Judeans as the Romans saw them: Suetonius

Suetonius, who, as we have noted, was Hadrian’s secretary, has surprisingly few things to say about Judeans.  The first brief mention we find is at Julius Caesar’s funeral (Julius. 84):

Thereupon the musicians and professional mourners, who had walked in the funeral train wearing the robes that he had himself worn at his four triumphs, tore these in pieces and flung them on the flames – to which veterans who had assisted at his triumphs added the arms that they had then borne. Many women in the audience sacrificed their jewelry together with their children’s breast-plaques and robes. Public grief was enhanced by crowds of foreigners lamenting in their own fashion, especially Jews, who came flocking to the forum several nights in succession.

The next is during Tiberius’ reign (Tiberius. 36):

He abolished foreign cults at Rome, particularly the Egyptian and Jewish, forcing all citizens who had embraced their superstitious faiths to burn their religious vestments and other accessories. Jews of military age were removed to unhealthy regions, on the pretext of drafting them into the army; the others of the same race or of similar beliefs were expelled from the city and threatened with slavery if they defied the order. Tiberius also banished all astrologers except such as asked for his forgiveness and undertook to make no more predictions.

And the final reference is during Claudius’ reign (Claudius 25):

It now became illegal for foreigners to adopt the names of Roman families, and any who usurped the rights of Roman citizens were executed in the Esquiline Field…Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from the city.

We have already noted the bizarreness that “Chrestus” and his followers seem to have appeared in Rome before any reference to their existence in that part of the world is documented in The Acts of the Apostles.   The only possible explanation for this is that this is an insertion from a later date.