Volta
Christ Pantocrator, a 6th-century icon at Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, among the oldest surviving icons of Jesus
Christ Pantocrator, a 6th-century icon at Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, among the oldest surviving icons of Jesus

Unknown author · Public domain · Source

Person4 BC – AD 30

Jesus

Also called: Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth

The central figure of Christianity, who preached God’s love and salvation in Roman-ruled Palestine and was crucified in Jerusalem around AD 30

He grew up in Nazareth in Galilee and, after being baptised by John the Baptist around the age of thirty, taught throughout Galilee. Keeping company with the poor and with those condemned as sinners, he proclaimed that the kingdom of God was at hand. He gathered twelve disciples and taught love and forgiveness through the Sermon on the Mount and many parables. After entering Jerusalem he was arrested and crucified on the sentence of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. His life is told in the four Gospels of the New Testament.

Show on the map

Where they went

Open the full map

OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap contributors

7 related events

  1. 5 BCNativity of JesusScripturekey figure

    A story told in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament: the infant Jesus, conceived by Mary through the Holy Spirit, was born in a stable in Bethlehem, the town of David, and shepherds and wise men from the East came to worship him.

  2. 1
    AD 28Baptism of Jesuskey figure

    Around AD 28 Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist in the Jordan and began his public ministry. All the Gospels tell of it, and John also appears in the Jewish historian Josephus, so scholars count it as historical.

  3. AD 28 – AD 30Ministry in Galilee and the Sermon on the MountScripturekey figure

    A story told in the Gospels of the New Testament: by the Sea of Galilee Jesus called the fisherman Peter and others as disciples, went from village to village healing the sick and teaching in parables, and on a mountain gave the sermon that begins “Blessed are the poor in spirit”.

  4. AD 30The Last SupperScripturekey figure

    A story told in the Gospels and in a letter of Paul in the New Testament: on the night before his arrest Jesus shared a last meal with the Twelve in Jerusalem, breaking bread as “my body” and raising the cup as “the new covenant in my blood”.

  5. 2
    AD 30Crucifixion of Jesuskey figure

    At Passover around AD 30 Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem on the sentence of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. The Roman historian Tacitus and the Jewish historian Josephus also recorded it.

  6. AD 30Resurrection of JesusScripturekey figure

    A story told in the Gospels and in a letter of Paul in the New Testament: Jesus, who died on the cross and was buried, rose again on the third day and appeared to his disciples. It became the centre of Christian faith.

  7. AD 30 – AD 311Rise and Spread of Christianitykey figure

    In Roman-ruled Palestine Jesus preached God’s love and salvation. Spread across the empire by Paul and others, Christianity was long persecuted for refusing to worship the emperor.

People who appear alongside

  • Peter the Apostle

    Foremost of Jesus’ twelve disciples, a fisherman from the Sea of Galilee who led the church in Jerusalem and, by tradition, was martyred in Rome; Catholics honour him as the first pope

  • Paul the Apostle

    Apostle who carried the Christian gospel to non-Jews across the Mediterranean; his letters form part of the New Testament

  • Augustus63 BC – AD 14

    First Roman emperor (r. 27 BC – AD 14); as Octavian, Caesar’s adopted heir, he won at Actium and founded the principate

  • John the Baptist

    Jewish prophet who baptised people in the Jordan as a sign of repentance; he baptised Jesus and was executed by the tetrarch Herod Antipas (Josephus and the Gospels)

  • Pontius Pilate

    Roman prefect of Judaea (in office 26–36) who sentenced Jesus to crucifixion; a stone bearing his name was found at Caesarea in 1961

Themes this person appears in

  • Greece and Rome2000 BC – AD 476

    From the Aegean civilisation to the fall of the Western Roman Empire — the classical civilisation built by the democracy of the polis and the Roman republic and empire