Bernardo Pérez Andreo. Jesus of Nazareth was killed by the Roman procurator, with an inscription which determined the reason for his condemnation: «Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews». With this inscription, it was evident that the crime of “laesa maiestas” (injured majesty) was committed against the Roman Empire, since it was the Empire alone that could enthrone or dethrone Kings, and Jesus was a pretender to the throne, accused of usurping the Roman power in Judea. The inscription did not say «Jesus of Nazareth, herald of universal love», or «Master of the Law», or «Son of God». These titles would not have merited the supreme punishment of death by the Romans, since the internal grievances of their subjects mattered little to them, as long as their sovereignty was not affected. For this reason, this fact is probably the most certain of the whole of Jesus’ life: that he was crucified, through the application of «mors agravata», which the Romans reserved for seditious citizens. We can use this fact to reconstruct the historically plausible elements of the Gospels. The interpretative criteria is this: everything that would be in keeping with a death by crucifixion is probably historical fact. (more…)