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I think that two writers from the same cultural milieu, describing similar events that occurred forty years apart in the same part of the world will probably parallel each other to a remarkable extent. That doesn't mean one is based on the other; it simply means they were men who lived close to one another in time, in the same geographic region, sharing a similar religious and cultural vocabulary, and chronicling events as they saw and understood them. Josephus' books were not published until well into the 90's AD. The Synoptic Gospels were almost certainly completed by 70 AD and possibly a decade earlier, according to most mainstream New Testament critics. Paul's letters were all written before his death in 68 AD. I think the parallels you cite are coincidental and meaningless, especially when you consider that the similarities in wording are frequently used to describe radically different events and circumstances, something the cherrypicking of phrases fails to reveal. Last of all, if the Flavian Emperors would go to the trouble to invent a new religion, why on earth then would they not legalize it and promote it? Why is Domitian remembered as a persecutor of the early church? Why would Nero blame the Great Fire of Rome on the Christians if the faith did not exist until a decade after his death? I am a newbie here on this forum and hope I am not speaking out of turn, but your hypothesis makes little sense to me.

...btw. indianasmith, seeing your background you might be interested in author David J Winter who is also on the forum here , we reviewed his novel a while back... http://www.unrv.com/book-review/the-fall-and-rise.php

Ave, Quirites! My name is Lewis Smith, and I am a history teacher and novelist from Texas. I have a Master's Degree in history, but most of my course work was in modern European history. It was only after I left college that I became fascinated with the Roman era, and I have read a great deal about the late Republic and early Imperial era. I am constantly seeking to learn more so that my writing about this time period will be more accurate, and discovering this forum was an exciting moment! I am also a pastor, and the era of Roman history surrounding the birth of Christianity is of great interest to me. I am always interested in a solid, informative discussion of the historical background of my faith, but I'm not going to flame anyone who disagrees with me and promise to be a respectful sparring partner to those who enjoy debate. I have one novel in print already and two more coming out next year. Two of them deal with Biblical archeology, and (fictitious) discoveries that touch on the early history of the church. But my second novel is set entirely in the First Century, and so is my current work in progress. I'll be touching base here frequently, with lots of questions for the resident experts, and I hope that I can also contribute in some meaningful way. I enjoy reading both fiction and non-fiction works about the Roman era; I love Colleen McCullough's MASTERS OF ROME series, as well as the excellent biographies by Adrian Goldsworthy. If anyone is interested, my first novel is called THE TESTIMONIUM, published by Electio Publishing, and is available at their website as well as Amazon and Barnes and Noble's website. It's currently being considered by Hastings Book and Movie Stores for nationwide distribution. The second novel is called THE REDEMPTION OF PONTIUS PILATE, and it will be released July 7, 2015. MATTHEW'S AUTOGRAPH will be out on Dec. 1, 2015.