a sponge.'" (Epictetus, "The 
Discourses as Reported by Arrian, the Manual and Fragments," Book 3.26.22, Oldfather, W.A., transl., 
Vol. II, Loeb Classical Library, . Heinemann: London, 1928, Reprinted, 1952, pp.233,235)

10/05/2008
"May hurl them, or on stakes impale [skolopsi] alive. You women, who were privy to this plot, Hereafter, 
when my leisure serveth me, Will I yet punish. Having now in hand The instant need, I will not idly wait." 
(Euripides, "Iphigenia In Taurica," 1430, in "Euripides," Way, A.S., transl., Vol. II, Loeb Classical Library, 
Heinemann: London, 1912, Reprinted, 1958, p.405)

10/05/2008
"He found him sitting in the fore-hall of his house, where his court was built high in a place of wide outlook, 
a great and goodly court with an open space around it. This the swineherd had himself built for the swine of 
his master, that was gone, without the knowledge of his mistress and the old man Laertes. With huge stones 
had he built it, and set on it a coping of thorn. Without he had driven stakes [staurous] the whole length, 
this way and that, huge stakes, set close together, which he had made by splitting an oak to the black core; 
and within the court he had made twelve sties close by one another, as beds for the swine, and in each one 
were penned fifty wallowing swine, females for breeding; but the boars slept without." (Homer, "The 
Odyssey," Book 14.11, Murray, A.T., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, 1919, Reprinted, 
1953, p.35)

10/05/2008
"Who is the `good man'? `He who observes the Senate's decrees, the statutes and laws; whose judgement 
settles many grave suits; whose surety means safety for property; whose testimony wins suits at law.' Yet 
this very man all his household and all his neighbours see to be foul within, though fair without, under his 
comely skin. If a slave were to say to me, `I never stole or ran away': my reply would be, `You have your 
reward; you are not flogged.' `I never killed anyone.' `You'll hang on no cross to feed crows [cruce].' `I am 
good and honest.' Our Sabine friend shakes his head and says, `No, no!' For the wolf is wary and dreads the 
pit, the hawk the suspected snare, the pike the covered hook. The good hate vice because they love virtue; 
you will commit no crime because you dread punishment. Suppose there's a hope of escaping detection; 
you will make no difference between sacred and profane. For when from a thousand bushels of beans you 
steal one, my loss in that case is less, but not your sin. This `good man,' for forum and tribunal the cynosure 
of every eye, whenever with swine or ox he makes atonement to the gods, cries with loud voice `Father 
Janus,' with loud voice `Apollo,' then moves his lips, fearing to be heard: `Fair Laverna, d grant me to escape 
detection; grant me to pass as just and upright, shroud my sins in night, my lies in clouds!'" (Horace, 
"Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetica," Epistle 1.16.48, Fairclough, H.R., transl., Loeb Classical Library, 
Heinemann: London, 1926, Revised, 1929, Reprinted, 1955, p.355. Emphasis original)

11/05/2008
"Indeed, they were whipped, their bodies were mutilated, and while still alive and breathing, they were 
crucified [anestaurounto], while their wives and the sons whom they had circumcised in despite of the 
king's wishes were strangled, the children being made to hang from the necks of their crucified 
[anestauromenon] parents." (Josephus, "Jewish Antiquities," 12.256-257, in "Works," Marcus, R., 
transl., Heinemann: London, Vol. VII, 1943, Reprinted, 1957, pp.131,133)

11/05/2008
"One incident in this engagement was the capture of a Jewish prisoner, whom Titus ordered to crucifixion 
[anastaurosai] before the walls, in the hope that the spectacle might lead the rest to surrender in dismay." 
(Josephus, "Jewish War," 5.289, in "Works," Thackeray, H.St.J., transl., Heinemann: London, Vol. III, 1928, 
Reprinted, 1957, p.291)

11/05/2008
"Alexander [Jannaeus] thereupon fled to the mountains, where out of pity for him at this reverse six 
thousand Jews gathered to his side. And at this Demetrius withdrew in alarm. But later on the Jews fought 
against Alexander and were defeated, many of them dying in battle. The most powerful of them, however, he 
shut up and besieged in the city of Bethoma, and after taking the city and getting them into his power, he 
brought them back to Jerusalem; and there he did a thing that was as cruel as could be: while he feasted with 
his concubines in a conspicuous place, he ordered some eight hundred of the Jews to be crucified 
[anastaurosai], and slaughtered their children and wives before the eyes of the still living wretches." 
(Josephus, "Jewish Antiquities," 13.379-380, in "Works," Marcus, R., transl., Heinemann: London, Vol. VII, 
1943, Reprinted, 1957, p.417)

11/05/2008
"The remainder of the people, however, did not, on the withdrawal of their allies, drop their quarrel, but 
waged continuous war with Alexander [Jannaeus], until, after killing a very large number of them, he drove 
the rest into Bemeselis; having subdued this town, he brought them up to Jerusalem as prisoners. So furious 
was he that his savagery went to the length of impiety. He had eight hundred of his captives crucified 
[anastaurosas] in the midst of the city, and their wives and children butchered before their eyes, while he 
looked on, drinking, with his concubines reclining beside him." (Josephus, "Jewish War," 1.96-97, in 
"Works," Thackeray, H.St.J., transl., Heinemann: London, Vol. II, 1927, Reprinted, 1956, pp.47,49) 

11/05/2008
"They were accordingly scourged and subjected to torture of every description, before being killed, and 
then crucified [anestaurounto] opposite the walls. Titus indeed commiserated their fate, five hundred or 
sometimes more being captured daily; on the other hand, he recognized the risk of dismissing prisoners of 
war, and that the custody of such numbers would amount to the imprisonment of their custodians; but his 
main reason for not stopping the crucifixions was the hope that the spectacle might perhaps induce the Jews 
to surrender, for fear that continued resistance would involve them in a similar fate. The soldiers out of rage 
and hatred amused themselves by nailing their prisoners in different postures; and so great was their 
number, that space could not be found for the crosses [staurois] nor crosses [staurois] for the bodies." 
(Josephus, "Jewish War," 5.449-451, in "Works," Thackeray, H.St.J., transl., Heinemann: London, Vol. VI, 
1928, Reprinted, 1957, p.341)

11/05/2008
"Observing this, Bassus proceeded to practise a ruse upon the enemy, desiring so to intensify their distress 
as to compel them to purchase the man's life by the surrender of the fort; and in this hope he was not 
disappointed. For he ordered a cross [stauron] to be erected, as though intending to have Eleazar 
instantly suspended; at which sight those in the fortress were seized with deeper dismay and with piercing 
shrieks exclaimed that the tragedy was intolerable." (Josephus, "Jewish War," 7.201-202, in "Works," 
Thackeray, H.St.J., transl., Heinemann: London, Vol. VII, 1928, Reprinted, 1957, p.563)

11/05/2008
"He [Haman] also said that he was not pleased at seeing the Jew Mordecai in the court. Then Zarasa, his 
wife, told him to order a tree [xulon] sixty cubits high to be cut down, and in the morning ask the king for 
leave to crucify [anastaurosai] Mordecai; and he praised her plan and ordered his servants to make the 
gallows [xulon] ready and set it up in the court for the punishment of Mordecai." (Josephus, "Jewish 
Antiquities," 11.246, in "Works," Marcus, R., transl., Heinemann: London, Vol. VI, 1937, Reprinted, 1958, 
p.433)

11/05/2008
"While they were still talking together of these things, the eunuchs of Esther came to hasten Haman's 
coming to the banquet. But Sabuchadas, one of the eunuchs, seeing the cross [stauron] that had been set 
up at Haman's house and prepared for Mordecai, inquired of one of the servants for whom they had made 
this ready, and, learning that it was for the queen's uncle, for the time being held his peace." (Josephus, 
"Jewish Antiquities," 11.260, in "Works," Marcus, R., transl., Heinemann: London, Vol. VI, 1937, Reprinted, 
1958, p.439)

11/05/2008
"At this Haman was overcome and unable to utter any further sound, and then came the eunuch 
Sabuchadas and accused Haman, saying that he had found a cross [stauron] at his house prepared for 
Mordecai. For this was what the servant had told him in answer to his inquiry, when he had come to Haman 
to summon him to the banquet. And the cross [stauron], he said, was sixty cubits in height. When the 
king heard this, he decided to inflict on Haman no other punishment than that which had been devised 
against Mordecai, and ordered him at once to be hanged on that very same cross [staurou] till he was 
dead." (Josephus, "Jewish Antiquities," 11.266-268, in "Works," Marcus, R., transl., Heinemann: London, 
Vol. VI, 1937, Reprinted, 1958, p. 443)

12/05/2008
"She [the witch] breaks with her teeth the fatal noose, and mangles the carcass that dangles on the gallows, 
and scrapes the cross [cruces] of the criminal; she tears away the rain-beaten flesh and the bones 
calcined by exposure to the sun. She purloins the nails that pierced the hands, the clotted filth, and the black 
humour of corruption that oozes over all the limbs; and when a muscle resists her teeth, she hangs her 
weight upon it." (Lucan, "The Civil War," Books 6.543-545, Duff, J.D., transl., Loeb Classical Library, 
Heinemann: London, 1928, Reprinted, 1952, pp.343,345)

12/05/2008
"That is the way he injures mankind as far as their speech is concerned, but look at the material injury he has 
done them! Men weep and bewail their lot and curse Cadmus over and over for putting Tau into the 
alphabet, for they say that their tyrants, following his figure and imitating his build, have fashioned timbers 
in the same shape and crucify [anaskolopizein] men upon them; and that it is from him that the sorry 
device gets its sorry name (stauros, cross). For all this do you not think that Tau deserves to die many 
times over? As for me, I hold that in all justice we can only punish Tau by making a T of him." (Lucian, "The 
Consonants at Law," 12, in "Works," Harmon, A.M., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, 
Vol. I, 1913, pp.407, 409)

12/05/2008
"CLOTHO: Now bring in the output of the courts, I mean those who died by the scourge and the cross 
[aneskolopismenous]. And where are the sixteen who were killed by pirates, Hermes?" (Lucian, "The 
Downward Journey," 6.18-20, in "Works," Harmon, A.M., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: 
London, Vol. II, 1915, Reprinted, 1960, p.13. Emphasis original)

12/05/2008
"Why, what could one expect them to think when they see so much confusion in life, and see that the good 
men among them are neglected and waste away in poverty and illness and bondage while scoundrelly, 
pestilential fellows are highly honoured and have enormous wealth and lord it over their betters, and that 
temple-robbers are not punished but, escape, while men who are guiltless of all wrong-doing sometimes die 
by the cross [aneskolopismenous] or the scourge?" (Lucian, "Zeus Rants," 19, in "Works," Harmon, 
A.M., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. II, 1915, Reprinted, 1960, pp.119,121)

13/05/2008
"HERMES: Well, Hephaestus, here is the Caucasus, where this poor Titan will have to be nailed up. Now 
then let us look about for a suitable rock, if there is a place anywhere that has no snow on it, so that the 
irons may be riveted in more firmly and he may be in full sight of everybody as he hangs there." (Lucian, 
"Prometheus," 1.1-6, in "Works," Harmon, A.M., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. II, 
1921, Reprinted, 1947, p.243. Emphasis original)

13/05/2008
"HEPHAESTUS: Yes, let's look about, Hermes: We mustn't crucify [estaurosthai] him low and close to the 
ground for fear that men, his own handiwork, may come to his aid, nor yet on the summit, either, for he 
would be out of sight from below. Suppose we crucify [anestaurosthai] him half way up, somewhere 
hereabouts over the ravine, with his hands outstretched from this rock to that one? HERMES: Right you are; 
the cliffs are sheer and inaccessible on every side, and overhang slightly, and the rock has only this narrow 
foothold, so that one can barely stand on tip toe; in short, it will make a very handy cross [stauros]. Well, 
Prometheus, don't hang back: climb up and let yourself be riveted to the mountain." (Lucian, "Prometheus," 
1.7-14, in "Works," Harmon, A.M., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. II, 1921, 
Reprinted, 1947, p.243. Emphasis original)

13/05/2008
"PROMETHEUS: Come, Hephaestus and Hermes, at any rate you might pity me in my undeserved 
misfortune. HERMES: You mean, be crucified [anaskolopisthenai] in your stead the instant we disobey the 
order! Don't you suppose the Caucasus has room enough to hold two more pegged up? Come, hold out 
your right hand. Secure it, Hephaestus, and nail it up, and bring your hammer down with a will. Give me the 
other hand too. Let that be well secured also. That's good. The eagle will soon fly down to eat away your 
liver, so that you may have full return for your beautiful and clever handiwork in clay." (Lucian, 
"Prometheus," 2.3-12, in "Works," Harmon, A.M., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. 
II, 1921, Reprinted, 1947, p.245. Emphasis original)

13/05/2008
"'We are only trying to persuade this man of adamant,' said Eucrates, pointing at me, `to believe that spirits 
and phantoms exist, and that souls of dead men go about above ground and appear to whomsoever they 
will.' I flushed and lowered my eyes out of reverence for Arignotus. `Perhaps, Eucrates,' he said, `Tychiades 
means that only the ghosts of those who died by violence walk, for example, if a man hanged himself, or had 
his head cut off, or was crucified [aneskolopisthe], or departed life in some similar way; and that those of 
men who died a natural death do not." (Lucian, "The Lover of Lies," 29, in "Works," Harmon, A.M., transl., 
Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. III, 1921, Reprinted, 1947, p.365)

13/05/2008
"You can imagine, I expect, how I laughed; for it was not fitting to pity a man so desperately in love with 
glory beyond all others who are driven by the same Fury. Anyhow, he was being escorted by crowds and 
getting his fill of glory as he gazed at the number of his admirers, not knowing, poor wretch, that men on 
their way to the cross [stauron] or in the grip of the executioner have many more at their heels."
(Lucian, "The Passing of Peregrinus," 34.7, in "Works," Harmon, A.M., transl., Loeb Classical Library, 
Heinemann: London, Vol. V, 1936, Reprinted, 1955, p.39)

13/05/2008
"That is Alexander's story. And I myself not many days previously saw him smeared with ointment in order 
that the sharp salve might relieve his vision by making him shed tears. Do you get the idea? Aeacus is 
reluctant to receive people with weak eyes! It is as if a man about to go up to the cross [stauron] should 
nurse the bruise on his finger. What do you think Democritus would have done, had he seen this? Would 
not he have laughed at the man as roundly as he deserved? And yet, where could he have got that much 
laughter? Well, my friend, you may have your laugh also, particularly when you hear the rest of them 
admiring him." (Lucian, "The Passing of Peregrinus," 45.5, in "Works," Harmon, A.M., transl., Loeb classical 
library, Heinemann: London, Vol. V, 1936, Reprinted, 1955, p.51)

13/05/2008
"`We lost no time, and by nightfall we were ready; at his front doors. We decided not to remove or force 
them apart or break them down, for fear that the noise would arouse the whole neighbourhood and ruin us. 
And so our noble standard-bearer; Lamachus, with all the confidence of his tried valour, gradually slipped 
his hand through the hole for inserting the key and attempted to dislodge the bolt. But that vilest of two- 
legged creatures, Chryseros, must have been keeping watch for a long time and observing everything that 
happened. Stepping softly and keeping absolute silence, he slowly crept up and suddenly with a mighty 
blow nailed our leader's hand to the panel of the door; with a large spike. Then, leaving him fatally ensnared 
as it were on a cross, he climbed up to the roof of his hut and shouted at the top of his lungs, calling the 
neighbours and summoning them one by one, each by his own name; reminding them of the common safety, 
he spread the story that his house was being attacked by a sudden fire. So each one, frightened by his own 
proximity to the danger next door, came anxiously running to help."(Apuleius, "Metamorphoses," 4.10, 
Hanson, J.A., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. I, 1989, 
Reprinted, 1996, pp.201,203)

13/05/2008
"While bolting down all the food with voracious gluttony, they began to discuss among themselves our 
punishment and their revenge. As happens in a boisterous gathering, the opinions expressed were varied. 
One advised that the girl be burned alive; a second exhorted that she be thrown to the beasts; a third 
advocated that she be nailed to a cross [patibulo suffigi]; a fourth recommended that she be torn to 
pieces on the rack." (Apuleius, "Metamorphoses," 6.31, Hanson, J.A., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard 
University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. I, 1989, Reprinted, 1996, p.369)

13/05/2008
"Then one member of the group quieted the uproar and began calmly to deliver the following address: `It is 
not in keeping with the principles of our guild,' he said, `nor with the gentle disposition of each and all, nor 
indeed with my own sense of moderation, to allow you to indulge your fury beyond the limits of the crime. 
You ought not to invoke wild beasts or crosses [cruces] or flames or racks-in short, a speedy extinction 
by a quick death." (Apuleius, "Metamorphoses," 6.31, Hanson, J.A., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard 
University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. I, 1989, Reprinted, 1996, p.369)

13/05/2008
"Strip the girl-whom he preferred to our company-and sew her up inside his belly so that only her face 
protrudes and he confines all the rest of her body with his beastly entwinement. Next set this ass crammed 
with stuffing upon the top of some rugged rock and let the heat of the burning sun take over. By this means, 
you see, both of them will suffer all those punishments which you have quite properly determined for them: 
the ass will die, as he has long deserved; the girl will endure the bites of beasts when the worms lacerate her 
limbs, the scorching of fire when the sun scorches the ass's belly with its excessive heat, and the agony of 
the cross [patibuli cruciatum] when the dogs and vultures draw out her very guts.'" (Apuleius, 
"Metamorphoses," 6.31-32, Hanson, J.A., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press: 
Cambridge MA, Vol. I, 1989, Reprinted, 1996, pp.369,371) 

14/05/2008
Dt 21:22-23 NIV. "If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you 
must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is 
hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as 
an inheritance."

14/05/2008
Josh 8:29 NIV. "He hung the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered 
them to take his body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a 
large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day."

14/05/2008
Josh 10:26-27 NIV. "Then Joshua struck and killed the kings and hung them on five trees, and they were 
left hanging on the trees until evening. At sunset Joshua gave the order and they took them down from the 
trees and threw them into the cave where they had been hiding. At the mouth of the cave they placed large 
rocks, which are there to this day."

14/05/2008
2Sam 4:12 NIV. "So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them. They cut off their hands and feet 
and hung the bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner's 
tomb at Hebron." 

14/05/2008
2Sam 21:8-9 NIV. "But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah's daughter Rizpah, 
whom she had borne to Saul, together with the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab, whom she had borne to 
Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite. He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed and exposed 
them on a hill before the LORD. All seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days 
of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning." 

14/05/2008
"Many of the crowd went with Theron as he was taken away; he was crucified [anaskolopisthenai] in 
front of Callirhoe's tomb and from the cross [staurou] gazed out upon that sea over which he had carried 
Hermocrates' daughter captive, whom not even the Athenians had captured." (Chariton, "De Chaerea et 
Callirrhoe," 3.4, Goold, G.P., ed. & transl., Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, 1995, p.163)

14/05/2008
"Some of those chained with Chaereas (sixteen in all shut up in a gloomy cell) broke through their chains in 
the night, murdered the overseer, and then attempted a getaway. But they did not escape, as the dogs' 
barking betrayed them. They were discovered and all securely fastened in the stocks for the night, and when 
day came the estate manager told Mithridates what had happened. Without even seeing them or listening to 
their defense he immediately ordered the sixteen cell-mates to be crucified [anastaurosai] . They were duly 
brought out, chained together at foot and neck, each carrying his own cross [stauron] . The executioners 
added this grim public spectacle to the requisite penalty as a deterrent to others so minded. Now Chaereas 
said nothing as he was led off with the others, but on taking up his cross [stauron] Polycharmus 
exclaimed, `It is your fault, Callirhoe, that we are in this mess. You are responsible for all our troubles!'" 
(Chariton, "De Chaerea et Callirrhoe," 4.2, Goold, G.P., ed. & transl., Harvard University Press: Cambridge 
MA, 1995, p.199)

14/05/2008
"`Now we endured our misfortune with resignation, but some of our fellow prisoners, whom we do not 
know, broke their chains and committed murder. Then on your orders we were all taken out to be crucified 
[epi ton stauron]. Even in his last moments my friend would not reproach his wife, but I could not refrain 
from mentioning her name and calling her the cause of our troubles, since it was for her sake that we made 
the voyage.' While he was still speaking, Mithridates exclaimed, `Do you mean Chaereas?' `Yes-my friend,' 
said Polycharmus. `But I beg you, sir, tell the executioner not to separate even our crosses [staurous]' 
Tears and groans greeted his story and Mithridates sent them all to save Chaereas before he died. They 
found the others already hanging on their crosses [staurou], and he was just mounting his. ... So the 
executioner stopped his work, and Chaereas descended from the cross [staurou], regretfully, for he had 
been glad to be leaving his miserable life and unhappy love." (Chariton, "De Chaerea et Callirrhoe," 4.3, 
Goold, G.P., ed. & transl., Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, 1995, pp.205, 207) 

15/05/2008
"Many also while still alive they drew with one of the feet tied at the ankle and meanwhile leapt upon them 
and pounded them to pieces. And when by the cruel death thus devised, their life ended, the rage of their 
enemies did not end, but continued all the same. They inflicted worse outrages on the bodies, dragging 
them through almost every lane of the city until the corpses, their skin, flesh and muscles shattered by the 
unevenness and roughness of the ground, and all the parts which united to make the organism dissevered 
and dispersed in different directions, were wasted to nothing. While those who did these things like actors 
in a farce assumed the part of the sufferers, a the friends and kinsmen of the true sufferers, simply because 
they grieved over the misfortunes of their relations, were arrested, scourged, tortured and after all these 
outrages, which were all their bodies could make room for, the final punishment kept in reserve was the 
cross [stauros]." (Philo, of Alexandria, "Flaccus," 70-72, in "Philo," Colson, F.H., transl., Loeb classical 
library, Heinemann: London, Vol. IX, 1941, p.341)

15/05/2008
"But Flaccus gave no orders to take down those who had died on the cross [stauron]. Instead he ordered 
the crucifixion [anaskolopizesthai] of the living, to whom the season offered a short-lived though not 
permanent reprieve in order to postpone the punishment though not to remit it altogether. And he did this 
after maltreating them with the lash in the middle of the theatre and torturing them with fire and the sword." 
(Philo, of Alexandria, "Flaccus," 84, in "Philo," Colson, F.H., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: 
London, Vol. IX, 1941, p.349)

15/05/2008
"But thanks be to the victorious God who, however perfect in workmanship are the aims and efforts of the 
passion-lover, makes them to be of none effect by sending invisibly against them winged beings to undo 
and destroy them. Thus the mind stripped of the creations of its art will be found as it were a headless 
corpse, with severed neck nailed like the crucified to the tree [anaskolopisthentes to xulo] of helpless and 
poverty-stricken indiscipline. " (Philo, of Alexandria, "On Dreams," 2.213, in "Philo," Colson, F.H. & 
Whitaker, G.H, transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. V, 1934, p.539)

15/05/2008
"Bearing my gibbet [patibulum] I shall be carried through the city; afterwards I shall be nailed to the cross 
[adfigatur cruci]." (Plautus, "Carbonaria," 2, fr., in "The Comedies," Riley, H.T., transl., Henry G. Bohn: 
London, 1852, p.518)

15/05/2008
"Scel. ... But I must mind what I'm about and watch this door. Here's how I'll block , it. (stands facing it, legs 
and arms outspread) Now, by heaven, they'll never fool me, that's sure! ... Pal. (noting his position) You'll 
soon have to trudge out beyond the gate in that attitude, I take it-arms outspread, with your gibbet on your 
shoulder [dispessis manibus, patibulum quom habebis]." (Plautus, "The Braggart Warrior," 350-360, in 
"Plays," Nixon, P., transl., Heinemann: London, Vol. III, 1957, pp.159, 161)

15/05/2008
"Gr. Oh, I bet the hangmen will have you looking like a human sieve, the way they'll prod you full of holes as 
they run you down the streets with your arms on a cross bar [patibulatum], once the old man gets back! ... 
Tr. Shut up, and be off to the farm! I want to go to the Piraeus and see about some fish for supper for myself. 
To-morrow I shall send someone to the villa with (emphatically) your fodder for you. (as Grumio bridles) 
What ails you? What are you scowling at me for now, gallowsbird [furcifer]? (Plautus, "The Haunted 
House," 55-57, in "Plays," Nixon, P., transl., Heinemann: London, Vol. III, 1957, p.295)

15/05/2008
"I'll give two hundred pounds to the first man to charge my cross [crucem] and take it-on condition 
his legs and arms [bis pedes, bis bracchia] are double-nailed, that is. When this is attended to, he can 
claim the money from me cash down. But I-ain't I a cursed fool not to race off home on the run?" (Plautus, 
"The Haunted House," 359-360, in "Plays," Nixon, P., transl., Heinemann: London, Vol. III, 1957, p.325)

15/05/2008
"Sag. And let it come, if once I catch you to-day and don't plant you in the ground with these fists! (swings 
at him) Paeg. (dodging) You plant me? It's you that'll be planted by others before long, on a cross [cruci]." 
(Plautus, "The Persian," 295, in "Plays," Nixon, P., transl., Heinemann: London, Vol. III, 1957, p.457)

16/05/2008
"Jesus Christ ... `"Let all the angels of God worship him' [that must include Michael, the chief angel, hence 
Michael is not the Son of God]."' WT 11/1879, p. 48. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Almighty, of 
Revelation 1:8. STUDIES, Vol. 7, p. 15. Michael in Revelation 12:7 is the pope of Rome. STUDIES, Vol. 
7, p. 188" (Reed, D.A., ed., "Index of Watchtower Errors, 1879 to 1989," Compiled by Steve Huntoon and 
John Cornell, Baker: Grand Rapids MI, 1990, p.85. Emphasis original)

17/05/2008
"For the same reason dogs are punished with death every year, being crucified alive; on a cross [furca ... 
fixi] of elder between the temple of Juventas and that of Summanus." (Pliny, the Elder, "Natural History," 
Jones, W.H.S., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. VIII, 1963, p.221)

17/05/2008
"They agreed that both might reserve five of their most trusty eunuchs, but that from the rest the loser must 
give whichever one the winner might select, and on these conditions played their game. Parysatis took the 
matter much to heart and was in great earnest with her playing, and since the dice also fell in her favour, she 
won the game, and selected Masabates; for he was not among those who had been excepted. And before 
the king suspected her design, she put the eunuch in the hands of the executioners; who were ordered to 
flay him alive, to set up his body slantwise on three stakes [stauron], and to nail up his skin to a fourth." 
(Plutarch, "Artaxerxes," 17.4-5, in "Lives," Perrin, B., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press: 
Cambridge MA, Vol. XI, 1926, Reprinted, 1994, p.167)

17/05/2008
"But during this time it chanced that Hephaestion had a fever; and since, young man and soldier that he 
was, he could not submit to a strict regimen, as soon as Glaucus, his physician, had gone off to the theatre, 
he sat down to breakfast, ate a boiled fowl, drank a huge cooler of wine, fell sick, and in a little while died. 
Alexander's grief at this loss knew no bounds. He immediately ordered that the manes and tails of all horses 
and mules should he shorn in token of mourning, and took away the battlements of the cities round about; 
he also crucified [anestaurosen] the wretched physician, and put a stop to the sound of flutes and every 
kind of music in the camp for a long time, until an oracular response from Ammon came bidding him honour 
Hephaestion as a hero and sacrifice to him." (Plutarch, "Alexander," 72.2-3, in "Lives," Perrin, B., transl., Loeb 
classical library, Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. VII, 1919, Reprinted, 1971, p.425)

17/05/2008
"As for the children of Antony, Antyllus, his son by Fulvia, was betrayed by Theodorus his tutor and put 
to death; and after the soldiers had cut off his head, his tutor took away the exceeding precious stone which 
the boy wore about his neck and sewed it into his own girdle; and though he denied the deed, he was 
convicted of it and crucified [anestaurothe]." (Plutarch, "Antony," 81.1, in "Lives," Perrin, B., transl., 
Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. IX, 1920, Reprinted, 1988, p.319)

17/05/2008
"A certain man had handed over one of his slaves to other slaves, with orders to scourge him through the 
forum, and then put him to death. While they were executing this commission and tormenting the poor 
wretch, whose pain and suffering made him writhe and twist himself horribly, the sacred procession in 
honour of Jupiter chanced to come up behind. Many of those who took part in it were, indeed, scandalized 
at the joyless sight and the unseemly contortions of the victim, but no one made any protest; they merely 
heaped abuse and curses on the head of the master who was inflicting such a cruel punishment. ... And it 
was a severe punishment for a slave who had committed a fault, if he was obliged to take the piece of wood 
[xulon] with which they prop up the pole of a waggon, and carry it around through the neighbourhood. 
For he who had been seen undergoing this punishment no longer had any credit in his own or neighbouring 
households. And he was called `furcifer'; for what the Greeks call a prop, or support, is called `furca' 
[phourkan] by the Romans." (Plutarch, "Coriolanus," 24.3-5, in "Lives," Perrin, B., transl., Loeb classical 
library, Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. IV, 1916, Reprinted, 1959, pp.177, 179)

17/05/2008
"Or will you reduce a man from splendid wealth and house and table and lavish living to a threadbare cloak 
and wallet and begging of his daily bread? These things were the beginning of happiness for Diogenes, of 
freedom and repute for Crates. But will you nail him to a cross [eis stauron katheloseis] or impale him on a 
stake [skolopi pexeis]?" (Plutarch, "Can Vice Cause Unhappiness?," 499D, in "Moralia," Helmbold, W.C., 
transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. VI, 1939, Reprinted, 1993, 
p.371)

17/05/2008
"For whereas the blister beetle is reported to contain, mixed within itself, its own remedy, which operates by 
a sort of counteraction, wickedness engenders with itself its pain and punishment, and thus pays the 
penalty of its wrongdoing not later, but at the very moment of commission; and whereas every criminal who 
goes to execution must carry his own cross on his back [ekpherei ton autou stauron], vice frames out of 
itself each instrument of its own punishment, cunning artisan f that it is of a life of wretchedness containing 
with infamy a host of terrors, regrets, cruel passions, and never-ending anxieties." (Plutarch, "The Divine 
Vengeance," 554A-B, in "Moralia," De Lacy, P.H. & Einarson, B., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard 
University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. VII, 1959, p.215)

17/05/2008
"Their next step was to take Spendius and the other prisoners up to the walls and crucify [estaurosan] 
them there in the sight of all. Matho noticed that Hannibal was guilty of negligence and over-confidence, 
and attacking his camp, put many Carthaginians to the sword and drove them all out of the camp. All the 
baggage fell into the rebel's hands and they made Hannibal himself prisoner. Taking him at once to 
Spendius' cross [stauron] they tortured him cruelly there, and then, taking Spendius down from the cross, 
they crucified Hannibal alive on it and slew round the body of Spendius thirty Carthaginians of the highest 
rank." (Polybius, "The Histories," 1.86.4-6, Paton, W.R, transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, 
Vol. I, 1922, p.233)

18/05/2008
"Yonder I see instruments of torture [cruces], not indeed of a single kind, but differently contrived by 
different peoples; some hang their victims with head toward the ground, some impale their private parts, 
others stretch out their arms on a fork-shaped gibbet [brachia patibulo explicuerunt]; I see cords, I see 
scourges, and for each separate limb [et membris singulus] and each joint there is a separate engine of 
torture!" (Seneca, "To Marcia on Consolation," 20.3, in "Moral Essays," Basore, J.W., transl., Loeb 
classical library, Heinemann: London, Vol. II, 1932, Reprinted. 1958, p.69) 

18/05/2008
"You say that no one of them practises what he preaches, or models his life upon his own words. But what 
wonder, since their words are heroic, mighty, and survive all the storms of human life? Though they strive to 
release themselves from their crosses [crucibus]-those crosses to which each one of you nails himself 
with his own hand-yet they, when brought to punishment, hang each upon a single gibbet [stipitibus 
singulis]; but these others who bring upon themselves their own punishment are stretched upon as many 
crosses [crucibus distrahuntur] as they had desires. Yet they are slanderous and witty in heaping insult 
on others. I might believe that they were free to do so, did not some of them spit upon spectators from their 
own cross [patibulo]!" (Seneca, "On the Happy Life," 19.3, in "Moral Essays," Basore, J.W., transl., Loeb 
classical library, Heinemann: London, Vol. II, 1932, Reprinted. 1958, pp.147, 149. Emphasis original)

18/05/2008
"I was looking on, when Regulus, the hope and pride of Hector's race, a was dragged along amid the shouts 
of the populace to his dark dungeon, with both hands bound fast behind his back; I was looking on, when 
he hung high upon the tree and saw Italy from his lofty cross [cruce]." (Silius Italicus, "Punica," 2.344, 
Duff, J.D., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. I, 1927, Reprinted, 1961, p.85)

18/05/2008
"Varus' first camp, with its broad sweep and measured spaces for officers and eagles, advertised the labours 
of three legions: then a half- ruined wall and shallow ditch showed that there the now broken remnant had 
taken cover. In the plain between were bleaching bones, scattered or in little heaps, as the men had fallen, 
fleeing or standing fast. Hard by lay splintered spears and limbs of horses, while human skulls were nailed 
prominently on the tree-trunks. In the neighbouring groves stood the savage altars at which they had 
slaughtered the tribunes and chief centurions. Survivors of the disaster, who had escaped the battle or their 
chains, told how here the legates fell, there the eagles were taken, where the first wound was dealt upon 
Varus, and where he found death by the suicidal stroke of his own unhappy hand. They spoke of the 
tribunal from which Arminius made his harangue, all the gibbets [patibula] and torture-pits for the prisoners, 
and the arrogance with which he insulted the standards and eagles." (Tacitus, "The Annals," 1.61, in "The 
Histories," Jackson, J., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. III, 
1931, Reprinted, 1992, pp.347, 349)

19/05/2008
"The Tarracinea, however, found comfort in the fact that the slave of Verginius Capito, who had betrayed 
them, was crucified [patibulo adfixus] wearing the very rings that he had received from Vitellius. But at 
Rome the senators voted to Vespasian all the honours and privileges usually given the emperors."(Tacitus, 
"The Annals," 4.3, in "The Histories," Jackson, J., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press: 
Cambridge MA, Vol. III, 1931, Reprinted, 1992, p.7)

19/05/2008
"In the same year, the Frisians, a tribe on the further bank of the Rhine, violated the peace, more from our 
cupidity than from their own impatience of subjection. In view of their narrow resources, Drusus had 
imposed on them a moderate tribute, consisting in a payment of ox-hides for military purposes. No one had 
given particular attention to their firmness or size, until Olennius, a leading centurion appointed to the 
Frisian governorship selected the hide of the aurochs as the standard for the contributions. The demand, 
onerous enough to any people, was the less endurable in Germany; where the forests teem with huge 
animals, but the domesticated herds are of moderate size. First their cattle only, next their lands, finally the 
persons of their wives or children, were handed over to servitude. Hence, indignation and complaints; then, 
as relief was not accorded, an appeal to arms. The soldiers stationed to supervise the tribute were seized and 
nailed to the gibbet [patibulo adfixi]." (Tacitus, "The Annals," 4.72, in "The Histories," Jackson, J., 
transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. IV, 1937, Reprinted, 1956, 
pp.127, 129)

19/05/2008
"A similar catastrophe was reserved for the municipality of Verulamium; as the natives, with their delight in 
plunder and their distaste for exertion, left the forts and garrison-posts on one side, and made for the point 
which offered the richest material for the pillager and was unsafe for a defending force. It is established that 
close upon seventy thousand Roman citizens and allies fell in the places mentioned. For the enemy neither 
took captive nor sold into captivity; there was none of the other commerce of war; he was hasty with 
slaughter and the gibbet [patibula], with arson and the cross [cruces], as though his day of reckoning 
must come, but only after he had snatched his revenge in the interval." (Tacitus, "The Annals," 14.33, in 
"The Histories," Jackson, J., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. V, 
1937, Reprinted, 1956, p.163)

19/05/2008
"But neither human help, nor imperial munificence, nor all the modes of placating Heaven, could stifle 
scandal or dispel the belief that the fire had taken place by order. Therefore, to scotch the rumour, Nero 
substituted - as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for 
their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus, the founder of the name, had undergone the death 
penalty in the reign of Tiberias, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilatus, and the pernicious 
superstition was checked for a moment, only to break out once more, not merely in Judaea, the home of the 
disease, but in the capital itself, where all things horrible or shameful in the world collect and find a vogue. 
First, then, the confessed members of the sect were arrested; next, on their disclosures, vast numbers were 
convicted, not so much on the count of arson as for hatred of the human race. And derision accompanied 
their end: they were covered with wild beasts' skins and torn to death by dogs; or they were fastened on 
crosses [crucibus adfixi], and, when daylight failed were burned to serve as lamps by night. Nero had 
offered his Gardens for the spectacle, and gave an exhibition in his Circus, mixing with the crowd in the habit 
of a charioteer, or mounted on his car. Hence, in spite of a guilt which had earned the most exemplary 
punishment, there arose a sentiment of pity, due to the impression that they were being sacrificed not for the 
welfare of the state but to the ferocity of a single man." (Tacitus, "The Annals," 15.44, in "The Histories," 
Jackson, J., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. V, 1937, Reprinted, 
1956, pp.283, 285)

19/05/2008
"The elder Africanus was the mildest of men. Yet for the confirmation of military discipline he thought 
proper to borrow some harshness from a cruelty quite alien to himself. When he had conquered Carthage 
and brought into his power all those who had deserted from our armies to the Carthaginians, he punished 
the Roman deserters more severely than the Latins, crucifying [crucibus adfixit] the former as runaways 
from their country and beheading the latter as faithless allies. I shall not pursue this action farther, both 
because it is Scipio's and because there is no need to insult Roman blood that suffered the punishment of 
slaves, however well deserved, especially as I am free to pass to doings which can be narrated without 
injury to national sentiment." (Valerius Maximus, "Memorable Doings and Sayings," 2.7, Shackleton Bailey, 
D.R., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. I, 2000, p.191)

20/05/2008
"skolops, -opos, o, fr. Hom. down, a pointed piece of wood, a pale, a stake: edothe moi skolops te 
sarki, a sharp stake [al. say splinter, A.V. thorn; cf. Num. xxxiii. 55 ; Ezek. xxviii. 24 ; Hos. ii. 6 (8) ; Babr. 
fab. 122, 1. 10; al. (Sir. xliii. 19)] to pierce my flesh, appears to indicate .some constant bodily ailment or 
infirmity, which, even when Paul had been caught up in a trance to the third heaven, sternly admonished him 
that he still dwelt in a frail and mortal body, 2 Co. xii. 7 (cf. 1-4) ; [cf. W. § 31, 10 N. 3; B. § 133, 27. On Paul's 
"thorn in the flesh" See Farrar, St. Paul, i. 652 sqq. (Excursus x.) ; Bp. Lghtft. Com. on Gal. p. 186 sqq. ; 
Schaff in his ` Popular Commentary' on Gal. p. 331 sq.]" (Thayer, J.H., "A Greek-English Lexicon of the 
New Testament: Being Grimm's Wilke's Clovis Novi Testamenti Translated Revised and Enlarged," T & T. 
Clark: Edinburgh, Fourth edition, 1901, Reprinted, 1961, p.579. My transliteration)

21/05/2008
"PAPYRUS BODMER II (P66) is a manuscript in codex form with numbered pages which contains most of 
the Gospel according to John, Chapters 1-14, and fragments of the rest of the Gospel through Chapter 21. It 
was probably written about A. D. 200 if not even earlier. In the manuscript at most of the places where the 
noun stauros, `cross,' and the verb stauroo, `crucify,' occur an abbreviation of the word is employed in 
which the tau and the rho are written together to make the sign-tau-rho ... . The present photograph 
shows the extant fragments of page 137 (PAZ) in the codex. The beginning of line 3 contains that section of 
Jn 19:16 where it is stated that Pilate delivered Jesus `to be crucified.' Here the verb staurothe is 
abbreviated s tau-rho the. The initial sigma is badly preserved but the remaining letters are plainly legible 
together with the line over them which marks the abbreviation. Line 6 contains the mention of Golgotha in Jn 
19:17, and continues with the opening words of Jn 19:18, `where they crucified him... .' Here the verb 
estaurosan abbreviated es tau-rho an the initial epsilon being lifted above the level of the other letters 
as shown. Line 10 contains a portion of Jn 19:19 where Pilate wrote a title `and put it on the cross.' Here, 
although it is more difficult to make out because of the break in the papyrus, the noun staurou is 
abbreviated s tau-rho ou." (Finegan, J., "The Archeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and 
the Beginning of the Early Church," [1969], Princeton University Press: Princeton NJ, Revised edition, 1992, 
pp.381-382. Emphasis original. My transliteration)

21/05/2008
"PAPYRUS BODMER XIV-XV (P75) is a codex which contains most of the Gospel according to Luke, 
Chapters 3-24 (Papyrus Bodmer xiv), and of the Gospel according to John, Chapters 1-15 (Papyrus Bodmer 
xv). The date of the manuscript is probably at the beginning of the third century, perhaps within the range 
A.D. 175-225. Thus it is of substantially the same age as p66 (above No. 336), perhaps not quite as old. In 
this manuscript also the Greek words `cross' and `crucify' are abbreviated. In some places, but not in others, 
the abbreviation employs the f sign, the same as in p66. In the case of the Gospel according to John, 
Papyrus Bodmer xv breaks off in Chapter 15, and Chapter 19, in which are all the occurrences of `cross' and 
`crucify,' is not available for inspection. The examples of the abbreviation are, therefore, all in the Gospel 
according to Luke, i.e., in Papyrus Bodmer xiv. The page of this papyrus shown in the photograph contains 
Lk 9:23-33. In line 8 is a portion of Lk 9:23 where Jesus says that if any man would come after him, `let him ... 
take up his cross daily.' Here the noun (staurou is abbreviated s tau-rho on." (Finegan, J., "The 
Archeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church," [1969], 
Princeton University Press: Princeton NJ, Revised edition, 1992, p.382. Emphasis original. My transliteration) 

22/05/2008
"After Herodotus the words anaskolopizein and anastauroun became synonyms. Josephus, for 
example, uses only (ana)stauroun, while Philo on the other hand uses only anaskolopizein for the same 
thing. However, neither of the two verbs appears in the only detailed account of a crucifixion given by 
Herodotus. According to him, the Athenian general Xanthippus had the satrap Artayctes executed for 
religious offences at the very place where Xerxes had once built a bridge over the Hellespont: `They nailed 
him to planks and hung him there ([pros] sanidas prospassaleusantes anekremasan). And they stoned 
Artayctes' son before his eyes.' [Herodotus 9.120] " (Hengel, M., "Crucifixion: In the Ancient World and the 
Folly of the Message of the Cross," Bowden, J., trans., Fortress Press: Philadelphia PA, 1977, Third printing, 
1982, pp.24-25)

22/05/2008
"Herodotus further shows that even the Athenians could crucify a hated enemy ... the phrase `nail to 
planks', which appears only here, suggests that a real cross was not used in this case, but the 
`tympanum', which was familiar from their own penal law. This was a flat board made up of planks 
(sanides) on which criminals were fastened for public display, torture or execution. The seventeen victims 
discovered in the well-known find of the tomb at Phaleron from the seventh century BC were fastened with a 
ring round their necks and hooks round their hands and feet. This could be seen as an aggravated form of 
apotymanismos, which would come very near to crucifixion if the victim were nailed down instead of 
being bound or fastened with curved nails." (Hengel, M., "Crucifixion: In the Ancient World and the Folly of 
the Message of the Cross," Bowden, J., transl., Fortress Press: Philadelphia PA, 1977, Third printing, 1982, 
pp.69-70)

23/05/2008
"17 When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all 
description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, 
pointing to the other-This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him! 18 My object in going to inquire of the 
Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, 
therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who 
stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my 
heart that all were wrong)-and which I should join. 19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for 
they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an 
abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: "they draw near to me with their 
lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form 
of godliness, but they deny the power thereof." ("Joseph Smith-History," 1:17-19, "The Pearl of Great 
Price," The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2006).

23/05/2008
"We must at this point assert, in the strongest possible terms, that Mormonism does not deserve to be called 
a Christian religion. It is basically anti-Christian and anti-Biblical. The Mormon contention that `after the 
book [the Bible] hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church ... there are many 
plain and precious things taken away from the book...' (1 Nephi 13:28), is completely contrary to fact. The 
many copies of Old Testament manuscripts which we now possess do vary in minor matters - the spelling of 
words, the omission of a phrase here and there - but there is no evidence whatsoever that any major sections 
of Old Testament books have been lost. The manuscripts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, generally 
dated from about 200 to 50 B.C., include portions of every Old Testament book except Esther; studies have 
revealed that these documents - older by a thousand years than previously discovered Old Testament 
manuscripts - are substantially identical to the text of the Old Testament which had been previously handed 
down. As far as New Testament manuscripts are concerned, the oldest of which go back to the second 
century A.D., the situation is substantially the same. The variations that are found in these manuscripts -- all 
copies of the originals or of copies made from the originals - are of a relatively minor nature. There is no 
indication whatever that any large sections of material found in the originals have been lost. Most of the 
manuscript variations concern matters of spelling, word order, tense, and the like; no single doctrine is 
affected by them in any way. There is, further, not a shred of evidence to show that any translations of the 
Bible ... omitted any portions of these manuscripts or failed to reproduce any major sections of the Bible. 
The Bible itself, moreover, clearly indicates that it is the final revelation of God to man, and that it does not 
need to be supplemented by additional revelation." (Hoekema, A.A., "The Four Major Cults: Christian 
Science, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Seventh-day Adventism," Paternoster: Exeter UK, 1963, 
Reprinted, 1969, pp.30-31) 

24/05/2008
"The Mongoloid Factor It is one of the main contentions of Mormon theology that the American Indians 
are the descendants of the Lamanites and that they were of the Semitic race, in fact of Jewish origin. As we 
have seen, this claim is extensive in Mormon literature; and if evidence could be adduced to show that the 
American Indian could not possibly be of Semitic extraction, the entire story of Nephi and his trip to 
America in 600 B.C. would be proven false. It is, therefore, of considerable value to learn that in the findings 
compiled by anthropologists and those who specialize in genetics, the various physical factors of the 
Mediterranean races from which the Jewish or Semitic race spring bear little or no resemblance to those of 
the American Indian! Genotypically, there is therefore little if any correlation, and phenotypically speaking 
the American Indians are considered to be Mongoloid in extraction, not Mediterranean Caucasoids. Now, 
if the Lamanites, as the Book of Mormon tells it, were the descendants of Nephi, who was a Jew of the 
Mediterranean Caucasoid type, then their descendants, the American Indians, would by necessity have the 
same blood factor genotypically; and phenotypic, or apparent characteristics, would be the same. But this is 
not at all the case. Instead, the American Indian, so say anthropologists, is not of Semitic extraction and has 
the definite phenotypical characteristic of a Mongoloid. " (Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: An 
Analysis of the Major Cult Systems in the Present Christian Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 
1977, p.163. Emphasis original)

24/05/2008
"Is the `first vision' account forming the foundation of the Mormon Church really credible? Joseph 
Smith's `first vision' forms the essence of Mormonism's claim to uniqueness: that God Himself had rejected 
all other churches as false and was now restoring the `true' church through this 15-year-old boy.' This is 
why Mormons have agreed that the `first vision' account is absolutely crucial to the credibility and authority 
of both Smith and the Church. Second in importance only to Christ's `deity,' the `first vision' is the 
`foundation of the church'; the Mormon Church stands or falls on the authenticity of this event, and the 
`truth and validity' of all of Joseph Smith's subsequent work rests upon its genuineness. The following facts 
prove, by Mormonism's own assertions, that their church is based on falsehood. The official account of the 
event was written by Smith around 1838 and published in Times and Seasons in 1842, two decades after 
`the event' took place. [Tanner, J. & S., "The Changing World of Mormonism," Moody Press, 1981, p. 148] 
What most Mormons have never been told is that at least five earlier drafts of the `first vision' exist. These 
conflicting accounts have been ignored or repressed by Mormon leaders because they disagree with what 
has come to be the preferred or official version. Of all versions, the official composition, Smith's final draft, is 
the least credible. [Ibid., pp.10,149-155] The earliest known account was written by Smith in 1832. It varies in 
important details with the official version. There are discrepancies in Smith's age, the presence of an evil 
power, Smith's reason for seeking the Lord, the existence of a revival, and the number of divine personages 
in the vision. For example, the revival Smith claimed happened in 1820 (he clearly gives his age as 15) 
actually took place in 1824-1825. [Walters, W.P., "New Light on Mormon Origins from the Palmyra [New 
York] Revival," 1967] There was no revival in 1820, and, therefore, Smith had no reason to seek God's 
counsel over his own religious confusion. Another account by Smith was written between 1835-1836. 
[Tanner, ibid., pp.155-156] In this different and contradictory version, there is no mention of God or Christ, 
but only of many spirits and `angels' who testified of Jesus. Leading authorities on Mormonism Jerald and 
Sandra Tanner conclude: `We have now examined three different handwritten manuscripts of the first vision. 
They were all written by Joseph Smith or his scribes and yet every one of them is different. The first account 
says there was only one personage. The second account says there were many, and the third says there 
were two. The church, of course, accepts the version which accepts two personages .... At any rate... it 
becomes very difficult to believe that Joseph Smith ever had a vision in the grove.' [Ibid., p.156]  The crucial 
`first vision' account is simply not credible. Mormons who accept it must ignore and deny strong evidence 
to the contrary." (Ankerberg, J. & Weldon, J., "The Facts on the Mormon Church," Harvest House 
Publishers: Eugene OR, 1991, pp.35-36)

25/05/2008
"Does Mormonism claim to be the only true church on earth? Mormonism does not claim to be one part 
of the Christian religion, such as a Christian denomination. Rather, it claims to comprise the only true 
Christian religion on earth. This is in harmony with the `first vision' of Joseph Smith, where Jesus 
supposedly condemned all Christian religions as corrupt abominations ["Joseph Smith-History," 1:17-19, 
"The Pearl of Great Price"]. Doctrine and Covenants emphasizes that Mormonism is `the only true and living 
church upon the face of the whole earth.' ["Doctrine and Covenants," 1:30] Indeed, from their earliest days, 
Mormons have claimed they were the only people of God on earth. In 1854, leading Mormon Orson Pratt 
argued, `All other churches are entirely destitute of all authority from God.' [Pratt, O., "The Seer," Vol. 2, No. 
4, April 1854, p. 255] A leading doctrinal theologian of the modern Mormon Church, the late Bruce 
McConkie, asserted that `Mormons ...have the only pure and perfect Christianity now on earth.' [McConkie, 
B., "Doctrinal New Testament Commentary," Bookcraft: Salt Lake City UT, Vol. 2, 1976), p.113] He also 
taught, `All other systems of religion are false.' [McConkie, B., "Mormon Doctrine," Bookcraft: Salt Lake 
City UT, Second. edition, 1977, p.626] The Mormon Sunday school text, The Master's Church, Course A, 
informs children, `We cannot accept that any other church can lead its members to salvation.... ` [Deseret 
Sunday School Union: Salt Lake City UT, 1969, p. 6)" (Ankerberg, J. & Weldon, J., "The Facts on the 
Mormon Church," Harvest House Publishers: Eugene OR, 1991, pp.10-11. Emphasis original)

27/05/2008
"Another problem for the Book of Mormon is archaeology, a major embarrassment to the Mormon 
Church. Mormon missionaries continue to claim that the science of archaeology substantiates the Book 
of Mormon, but whether we consider the alleged cities, persons; animals, fabrics, metals, wars and war 
implements, kings, palaces, or crops, all the evidence points to their nonexistence. ... No Book of 
Mormon cities have ever been located, no Book of Mormon person, place, nation, or name has been 
found, no Book of Mormon artifacts, no Book of Mormon scriptures, no Book of Mormon inscriptions, 
no Book of Mormon gold plates-nothing that demonstrates the Book of Mormon is anything other than 
myth or invention has ever been found. By contrast, the archaeological evidence for the Bible is so 
convincing that even a former skeptic such as the great archaeologist Sir William Ramsay became 
converted to Christian belief. But the archaeological evidence against Mormon claims is so devastating 
that prominent Mormon archaeologist Thomas Stewart Ferguson quit the Mormon Church and 
repudiated its prophet. [Ramsay, W., Sir, "The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of 
the New Testament," Baker: Grand Rapids MI, 1979; Tanner, J. & S., "Archeology and The Book of 
Mormon," Utah Lighthouse Ministry: Salt Lake City UT]" (Ankerberg, J. & Weldon, J., "The Facts on 
the Mormon Church," Harvest House Publishers: Eugene OR, 1991, pp.38-39)

27/05/2008
"Archeological Evidence The Book of Mormon purports to portray the rise and development of two 
great civilizations. As to just how great these civilizations were, some excerpts from the book itself 
adequately illustrate: `The whole face of the land had become covered with buildings, and the people were 
as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea' (Mormon 1:7). ` . . fine workmanship of wood, in 
buildings, and in machinery, and also in iron and copper, and brass and steel, makings [sic.] all manners of 
tools ... ` (Jarom 1:8 and 2 Nephi 5:15). ` ... grain ... silks ... cattle ... oxen ... cows ... sheep ... swine ... goats ... 
horses ... asses ... elephants ... ` (See Ether 9:17-19). `... did multiply and spread ... began to cover the face of 
the whole earth, from the sea south to the sea north, from the sea west to the sea east' (Heleman 3:8). `... had 
been slain ... two millions' [Jaredites] (See Ether 15:2). ... their shipping and their building of ships, and their 
building of temples, and of synagogues and their sanctuaries ...' (Heleman 3:14. See also 2 Nephi 5:15, 16 and 
Alma 16:13). ` ... there were ten more who did fall ... with their ten thousand each...' (See Mormon 6:10-15). ... 
swords ... cimeters ... breastplates ... arm-shields ... shields ... head-plates ... armor' (See Alma 43: 18, 19; 3:5 
and Ether 15:15). `... multiplied exceedingly, and spread upon the face of the land, and became exceeding rich 
...' (Jarom 1:8). See 3 Nephi 8:9, 10, 14 and 9:4, 5, 6, 8: where cities and inhabitants were sunk in the depths of 
the sea and earth. In addition to the foregoing statements from the Book of Mormon which indicate the 
tremendous spread of the culture of these races, there are some thirty-eight cities catalogued in the Book of 
Mormon, evidence that these were indeed mighty civilizations which should, by all the laws of archeological 
research into the culture of antiquity, have left vast amounts of `finds' to be evaluated. But such is not the 
case as we shall show. The Mormons have yet to explain the fact that leading archeological researchers not 
only have repudiated the claims of the Book of Mormon as to the existence of these civilizations, but 
have adduced considerable evidence to show the impossibility of the accounts given in the Mormon Bible." 
(Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of the Major Cult Systems in the Present Christian 
Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 1977, pp.161-162. Emphasis original)

27/05/2008
"There is no archeological support for the Book of Mormon. According to Mormon scriptures, the 
Nephite and Lamanite nations had huge populations that lived in large, fortified cities. They waged large 
scale wars with each other for hundreds of years, culminating in a conflict in which hundreds of thousands 
of people were killed in A.D. 385, near Hill Cumorah in present-day New York State (see Mormon 6:9-15, 
Book of Mormon). One would think that if this really happened there would be archeological evidence to 
support it. But there is no evidence that it occurred. While there is massive archeological evidence to 
support the people and places mentioned in the Bible, such evidence is completely missing in regard to the 
Book of Mormon and other Mormon scriptures. America has been studied so thoroughly by non-Mormon 
archeologists that one of them certainly would have come forward by now with evidence in support of the 
Book of Mormon if what is in the Book of Mormon is really true. But that has not happened. Archeological 
institutions have certainly found no support for Mormon claims. The National Museum of Natural History 
Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C., affirmed, `Smithsonian archeologists see no direct connection 
between the archeology of the New World and the subject matter of the book [of Mormon].[Tanner, J. & S., 
"Major Problems of Mormonism," Utah Lighthouse Ministry: Salt Lake City UT, 1990, p.162]"(Rhodes, R., 
"The 10 Most Important Things You Can Say to a Mormon," Harvest House Publishers: Eugene OR, 2001, 
p.25. Emphasis original)

27/05/2008
"Similarly the Bureau of American Ethnology asserted, `There is no evidence whatever of any migration 
from Israel to America, and likewise no evidence that pre-Colombian Indians had any knowledge of 
Christianity or the Bible.' [Ankerberg, J. & Weldon, J., "Cult Watch," Harvest House: Eugene OR, 1991, p.38] 
In a February 4, 1982, letter, the National Geographic Society stated: `Although many Mormon sources claim 
that the Book of Mormon has been substantiated by archeological findings, this claim has not been verified 
scientifically.' [Tanner, J. & S., "Major Problems of Mormonism," Utah Lighthouse Ministry: Salt Lake City 
UT, 1990, p.162]" (Rhodes, R., "The 10 Most Important Things You Can Say to a Mormon," Harvest House 
Publishers: Eugene OR, 2001, pp.25-26)

27/05/2008
"In an article published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Dee Green, assistant professor of 
Anthropology at Weber State College, said: `The first myth we need to eliminate is that Book of Mormon 
archeology exists .... If one is to study Book of Mormon archeology, then one must have a corpus of data 
with which to deal. We do not.... No Book of Mormon location is known with reference to modern 
topography. Biblical archeology can be studied because we do know where Jerusalem and Jericho were and 
are, but we do not know where Zarahemla and Bountiful (nor any other location for that matter) were or 
are.'[Green, D.E., Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1969, pp.76-78]" (Rhodes, R., "The 10 
Most Important Things You Can Say to a Mormon," Harvest House Publishers: Eugene OR, 2001, p.26)

27/05/2008
"Many Mormon scholars try hard to find Book of Mormon lands somewhere in Central America. These 
scholars, however, disagree among themselves about where in Central America the Book of Mormon lands 
may be (some say the Costa Rica area, others say the Yucatan Peninsula, and still others say the 
Tehuantepec area). The fact remains there is virtually no solid archeological support for the Book of 
Mormon's history. If there were large-scale wars culminating in a conflict in which hundreds of thousands of 
people were killed in A.D. 385 near Hill Cumorah in New York, why hasn't any archeological evidence-from 
non-Mormon archeologists-been revealed that such a conflict occurred?" (Rhodes, R., "The 10 Most 
Important Things You Can Say to a Mormon," Harvest House Publishers: Eugene OR, 2001, p.26) 

28/05/2008
"James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth 
not; and it shall be given him. Rather than present a lot of `evidence' in support of the Book of Mormon's 
alleged authenticity, Mormon missionaries usually encourage their listeners to read selected chapters and 
then to `pray about the Book of Mormon.' They say that God will answer the prayer of one sincerely asking 
whether it is true, and will confirm that the Book of Mormon is his inspired word. One of them may relate 
how God gave him a `burning in the bosom' when he himself prayed on the matter years earlier. The 
missionaries may add to James 1:5 this encouragement from Moroni 10:4 in the last chapter of the Book of 
Mormon: `And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal 
Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real 
intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.' Is it 
appropriate for Christians to follow the missionaries' advice to ask God whether the Book of Mormon is 
true? What could possibly be wrong with such a prayer? ... While God encourages us to pray, he does not 
expect us to ask him questions that we ought to be able to answer for ourselves, or which he has already 
spoken through his Word the Bible, such as `Should I rob a bank?' ... And we cannot expect him to give us 
personal answers to such questions. Then how should Christians evaluate the Book of Mormon? The same 
way that Jews in Berea evaluated the message preached to them by the apostle Paul: They `searched the 
scriptures daily, whether those things were so' (Acts 17:11). ... The Bible warns us, `Beloved, believe not 
every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the 
world' (1 John 4:1). And we are encouraged to `Prove all things; hold fast that which is good'" (1 Thess. 
5:21). " (Reed, D.A., "Mormons Answered Verse by Verse," Baker: Grand Rapids MI, 1992, pp.99-101. 
Emphasis original) 

28/05/2008
"Archaeology and the Book of Mormon Down through the years, Mormons have claimed that 
archaeological finds have proven the veracity and reliability of the Book of Mormon. But is there support for 
such claims? We must keep in mind that according to the Mormon Scriptures, the Nephite and Lamanite 
nations had huge populations that lived in large, fortified cities. They allegedly waged large-scale 
wars with each other for hundreds of years, culminating in a conflict in which hundreds of thousands of 
people were killed in A.D. 385 near Hill Cumorah in present-day New York State (see Mormon 6:9-15). If all 
this really happened, you would think we'd find archaeological evidence to support it. But no evidence has 
ever surfaced. While there is massive archaeological evidence to support the people and places mentioned 
in the Bible, such evidence is completely missing in regard to the Book of Mormon and other Mormon 
Scriptures. [Tanner, J. & S., "Major Problems of Mormonism," Utah Lighthouse Ministry: Salt Lake City UT, 
1989, pp.162-165] ... If there were large-scale wars, culminating in a conflict in which hundreds of thousands 
of people were killed in A.D. 385 near Hill Cumorah in present-day New York State, wouldn't we find some 
archaeological evidence-from non-Mormon archaeologists - that such a conflict occurred?" (Rhodes, R. 
& Bodine, M., "Reasoning from the Scriptures With the Mormons," Harvest House Publishers: Eugene OR, 
1995, pp.125-126. Emphasis original)

28/05/2008
"Let us consider a case in point: Prestigious non-Mormon archaeological institutions deny any evidence of 
a "Reformed Egyptian" language. For many years the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian 
Institute, in Washington, D.C. has sent this response to inquiries about the Book of Mormon: `Reports of 
findings of ancient Egyptian, Hebrew, and other Old World writings in the New World in pre-Columbian 
contexts have frequently appeared in newspapers, magazines, and sensational books. None have been 
shown to have occurred in any part of the Americas before 1492 except for a few Norse rune stones which 
have been found in Greenland ["Natural Museum of Natural History-Smithsonian Statement on the Book of 
Mormon" #8] (emphasis added). So, one of the most prestigious of all archaeological institutions does not 
agree that any writings such as those Joseph Smith claimed was written on the plates have been found on 
American soil. There is virtually no evidence that a `Reformed Egyptian' language ever existed on the 
American continent. The Institute also affirmed, `Smithsonian archaeologists see no direct connection 
between the archaeology of the New World and the subject matter of the book [of Mormon].' [Tanner, J. & 
S., "Major Problems of Mormonism," Utah Lighthouse Ministry: Salt Lake City UT, 1989, p.162] Similarly, the 
Bureau of American Ethnology asserts, `There is no evidence whatever of any migration from Israel to 
America, and likewise no evidence that pre-Colombian Indians had any knowledge of Christianity or the 
Bible.' [Ankerberg, J. & Weldon, J., "Cult Watch: What You Need to Know About Spiritual Deception," 
Harvest House Publishers: Eugene OR, 1991, p.38]" (Rhodes, R. & Bodine, M., "Reasoning from the 
Scriptures With the Mormons," Harvest House Publishers: Eugene OR, 1995, pp.126-127) 

29/05/2008
"False Prophecies ... In Doctrine and Covenants 84:2-5 and 31 prophecy projects the building of a city 
called New Jerusalem and a temple. This new city and temple were to be built `in the western boundaries of 
the State of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith.' The sons of Moses and Aaron, it was 
foretold, would `offer an acceptable offering and sacrifice in the house of the Lord, which house shall be 
built unto the Lord in this generation.' This prophecy was given on September 22 and 23, 1832. At that time 
the Mormons were anticipating a move to western Missouri, though they did not begin to move to Missouri 
in large numbers until 1836. In 1838, Joseph Smith and his chief lieutenants moved to Missouri when they 
were forced out of Kirtland. After severe persecution, the Mormons were driven from Missouri in early 1839. 
They fled to Quincy, Illinois, and never had a chance to build in Missouri the temple they had anticipated 
erecting. [Smith J.F., "Essentials in Church History," Deseret Book Co: Salt Lake City UT, 1972] The 
prophecy contained things that were not and cannot now be fulfilled. Not only was a temple never built in 
the western part of Missouri, but the only generation that could have built it is now dead. Furthermore, the 
temple was not dedicated by Joseph Smith and the city of New Jerusalem was not established. One reason it 
is not possible for Mormon apologists to pull this prophecy out of its time limitations is that Joseph Smith 
did prepare to build the temple in question-the four cornerstones were laid-but he never completed it. 
Mormon apologists have tried to extend the length of a generation to 125 years so that the prophecy could 
be fulfilled. [Smith, H.M., "Doctrine and Covenants Commentary," Deseret Book Co: Salt Lake City UT, 1968, 
p.497] But this effort was abandoned when Joseph Fielding Smith admitted that no one who was in the 
Church when this revelation was given remained alive. [Smith J.F., "Answers to Gospel Questions" Deseret 
Book Co: Salt Lake City UT, 1963, IV, p.112]" (Ropp, H.L., "The Mormon Papers: Are the Mormon Scriptures 
Reliable?," InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove IL, 1977, pp.62-63)

29/05/2008
"Another false prophecy, found in Doctrine and Covenants 87, concerns the Civil War. The details of the 
revelation are (1) the rebellion would begin in South Carolina; (2) it would shortly come to pass; (3) `war will 
be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place'; (4) slaves would rebel against their masters; (5) 
famine, plague and earthquake would come from God; and (6) all nations would come to an end. This 
prophecy was given on December 25, 1832. The Tanners have shown that Joseph Smith, prior to receiving 
this revelation, could have known that President Andrew Jackson had alerted the nation's troops in 
response to South Carolina's declaring a tariff act null and void. [Tanner, J. & S., "Mormonism: Shadow or 
Reality?," Modern Microfilm Co: Salt Lake City UT, 1972, p.80] The nation was fully expecting a civil war to 
begin promptly in South Carolina. This fact is borne out by a story in the February, 1833, edition of the 
Mormon monthly, the Evening and Morning Star, in an article titled `Rebellion in South Carolina.' This 
article stated, `In addition to the above tribulations, South Carolina has rebelled against the laws of the 
United States; held a state convention, and passed ordinances, the same as declaring herself an 
independent nation.' The article further reported that Jackson had ordered several companies of artillery to 
Charleston to prepare for the war that seemed imminent. Since the Evening and Morning Star was a 
monthly publication, the news could have been available to Joseph as much as a month before the printing 
of this story. The idea of a civil war was not original to him. The revelation stated that these events were to 
come to pass shortly, yet not until 1861 did South Carolina actually secede from the union and the war 
begin. It foretold, too, that war would be `poured out upon all nations,' yet the Civil War did not evolve into 
a worldwide conflict. Also, the Civil War did not result in the `end of all nations.'" (Ropp, H.L., "The 
Mormon Papers: Are the Mormon Scriptures Reliable?," InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove IL, 1977, pp.63-
64)

29/05/2008
"Was Joseph Smith a prophet of God? In the Inspired Version of the Holy Scriptures, the version on 
which Joseph Smith himself put his seal of approval, Deuteronomy 18:20-22 reads (just as it does in the King 
James): `But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded 
him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in 
thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the 
name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, 
but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.' On the basis of Scripture, 
Joseph Smith cannot stand as a true prophet, for when a true prophet gives God's word, it cannot fail to 
come to pass." (Ropp, H.L., "The Mormon Papers: Are the Mormon Scriptures Reliable?," InterVarsity 
Press: Downers Grove IL, 1977, pp.64-65)

29/05/2008
"If the Mormon prophets were divinely inspired, how does the Mormon Church explain their false 
prophecies? ... According to Deuteronomy 18:20-22, if an alleged prophet's prophecy did not come true, he 
spoke in the name of the Lord presumptuously. But if this prophet spoke in the names of false gods to 
lead the people astray, that prophet was to die. Joseph Smith claimed to be a true biblical prophet. The fact 
that his prophecies did not come true proves he was a false prophet. He spoke in the name of false gods 
and taught false doctrines, thereby leading people astray from biblical truth. In Doctrine and Covenants 
1:37,38, `God' promises that the prophecies and promises within the book's pages `shall all be fulfilled.' 
Doctrine and Covenants 84:1-5,31, declares under the authority of `the Word of the Lord' that both a city 
and a temple are to be built `in the Western boundaries of the State of Missouri and dedicated by the hand 
of Joseph Smith.' This was a revelation given to Smith on September 22-23, 1832, at Independence, MO. It 
stated clearly that the temple would be erected during the lifetime of those then living. The prophecy 
promised the temple would be erected `in this generation' (Doctrine & Covenants 84:4,5), and that `this 
generation shall not all pass away' until it was built. ... But more than 170 years after the original prophecy, 
the temple has still not been built! `This generation' all passed away long ago. Joseph Smith is also long 
since dead and unable to dedicate the temple as `God' promised. No one can deny the prophecy was false." 
(Ankerberg, J. & Weldon, J., "The Facts on the Mormon Church," Harvest House Publishers: Eugene OR, 
1991, pp.44-44. Emphasis original)

29/05/2008
"Another false prediction can be seen in the so-called `Civil War' prophecy recorded in Doctrine and 
Covenants 87:1-8, given on December 25, 1832. Although Mormons claim the prediction is `remarkable' and 
proof of Smith's prophethood, this is not the case. First, the prediction of a civil war to begin in South 
Carolina was not unusual. In 1832 Congress passed a tariff act refused by South Carolina, and Andrew 
Jackson alerted the troops. Even in 1832 `the nation was fully expecting a war to begin promptly in South 
Carolina.' [Ropp, H.L., "The Mormon Papers," IVP, 1977, p.64] Also, the prophecy itself is wrong on a 
number of counts. For one thing, when the Civil War did occur, it was not poured out upon `all nations.' 
There were no earthquakes, `thunder of heaven,' or lightning. Neither did all the earth's population feel the 
`wrath of the Almighty' nor was there `a full end of all nations.'" (Ankerberg, J. & Weldon, J., "The Facts on 
the Mormon Church," Harvest House Publishers: Eugene OR, 1991, pp.42-43. Emphasis original)

29/05/2008
"37 Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are 
in them shall all be fulfilled. 38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and 
though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether 
by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." ("The Doctrine and Covenants," 1:37-38, 
The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints: Salt Lake City UT, 1981. 
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/1#37) 

29/05/2008
"Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio, September 22 and 23, 1832. ... The 
New Jerusalem and the temple shall be built in Missouri ... 1 A revelation of Jesus Christ unto his servant 
Joseph Smith, Jun., and six elders, as they united their hearts and lifted their voices on high. 2 Yea, the word 
of the Lord concerning his church, established in the last days for the restoration of his people, as he has 
spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of his saints to stand upon Mount Zion, which 
shall be the city of New Jerusalem. 3 Which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is 
appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and dedicated by 
the hand of Joseph Smith, Jun., and others with whom the Lord was well pleased. 4 Verily this is the word of 
the Lord, that the city New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints, beginning at this place, 
even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation. 5 For verily this generation 
shall not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which 
cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house. ... 31 Therefore, as I said concerning the 
sons of Moses-for the sons of Moses and also the sons of Aaron shall offer an acceptable offering and 
sacrifice in the house of the Lord, which house shall be built unto the Lord in this generation, upon the 
consecrated spot as I have appointed." ("The Doctrine and Covenants," 84:1-5,31, The Church of Jesus 
Christ Of Latter-Day Saints: Salt Lake City UT, 1981. http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/84#1) 

29/05/2008
"Did you know that Joseph Smith once prophesied that the New Jerusalem would be built in Missouri in 
his generation? .... Joseph Smith's prophecy of the New Jerusalem being built in Missouri is found in the 
Doctrine and Covenants: `[The] city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the 
finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph 
Smith, Jun., and others with whom the Lord was well pleased. Verily this is the word of the Lord, that the city 
New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints, beginning at this place, even the place of the 
temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation. For verily this generation shall not all pass 
away until an house shall be built unto the Lord [Doctrine and Covenants 84:3-5] (emphasis added)." 
(Rhodes, R. & Bodine, M., "Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Mormons," Harvest House Publishers: 
Eugene OR, 1995, p.68)

29/05/2008
"Did you know that Joseph Smith once prophesied that the United States government would be overthrown 
in the 1800s? ... Joseph Smith ... in History of the Church, said this: `I prophesy in the name of the Lord 
God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of 
Missouri and punish the crimes committed by her officers that in a few years the government will be utterly 
overthrown and wasted; and there will not be so much as a potsherd left, for their wickedness in permitting 
the murder of men, women, and children." [Smith, J., "History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
Saints," Deseret Book Co: Salt Lake City UT, 1973, 5:394] (Rhodes, R. & Bodine, M., "Reasoning from the 
Scriptures with the Mormons," Harvest House Publishers: Eugene OR, 1995, pp.68-69)

29/05/2008
"Corrections, Contradictions and Errors There is a great wealth of information concerning the material 
contained in the Book of Mormon and the various plagiarisms, anachronisms, false prophecies and other 
unfortunate practices connected with it. At best then we can give but a condensation of that which has 
been most thoroughly documented. Since the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830, the first edition 
has undergone extensive `correction' in order to present it in its present form. Some of these `corrections' 
should be noted. 1. In the book of Mosiah, chapter 21, verse 28, it is declared that `King Mosiah had a gift 
from God'; but in the original edition of the book, the name of the king was Benjamin - an oversight which 
thoughtful Mormon scribes corrected. This is, of course, no typographical error as there is little resemblance 
between the names Benjamin and Mosiah; so it appears that either God made a mistake when He inspired 
the record or Joseph made a mistake when he translated it. But the Mormons will admit to neither, so they 
are stuck, so to speak, with the contradiction. 2. I Nephi 19:16-20:1, when compared with the edition of 1830, 
reveals more than fifty changes in the `inspired Book of Mormon,' words having been dropped, spelling 
corrected, and words and phraseology added and turned about. This is a strange way to treat an inspired 
revelation from God! 3. In the book of Alma 28:14-29: 1-11, more than thirty changes may be counted from 
the original edition, and on page 303 of the original edition the statement, `Yea, decree unto them that 
decrees which are unalterable,' has been expurged. (See Alma 29:4) 4. On page 25 of the edition of 1830, the 
Book of Mormon declares: `And the angel said unto me, Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the eternal 
Father.' Yet in I Nephi 11:21, the later editions of the book read: `And the angel said unto me: Behold the 
Lamb of God, yea even the son of the eternal Father!' 5. The Roman Catholic Church should be delighted 
with page 25 of the original edition of the Book of Mormon which confirms one of their dogmas, namely, 
that Mary is the mother of God. `Behold, the virgin which thou seest, is the mother of God.' Noting this 
unfortunate lapse into Romanistic theology, considerate Mormon editors have changed I Nephi 11:18 so 
that it now reads: `Behold, the virgin whom thou seest, is the mother of the son of God.' From the foregoing 
which are only a handful of examples of the more than two thousand changes to be found in the Book of 
Mormon over a period of 131 years, the reader can see that it is in no sense to be accepted as the Word of 
God. The Scripture says: `The word of the Lord endureth for ever' (I Peter 1 :25) ; and our Saviour declared: 
`Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth' (John 17:17). The record of the Scripture rings true. The 
Book of Mormon, on the other hand, is patently false in far too many places to be considered 
coincidence." (Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of the Major Cult Systems in the 
Present Christian Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 1977, p.164. Emphasis original)

29/05/2008
"The testimony of the three witnesses which appear at the front of the Book of Mormon (Oliver Cowdery, 
David Whitmer, and Martin Harris) declares that ` ... an angel of God came down from heaven, and he 
brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engraving thereon ...' It is quite 
noteworthy that Martin Harris, in his conversation with Professor Anthon relative to the material `translated' 
from these miraculous plates, denied that he had actually seen them. In fact, when pressed, he stated that he 
only saw them `with the eye of faith,' which is vastly different from a revelation by an angelic messenger. 
The Mormons are loath to admit that all three of these witnesses later apostatized from the Mormon faith 
and were described in most unflattering terms ('thieves and counterfeiters') by their Mormon 
contemporaries. A careful check of early Mormon literature also reveals that Joseph Smith and his brother 
Hyrum wrote three articles against the character of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, which, in itself, 
renders their testimony suspect if not totally worthless." (Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: An 
Analysis of the Major Cult Systems in the Present Christian Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 
1977, p.165)

29/05/2008
"Added to the evidence of various revisions, the Book of Mormon also contains plagiarisms from the 
King James Bible, anachronisms, false prophecies and errors of fact which cannot be dismissed. ... 
Plagiarisms-The King James Version According to a careful survey of the Book of Mormon, it contains 
at least 25,000 words from the King James Bible. In fact, verbatim quotations, some of considerable length, 
have caused the Mormons no end of embarrassment for many years. The comparison of Moroni chapter 10 
with 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, II Nephi 14 with Isaiah 4, and II Nephi 12 with Isaiah 2 reveals that Joseph Smith 
made free use of his Bible to supplement the alleged revelation of the golden plates. The book of Mosiah, 
chapter 14 in the Book of Mormon, is a reproduction of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah the prophet; and 
III Nephi 13:1-18 copies Matthew 6:1-23. The Mormons naively suggest that when Christ allegedly appeared 
on the American continent after His resurrection and preached to the Nephites he quite naturally used the 
same language as recorded in the Bible. They also maintain that when Nephi came to America he brought 
copies of the Hebrew Scriptures, which account for quotations from the Old Testament. The only difficulty 
with these excuses is that the miraculous plates upon which they were all inscribed, somehow or another, 
under translation, came out in perfect King James English without variation approximately a thousand years 
before this 1611 version was written. Such reasoning on the part of the Mormons strains at the limits of 
credulity and only they are willing to believe it." (Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of 
the Major Cult Systems in the Present Christian Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 1977, p.165. 
Emphasis original)

29/05/2008
"There are other instances of plagiarisms from the King James Bible including paraphrases of certain verses. 
One of these verses (I John 5:7) is reproduced in III Nephi 11:27, 36. The only difficulty with the paraphrase 
here is that the text is considered by scholars to be an interpolation missing from all the major manuscripts 
of the New Testament but present in the King James Bible from which Smith paraphrased it not knowing the 
difference. Another example of this type of error is found in III Nephi 11:33-34, and is almost a direct 
quotation from Mark 16:16, a passage now known to be an addition to that gospel by an overzealous scribe. 
But Joseph Smith was not aware of this either, so he even copied in translational errors, another proof that 
neither he nor the alleged golden plates were inspired of God." (Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: 
An Analysis of the Major Cult Systems in the Present Christian Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 
1977, p.165)

29/05/2008
"Two further instances of plagiarisms from the King James Bible which have backfired on the Mormons are 
worth noting. In the third chapter of the book of Acts, Peter's classic sermon at Pentecost paraphrases 
Deuteronomy 18:15-19. While in the process of writing III Nephi, Joseph Smith puts Peter's paraphrase in the 
mouth of Christ when the Saviour was allegedly preaching to the Nephites. The prophet overlooked the fact 
that at the time that Christ was allegedly preaching his sermon, the sermon itself had not yet been preached 
by Peter. In addition to this, III Nephi makes Christ out to be a liar, when in verse 23 of chapter 20 Christ 
attributes Peter's words to Moses as a direct quotation when, as we have pointed out, Peter paraphrased the 
quotation from Moses; and the wording is quite different. But Joseph did not check far enough, hence this 
glaring error." (Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of the Major Cult Systems in the 
Present Christian Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 1977, pp.165-166)

29/05/2008
"Secondly, the Book of Mormon follows the error of the King James translation which renders Isaiah 4:5: 
`For upon all the glory shall be a defence' (See II Nephi 14:5). Modern translations of Isaiah point out that it 
should read `For over all the glory there will be a canopy,' not a defence. The Hebrew word, chuppah, 
does not mean defence but a protective curtain or canopy, Smith, of course, did not know this nor did the 
King James translators from whose work he copied. ... The Revised Standard Version of the Bible renders 
Isaiah 5:25: `And their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets,' correctly rendering the Hebrew 
suchah as refuse, not as `torn.' The King James Bible renders the passage: `And their carcases were torn 
in the midst of the streets.' The Book of Mormon (II Nephi 15:25) repeats the King James' text word for 
word, including the error of mistranslating suchah, removing any claim that the Book of Mormon is to 
be taken seriously as reliable material." (Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of the Major 
Cult Systems in the Present Christian Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 1977, p.166)

29/05/2008
"Anachronisms and Contradictions Not only does the Book of Mormon plagiarize heavily from the 
King James Bible, but it betrays a great lack of information and background on the subject of world history 
and the history of the Jewish people. The Jaredites enjoyed `glass' windows in the miraculous barges in 
which they crossed the ocean; and `steel' and a `compass' were known to Nephi despite the fact that neither 
had been invented, demonstrating once again that Joseph Smith was a poor student of history and of 
Hebrew customs. Laban, one of the characters of the Book of Mormon (I Nephi 4:9), makes use of a steel 
sword; and Nephi himself claims to have had a steel bow (the Mormons justify this by quoting Psalm 18:34 
as a footnote in the Book of Mormon), but modern translations of the Scripture indicate that the word 
translated steel in the Old Testament (since steel was non-existent) is more properly rendered bronze. 
Mormons sometimes attempt to defend Nephi's possession of a compass (not in existence in his time) by the 
fact that Acts 28:13 states: `And from thence we fetched a compass.' Modern translations of the Scripture, 
however, refute this subterfuge by correctly rendering the passage: `And from there we made a circle.'" 
(Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of the Major Cult Systems in the Present Christian 
Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 1977, p.166. Emphasis original)

29/05/2008
"Added to the preceding anachronisms is the fact that the Book of Mormon not only contradicts the 
Bible, but contradicts other revelations purporting to come from the same God who inspired the Book of 
Mormon. The Bible declares that the Messiah of Israel was to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), and the 
gospel of Matthew (chapter 2, verse 1) records the fulfillment of this prophecy. But the Book of Mormon 
(Alma 7:9, 10) states: `... the son of God cometh upon the face of the earth. And behold, he shall be born of 
Mary, at Jerusalem, which is the land of our forefathers ...' The Book of Mormon describes Jerusalem as a 
city (I Nephi 1:4) as was Bethlehem, so the contradiction is irreconcilable." (Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of 
the Cults: An Analysis of the Major Cult Systems in the Present Christian Era," Bethany Fellowship: 
Minneapolis MN, 1977, pp.166-167)

29/05/2008
"There are also a number of instances where God did not agree with Himself, if indeed it is supposed that He 
had anything to do with the inspiration of the Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and 
Covenants, or the other recorded utterances of Joseph Smith. In the Book of Mormon, for instance, (III 
Nephi 12:2 and Moroni 8:11) the remission of sins is the result of baptism: `Yea, blessed are they who shall ... 
be baptized, for they shall ... receive the remission of their sin ... Behold baptism is unto repentance to the 
fulfilling of the commandments unto the remission of sin.' But in the book, Doctrine and Covenants. 
(Chapter 20, verse 37) the direct opposite is stated: `All who humble themselves ... and truly manifest by 
their works that they have received of the spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received 
by baptism into his church.' This particular message from the heavenlies almost provoked a riot in the 
Mormon Church, and Mormon theologians conspicuously omit any serious discussion of the 
contradiction." (Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of the Major Cult Systems in the 
Present Christian Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 1977, pp.166-167)

29/05/2008
"Joseph Smith did not limit his contradictions to baptism; indeed polygamy is a classic example of some of 
his maneuvers. `God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife. And why did she do 
it'? Because this was the law; and from Hagar sprang many people ... Go ye, therefore, and do the works of 
Abraham; enter ye into my law and ye shall be saved' (Doctrine and Covenants, Section 132, Verses 34 
and 32). The Book of Mormon, on the other hand, categorically states: `Wherefore, I the Lord God will not 
suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old . ... for there shall not any man among you have save it 
be one wife; and concubines he shall have none; for I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of woman' 
(Jacob 2:26-28). It appears that Joseph could manufacture revelations at will, depending upon his desires. In 
the last instance, his reputation and subsequent actions indicate that sex was the motivating factor." 
(Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of the Major Cult Systems in the Present Christian 
Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 1977, p.167)

29/05/2008
"A final example of the confusion generated between the Book of Mormon and the other `inspired' 
revelations is found in the conflict between the book of Moses and the book of Abraham. `I am the 
Beginning and the End, the Almighty God; by mine Only Begotten I created these things; yea, in the 
beginning I created the heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest' (Moses 2:1). The book of 
Abraham, on the other hand, repudiates this monotheistic view and states: `And then the Lord said: Let us 
go down. And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the 
heavens and the earth' (Abraham 4: 1) . Just how it is possible to reconcile these two allegedly equal 
pronouncements from Mormon revelation escapes this author, and the Mormons themselves appear 
reluctant to furnish any concrete explanation." (Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of 
the Major Cult Systems in the Present Christian Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 1977, p.167)

29/05/2008
"The question of false prophecies in Mormonism has been handled adequately in a number of excellent 
volumes, but it should be pointed out that Joseph Smith drew heavily upon published articles both in 
newspapers and magazines. In fact, one of his famous prophecies concerning the Civil War is drawn chiefly 
from material published in New York State at the time. Smith declared in Doctrine and Covenants, Section 
87: `...At the rebellion of South Carolina... the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of 
Great Britain... and then war shall be poured out upon all nations ...And...slaves shall rise up against their 
masters... and that the remnants... shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation.' Though the Civil War did 
break out some years after Smith's death (1844), England did not become involved in war against the United 
States. `All nations' were not involved in war as prophesied. The slaves did not rise up against `their 
masters,' and the `remnants' who were Indians were themselves vexed by the Gentiles, being defeated in war 
and confined to reservations." (Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of the Major Cult 
Systems in the Present Christian Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 1977, pp.167-168)

29/05/2008
"Prophet Smith was an extremely ineffective prophet here, as he was when in Doctrine and Covenants he 
also prophesied that he would possess the house he built at Nauvoo `for ever and ever' (Section 124, verses 
22, 23, and 59). The fact of the matter is that neither Joseph nor his seed `after him' lived from `generation to 
generation' in Nauvoo house, which was destroyed after Smith's death, and the Mormons moved on to 
Utah." (Martin, W.R., "The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of the Major Cult Systems in the Present 
Christian Era," Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis MN, 1977, p.168)

30/05/2008
"1 Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion 
of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls; 2 And the time will 
come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place. 3 For behold, the Southern States 
shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the 
nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend 
themselves against other nations; and then war shall be poured out upon all nations. 4 And it shall come to 
pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshaled and disciplined for 
war. 5 And it shall come to pass also that the remnants who are left of the land will marshal themselves, and 
shall become exceedingly angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation. 6 And thus, with the sword 
and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, 
and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made 
to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed 
hath made a full fend of all nations; 7 That the cry of the saints, and of the blood of the saints, shall cease to 
come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies. 8 Wherefore, 
stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, 
saith the Lord. Amen." ("The Doctrine and Covenants," 87:1-8, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints: Salt Lake City UT, 1981)

30/05/2008
"But the most damaging strike against the BOM is the lack of any archeological evidence to 
support it. In 1973 distinguished anthropologist Michael Coe-Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and 
Curator Emeritus of Anthropology at the Peabody Museum-unequivocally stated: `The bare facts of the 
matter are that nothing, absolutely nothing, has ever shown up in any New World excavation which would 
suggest to a dispassionate observer that the Book of Mormon, as claimed by Joseph Smith, is a 
historical document relating to the history of early migrants to our hemisphere.' [Coe, M., "Mormons & 
Archeology: An Outside View," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1973, Vol. 8, p.46] 
In 1993, Coe reiterated his position, saying: `I have seen no archaeological evidence ... which would 
convince me that it [Book of Mormon] is anything but a fanciful creation.' [Coe, M., letter to William 
McKeever, Aug. 17,1993, in McKeever, W., "Yale Anthropologist's Views Remain Unchanged," 
Mormonism Researched, Winter, 1995, p.6] Dr. Bradley Lepper-Curator of Archaeology at the Ohio 
Historical Society, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Denison 
University (Granville, Ohio)-has extensively researched American Indian history and agrees with Coe: 
`There is no archaeological evidence for Old World culture in the Americas. Where the Book of 
Mormon makes specific claims around that, it's found wanting.' [Lepper, B., in Fulton, B., "Burden of 
Proof," Weekly Wire, October 6, 1997] Even the Smithsonian Institution has issued an official 
statement refuting any claims of BOM historicity, explaining: `Smithsonian archeologists see no 
direct connection between the archeology of the New World and the subject matter of the book.' 
["Statements Regarding the Book of Mormon," Smithsonian Institution, 1996] Some Mormon scholars, 
such as Dee F. Green, have conceded that there exists no such thing as BOM archeology. [Green, 
D.R., "Book of Mormon Archeology: the Myths and the Alternatives," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon 
Thought, Summer 1969, Vol. 4, pp.72-80] (Abanes, R., "One Nation Under Gods: A History of the 
Mormon Church," Four Walls Eight Windows: New York NY, 2002, p.75. Emphasis original)

30/05/2008
"A similar conclusion forced two of the most prominent LDS scholars, B.H. Roberts (1857-1933) and Thomas 
Stuart Ferguson (1915-1983), to abandon their faith in the Book of Mormon.This shocking turnabout 
in their perspectives still haunts LDS church officials who adamantly declare that the two icons of Mormon 
scholarship never repudiated their testimonies. But private letters and various other manuscripts written by 
Roberts and Ferguson indicate otherwise. [Tanner, J. & S., "B. H. Robert's Doubts," Salt Lake City 
Messenger, #84, April 1993] B.H. Roberts, described as `one of the [LDS] church's most valiant writers 
and speakers in defense of the Book of Mormon, ' began having doubts about the authenticity of the 
BOM after studying Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews.He subsequently wrote two highly 
sensitive manuscripts that severely challenged the veracity of the Book of Mormon.[Walters, W.P., 
"An Examination of B.H. Roberts' Secret Manuscript," Utah Lighthouse Ministry: Salt Lake City UT, 
1979] Both of these works were suppressed until long after his death, when they were acquired and 
published in 1980 by Jerald and Sandra Tanner under the title Roberts' Secret Manuscripts 
Revealed.The manuscripts were eventually published in 1985 by the Illinois of University Press as 
Studies of the Book of Mormon.In these manuscripts Roberts acknowledges that Joseph Smith 
could have indeed written the BOM using his own talents and creativity. [Roberts, B.H., "Studies of 
the Book of Mormon," Madsen, B.D. & McMurrin, S.M., eds., University of Illinois Press: Urbana IL, 1985, 
p.243] Roberts' writings reveal that he grew especially doubtful about the divine origins of the BOM 
after comparing it to the works of Josiah Priest (The Wonders of Nature, 1825) and Ethan Smith 
(View of the Hebrews, 1823). His final conclusion diametrically opposed his former stance as one of 
Mormonism's staunchest defenders: `The evidence I sorrowfully submit, points to Joseph Smith as their 
creator. It is difficult to believe that they are the product of history, that they come upon the scene 
separated by long periods of time, and among a race which was the ancestral race of the red man of America. 
[Roberts, 1985, p.271] Shortly before his death in 1933, Roberts told Wesley P. Lloyd that he had come to 
believe the Book of Mormon was a non-historical document. Lloyd wrote in his diary that Roberts 
said the plates `were not objective but subjective with Joseph Smith, that his exceptional imagination 
qualified him psychologically for the experience which he had in presenting to the world the Book of 
Mormon.' [Lloyd, W.P., "Private Journal of Wesley P. Lloyd," August 7, 1933] Lloyd also recorded: 
"These are some of the things which has made Bro. Roberts shift his base on the Book of 
Mormon.Instead of regarding it as the strongest evidence we have of Church Divinity, he regards it as 
the one which needs the most bolstering." [Ibid.] (Abanes, R., "One Nation Under Gods: A History of the 
Mormon Church," Four Walls Eight Windows: New York NY, 2002, pp.75-76. Emphasis original)

30/05/2008
"Thomas Stuart Ferguson, even more than B.H. Roberts, dedicated his life to finding objective proof for the 
Book of Mormon. He founded the New World Archaeology Foundation at Brigham Young University, 
which was established specifically for the purpose of unearthing archeological evidence supporting the 
BOM.In One Fold and One Shepherd, he explained his hopes and dreams: `The important 
thing now is to continue the digging at an accelerated pace in order to find more inscriptions dating to 
Book-of-Mormon times. Eventually we should find decipherable inscriptions.... referring to some unique 
person, place or event in the Book of Mormon.[Ferguson, T.S., "One Fold And One Shepherd," 1962, 
p.263, in Tanner, J. & S., "Ferguson's Two Faces," Salt Lake City Messenger, #69, September 
1988] In 1962, Ferguson excitedly announced: `Powerful evidences sustaining the book are accumulating.' 
[Ibid] But by 1972, his expectations had been all but utterly destroyed, writing: `Ten years have passed.... I 
sincerely anticipated that Book-of-Mormon cities would be positively identified within 10 years-and time has 
proved me wrong in my anticipation.' [Ferguson, T.S., letter to Harold Hougey, June 5, 1972, Larson, S., "The 
Odyssey of Thomas Stuart Ferguson," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Spring 1990, Vol. 
23, p.76] In 1975 Ferguson finally prepared a 29-page report in response to papers written by Mormon 
apologists John Sorenson and Garth Norman, both of whom were claiming that archeological evidence for 
the BOM existed. Ferguson pulled no punches in criticizing his fellow Mormon scholars: `With all of 
these great efforts, it cannot be established factually that anyone, from Joseph Smith to the present day, has 
put his finger on a single point of terrain that was a Book-of-Mormon geographical place. And the 
hemisphere has been pretty well checked out by competent people.... I must agree with Dee Green, who has 
told us that to date there is no Book-of-Mormon geography. I, for one, would be happy if Dee were wrong.' 
[Ferguson, T.S., "Written Symposium on Book-of-Mormon Geography: Response of Thomas S. Ferguson to 
the Norman & Sorenson Papers," 4, 7, 29, in Tanner, J. & S., "Ferguson's Manuscript Revealed," Utah 
Lighthouse Ministry: Salt Lake City UT, 1988] Ferguson, however, explained in a February 20, 1976 letter 
that he had decided it to keep relatively quiet about his findings because to do otherwise could destroy the 
faith of others. He suggested that like minded Mormons do the same thing, noting that `Mormonism is 
probably the best conceived myth-fraternity to which one can belong' and that Joseph Smith `can be 
refuted-but why bother.... It would be like wiping out placebos in medicine, and that would make no sense 
when they do lots of good.' [Ferguson, T.S., letter dated February 9, 1976] He further explained : `Why not 
say the right things and keep your membership in the great fraternity, enjoying the good things you like and 
discarding the ones you can't swallow (and keeping your mouth shut)? ... [W]hy try to be heroic and fight 
the myths-the Mormon one or any other that does more good than ill? Perhaps you and I have been 
spoofed by Joseph Smith. Now that we have the inside dopewhy not spoof a little back and stay aboard? 
Please consider this letter confidential-for obvious reasons. I want to stay aboard the good ship, 
Mormonism.... Kindly do not quote this letter and please do not cite me. [Ibid] In February 1983, Ferguson 
told Pierre Agrinier Bach, a longtime friend and archaeologist, that 'he was working on a project, a 
manuscript which would (according to him) expose Joseph Smith as a fraud.' [Bach, P.A., in Larson, S., 
"Quest for the Gold Plates: Thomas Stuart Ferguson's Archaeological Search for the Book of Mormon," 
Freethinker Press: Salt Lake City UT, 1996, p.158, in Tanner, J. & S., "Quest for the Gold Plates: Stan Larson's 
New Book," Salt Lake City Messenger #91, November 1996] Ferguson said that when his manuscript 
was completed, it would be a real `bombshell' on the Book of Mormon, `showing both positive and negative 
evidence from Mesoamerican archaeology, but concluding that the Book of Mormon was produced through 
Joseph Smith's own creative genius and through his use of contemporary sources, including Ethan Smith's 
View of the Hebrews.' [Ibid] Just before publishing his volatile study, Ferguson unexpectedly died in 1983-
his manuscript mysteriously disappeared and has never been recovered." (Abanes, R., "One Nation Under 
Gods: A History of the Mormon Church," Four Walls Eight Windows: New York NY, 2002, pp.76-78. 
Emphasis original) 

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