Snowbird,
You mean Bethlehem don't you? Perhaps only a dozen or more were killed since Bethlehem was such a small, insiginificant place?
Yes, my bad. I meant Jerusalem where the edict was pronounced by Herod against the children in Bethlehem and ENVIRONS. You are speculating on a figure to suit your needs, I am not. The Bible paints this as a significant slaughter which would have resounded among the society of the day and most certainly would have made the Roman annals.
The Romans were contemptuous of any and all things not Roman, so why would they have recorded anything concerning the despised Jews?
You need to study history in a little more detail. The Romans were actually NOT contemptous of 'any and all things Roman'. I have no idea where that statement came from. The Roman Empire was actually very tolerant of other peoples, and especially their religion, not due to philanthropy but due to practicality. The Empire was huge and the amount of Romans relaitvely small. That is why they created Vassal States of which Palestine was one. The Romans tolerated the religion of both Jews and Christians, and only when it was viewed as a threat to the Republic was any action taken against them. A recommended read is 'Religious Persecution In Ancient Rome' by Simeon Gutterman on this subject.
The Romans recorded everything that happened in its Empire including Palestine is great detail, as I have already noted. Do some research on the matter, you will find it interesting.
Besides, Rome had too many problems with its expansion program to be unduly preoccupied with the Jews in Palestine. For instance, when Arminius or Hermann destroyed three! of Rome's famed legions in the Battle of Teutoberg Forest, Jesus would have been a teenager.
This is not actually accurate regarding Palestine, which was viewed as an unimportant outpost of the Empire, a sort of Siberia in the Middle East. In fact Pontius Pilate was sent there in 'exile' for upsetting the Senate. Palestine was a thorn in Roman sides, but only a small one. Very small as compared to the Teutons who were the focus of Roman paranoia.
The Teutons were indeed a huge problem to the Romans, but that was on the European theatre and played no part in Palestinian aspirations at all. In fact it was Romes uneccessary fixation with the roaming Teutons that eventually undermined its military morale.
I ask again, why would Roman historians have been concerned with Jesus at all?
We are interested in finding out whether the BIBLICAL Jesus existed,. There are numerous alleged supernatural events which took place throughout Israel that were they credible, would certainly have been included in the pages of the Roman historians and journalists of the day. I have noted two such ones in my first post. For example Josephus makes notation of the death of Herod's own children at his hands, together with numerous other minor and major outrages against other people, many of them 'ordinary'. Yet no mention is made of the slaughter in Bethlehem.
HS
