There is late evidence of many distinct contexts for Jesus’ life; 100 BC in Joppa, crucified by Caesar Augustus, put to death by Herod as in the Gospel of Peter. That suggests the stories emerged from an original that lacked any of these contexts. Sure enough, the Pauline letters lack context. No geographical markers for Jesus, no specific historical elements, we cannot positively tell whether Paul believed in the Markan Jesus of 30 AD or the 100 BCE Jesus. Thus, there are two corroborating lines of evidence that support mythicism: Many conflicting late traditions and early documents that are ambiguous. The pattern of evidence here is highly analogous to the Markan manuscripts that have many divergent endings in late antiquity whereas our two earliest, second century mss end at 16:8 and lack 16:9-20.
