Rob Solarion
The Burial Shroud of “The Jesus Christ” was taken from Jerusalem to Edessa, Assyria, in about 50 CE by the disciple Thaddaeus. It remained in Edessa until 944 CE, when it was taken to Constantinople on the orders of Byzantine Emperor Romanus Lecapenus. Then in 1356 CE the Shroud was moved to France, where the Holy See was headquartered at Avignon during the 1300s. Finally in 1578, the Shroud was moved to Turin, Italy, where it has remained until the present day. This “holy relic” is currently on public display at St. John The Baptist Cathedral in Torino. The image on this Burial Shroud is that of Apollonius of Tyana, the “Mystery Man” of Christianity and “True Christ”!
Robertino “Rob” Solàrion was born and educated in Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in Russian and minoring in French. He subsequently joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to Massaua, Eritrea (then a part of Imperial Ethiopia). He next studied Vietnamese and paramilitary tactics at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington, D.C., and was assigned to the Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam, where he worked as a translator and field officer. He has studied a number of other foreign languages, has graduate credits in linguistics from UCLA and has widely travelled across 50 countries in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He is the author of Planet X Nibiru: Slow-Motion Doomsday, also available from Author House.
Following his failed crucifixion in 30 CE, Apollonius reappeared in Alexandria. Damis followed immediately, and together they founded the acclaimed School of Didymus, where Apollonius wrote some of his books, including The Homeric Lexicon Of The Iliad & The Odyssey, which was first republished in 950 CE and eventually handed down from le Comte de Saint-Germain to Jean-Baptiste D’Ansse de Villoison in Paris around 1770. Apollonius and Damis remained in Egypt for about 15 years, and then they returned to Tyana and were visiting Crete in 46 CE at the time of the earthquake. See the chronology of Sir Flinders Petrie in Chapter 9.
Jerusalem came under siege by General Vespasian in 66. The Hebrew historian Josephus was placed in charge of the Jewish forces. They were defeated, and Commander Josephus was captured and imprisoned by Vespasian in 68. Whilst in prison, Josephus predicted to Vespasian that someday he would be the Emperor. During this siege of Jerusalem, General Titus, son of Vespasian, brought in fresh troops from Cappadocia to bolster the Roman Forces. In 69 Vespasian travelled to Alexandria on June 30 to meet with Apollonius of Tyana, who like Josephus predicted that he would be the next sovereign. On July 1, Vespasian was proclaimed Emperor by the troops in Alexandria. Then there followed the meetings between Vespasian and Apollonius, as recounted by Flavius Philostratus. On July 3, Vespasian returned to Caesarea Maritima where he was proclaimed Emperor by the Roman Legions stationed in Palestine, poised to strike Jerusalem.
Emperor Vespasian next put General Titus in charge of the entire military operation against Jerusalem and ordered that Josephus be released from prison for accurately predicting that he would be crowned. Then Vespasian began a long return to Rome, solidifying his support amongst all the troops. Titus appointed Josephus as a Commander in the Roman Army. Josephus turned against his Hebrew people and eventually in 70 CE, Jerusalem was destroyed, causing the Jews and Christians to flee to such places as Armenia and Cappadocia, the latter of which eventually supplanted Palestine as the new “Christian Capital” of the world.
Josephus moved to Rome in 71. He died in about 98, after writing several books, including Antiquities of the Jews and The Jewish War, a history of the Jewish people and an account of the conflict between the Jews and the Roman Empire. In his history, Josephus legitimately mentions a “Jesus” only once and only incidentally as being the brother of a man named James. See Chapter 12.
But did Apollonius actually visit Palestine? Certainly if his image is on the Shroud of Turin, then he did. But there is nothing in the biography by Flavius Philostratus to corroborate this period of “The Jesus Christ”; in fact, Philostratus reported quite the opposite. As recounted above, Vespasian heard that Apollonius had arrived in Alexandria and wanted to consult with him. He sent a message to Apollonius, asking Apollonius to come to Jerusalem. But according to Philostratus, Apollonius “declined to enter a country which its inhabitants polluted both by what they did and by what they suffered” and sent that reason in a communication to Vespasian.
Around 5 July 69 CE, Apollonius and Damis departed for Ethiopia. In October they returned to Alexandria, where, as chronicled by Prof. Smith, apparently Apollonius again conferred with Vespasian, and perhaps Titus as well, before Vespasian actually left for Rome; but this second meeting cannot be so historically verified as the July meeting. One can speculate here that, somewhat out of revenge, Apollonius actually assisted his friends Vespasian and Titus in their military strategy against the Jews, who with help from Pontius Pilate had tried to kill him about forty years earlier. It goes without saying, I think, that Apollonius would never have wanted to return to a country inhabited by people who had tried to humiliate and kill him, so his refusal to Vespasian is completely understandable.
This idea that Apollonius might have actually assisted Vespasian and Titus in their conquest of Jerusalem, out of revenge or retribution on Apollonius’ part for the way that he had been treated, is so hypothetical that even my closest colleagues are skeptical of it, feeling that Apollonius would never have let himself be motivated by such raw emotions as revenge. But one never knows the “secret thoughts” of others.
Around the year 400 CE, Hieronymus, who is better known as the Christian apologist Saint Jerome, wrote somewhat favorably about Apollonius, noting that Apollonius had indeed visited Palestine. This fact was emphasized by Aldus Manutius (Aldo Manuzio, “Grandfather of the Paperback Book”) in his Preface to the Aldus publication in 1504 CE of the Latin translation by Alemannus Rhinuccinus of The Life Of Apollonius Of Tyana by Flavius Philostratus, accompanied by the Treatise of Bishop Eusebius, “Father of Catholic Ecclesiastical History”, Contra Hieroclem, which Aldus referred to as “the antidote to the poison” of the “liar” Philostratus. See Chapters 20 & 21.
