Risen (2016) opens in theaters on February 19 and looks like it could be a good film for Lent. I have long thought that there must have been some sort of official inquiry into the Crucifixion based upon the Roman historian Tacitus writing circa 100AD about Pilate condemning Christ. He may have been referring to official Roman records. Tacitus had no sympathy for the Christians and no knowledge of their ceremonies, which makes it highly doubtful that he gained his knowledge from a Christian source as to the trial and Crucifixion of Christ. Pilate had every motivation to prove that Christ had not risen from the dead as did the Sadducees who controlled the Temple. Their historical silence may be an indication that what they found out, if they conducted post Resurrection inquiries, was very much not to their liking.
The original text from Tacitus’ Annals, Book 15, Chapter 44. “Chrestianus” (nomitive singular) is a variant of “Christianus”. You see the accusative plural in the text below.
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Ergo abolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos et quaesitissimis poenis adfecit, quos per flagitia invisos vulgus Chrestianos appellabat. Auctor nominis eius Christus Tibero imperitante per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio adfectus erat; repressaque in praesens exitiablilis superstitio rursum erumpebat, non modo per Iudaeam, originem eius mali, sed per urbem etiam, quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt celebranturque. Igitur primum correpti qui fatebantur, deinde indicio eorum multitudo ingens haud proinde in crimine incendii quam odio humani generis convicti sunt.
it loses something in translation