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Piso Christ
A Book of the New Classical Scholarship
By Roman Piso Jay Gallus
Trafford Publishing
Copyright © 2010 Roman Piso
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4269-2996-0
Chapter One
THE PISO FAMILY
ARRIUS PISO AS DIO CHRYSOSTOM (aka Dio Cocceianus Chrysostom of Prusa)
As Dio Chrysostom, Arrius Piso appeared as a Greek orator (Arrius Piso's main language was Greek) and philosopher (which is also what Arrius Piso was or considered himself to be), who was banished from Rome by Emperor Domitian (younger brother of Titus). He returned to Rome when Domitian died and was welcomed back by Emperor Nerva. Arrius Piso was supposed to have had many adventures while in exile, and he and Pliny the Younger saw each other in Prusa, Bithynia, as Pliny had went to see him in Prusa (Ref. Pliny the Younger, 'Epistles').
Now, we will examine some of the facts given about Dio Chrysostom. There is never a definite date given for either his birth or death, only an estimate. This is a clue that Dio Chrysostom was actually an alias. He is said to have been born in Prusa, of Bithynia about the year 40 C.E. And, he is supposed to have died around 120 C.E. This mirrors Arrius Piso's birth and death; Arrius was born in 37 C.E. and died in 119 C.E.
In the name Dio Chrysostom, 'Dio' means 'God', and as Jesus, Arrius Piso was playing God, and we also have a variation of 'Christ' in the name 'Chrys(t)ostom'. Another thing is that 'Chrysostom' means (the) 'golden mouthed'. If anyone ever was golden mouthed (because all that came out of his mouth was 'gold'), it was Arrius Piso. This also points to him being Flavius ('golden') Josephus. This is how they gave a confirmation about being correct in following the clues that they give; they made certain that there were several indications that urge you to find, with certainty, exactly what they meant because when you do uncover the actual meaning of their clues, it all fits together like pieces of a puzzle.
We find that Arria the Younger and Fannia* were banished from Rome, but we do not find in superficial history what has become of Arrius Piso during this time. Since we do not find anything, we are lead to believe that he is still in Rome and living and working with Emperor Titus. However, further research leads to finding Arrius Piso secretly co-ruling with Titus and that he was also calling himself Titus during that time.
Furthermore, Titus and Arrius Piso had married women who were sisters, making Titus and Arrius Piso brothers-in-law. All of this done, apparently with the blessing of Vespasian (Titus' father), who was still alive at the time. Next, we discover just what happened when we realize that Arrius Piso was Dio Chrysostom because as Dio Chrysostom, that information is given. Obviously, Arria the Younger and Fannia were NOT under banishment while either Vespasian or Titus lived. Vespasian and Titus both were friendly to them. They hadn't any reason to 'rid Rome' of them. This too, is another clue.
We then find that as Dio Chrysostom, Arrius Piso himself, was banished in the year 82 C.E. This is shortly after Domitian becomes emperor. Knowing that Domitian and Arrius Piso did not get along, and that Domitian was not about to co-rule with Arrius Piso as his brother Titus had, he had Arrius Piso and his family exiled. To where were they exiled? To Prusa, in Bithynia. As already mentioned, Dio Chrysostom was welcomed back to Rome AFTER Domitian was killed, and Dio Chrysostom is recorded as being a good and close friend of the emperor Trajan. And why would he be a close friend to Emperor Trajan? He, Dio Chrysotom, was really Arrius Piso, Trajan's father-in-law!
Other information about Dio Chrysostom is that he was involved in an urban renewal lawsuit to beautify the city of Prusa in the year 111 C.E. Now knowing that Dio is really Arrius Piso using the alias of Dio Chrysotom, this tells us that Arrius Piso lived beyond the year 111 C.E., which is something that we already knew because of other evidence. Arrius Piso, writing as Dio Chrysostom, paralleled the 'teachings' and verses of the New Testament just as Seneca (a relative of Arrius Piso on his mother's side) had done earlier and in his (Arrius Piso) exile acted (supposedly) similarly to how his invented Jesus was supposed to have acted, including living "humbly" and philosophizing.
Now, looking back to what Abelard Reuchlin says about Arrius Piso under another alias. He says; "As Claudius Aristion (form of Aristo), Arrius Piso was the leading citizen of Ephesus. That was the chief city of the province of Asia, located southwest of Bithynia. As (Flavius) Archippus, the philosopher, Piso had been honored by Emperor Domitian; the emperor "commended" him to Pliny the Younger (Lappius Maximus, an alias used by Pliny) in Bithynia, and ordered Pliny (Terentius Maximus, another Pliny alias) to buy him (Flavius Archippus -actually Arrius Piso) a farm near Prusa. And the people of Prusa voted him as Archippus, a statue."
If one reads about Domitian's rule, it is clear that he was worried and extremely troubled in his rule. He seemed to be expecting to be killed at any time. He knew very well that having exiled Arrius Piso and his family, he was asking for trouble and he knew that Arrius Piso had killed emperors before, and had others killed by persons he trusted or coericed. This was not an apparently 'good will' gesture by Domitian to Arrius Piso. He was simply trying to (placate) get on the good side of Arrius Piso, as if there were such a thing. Domitian knew that Arrius Piso had Nero killed (by using Epaphroditus, Nero's personal scribe), and Piso had the "privilege" of personally killing the emperor Vitellius (while he, Arrius Piso used the alias Antonius Primus).
These facts were well known to Domitian. So, though Domitian was opposed to co-rule with Arrius Piso as did his brother Titus, Domitian was nonetheless frightened of Arrius Piso and did whatever he could, within the circumstances, to appease him.
There is something that Dio Chrysostom (Arrius Piso) was apparently grumbling about, which reveals more than one might notice at first (as mentioned in Reuchlin's 'The True Authorship of the New Testament', pg. 16),. This is the line that states; "... surely you have noticed what some of our booksellers do? ... Because they, knowing that old books are in demand since better written and on better paper, bury the worst specimens of our day in grain in order that they may take on the same color as the old ones, and after ruining the books into the bargain they sell them as old." The line indicates this was really quite fitting of being said by Arrius Piso. The reason? Because, as already revealed herein, Arrius Piso also wrote as Philo, and he was hinting at this, by saying that because what he was doing was actually 'covering his own guilt'. Why? Because Arrius Piso was the person burying books in grain to make them appear to be older books.
In addition, had Arrius Piso not written under the alias "Philo", and gave another example of a Jew writing in Greek, he and the work he produced, using the alias "Flavius Josephus" would have stuck out like a sore thumb! Writing as Josephus, he knew this and did the very same thing with Philo as he did with Jesus; he historicized him to make him appear to be a real person! And then there is the 'Logos' connection between Philo and the New Testament. It was Arrius Piso using the alias "Philo" who gave his view about there being only 'two races of men'. And by that he meant royal and non-royal.
THE PISOS, FLAVIANS & BALBI
To better understand what was happening in the first century C.E. (common era or current era), and how power over all of the Roman Empire came into the hands of the Flavians, one needs to examine all who supported their rise to Imperial power - including their royal relatives. A few years ago, something about the discovery of a stone tablet, was being mentioned, on which had information about the Piso family. It is very likely that more than just one such tablet has been discovered. This one tablet, referred to the Gneius Calpurnius Piso who poisoned Germanicus Caesar in 19 C.E. There was quite a bit of information on that tablet (or set of tablets?). It seems that it was a tablet which gave the details of the trial of Gneius Piso in regards to the deed of which he was accused (poisoning Germanicus). However, the real value to those of us who are piecing together the family tree of the Pisos and their relatives is the genealogical information which was given on that tablet.
The tablet confirms a marriage between the Piso and the Balbii families. This information actually completes a circle of involvement and connections between the Pisos, the Flavians and the Balbii. The Balbii were financial backers and supporters of Vespasian in his bid for the Imperial throne of Rome. We know of the marriage of Julius Caesar to one of the Piso women (Calpurnia, the daughter of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, the consul of 58 B.C.E.); (Before Current Era); but his son, is the Lucius Calpurnius Piso (Caesoninus) who was a pontifex, and consul in the year 15 C.E., was the father of another Calpurnia - and it is this Calpurnia who married Lucius Nonius (Atius) Balbus Asperinas, who was a consul in the year 6 C.E. This Lucius Nonius (Atius) Balbus Asperinas fits into the puzzle to be the grandson of that Marcus Nonius Atius Balbus who circa 30 B.C.E., married Julia (Minor), the sister of the dictator Julius Caesar.
This is a truly complicated family tree with very closely knitted relationships between royals. Also, this Lucius Nonius (Atius) Balbus (Asperinas) was the nephew of Atia (Major) who was married to Augustus Caesar! There are other later relationships between these families that will better clarify the motives for the things which we have been examining, as to the making of the New Testament (the Jesus story).
Lucius Nonius (Atius) Balbus (Asperinas) was involved in establishing a line of royal relatives which would come to spawn major players in the power game of the year 68 C.E. He fathered a son who married a noble woman named Viciria. Born to Viciria and her husband was a son named Marcus Nonius (Atius) Balbus (Sr.). He and his son Marcus Nonius (Atius) Balbus (Jr.) were major supporters of Vespasian during that critical time, just before Vespasian became Emperor of Rome. They lived near the Piso family villa at Herculaneum, and their home too, was buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E. That is how we know most of what we do about them.
Marcus Nonius Atius Balbus (Sr.) was married to one Volasennia, and had at least three children that we know of; a son (Marcus Nonius Atius Balbus (Jr.), and two daughters. The father and son team of Marcus Nonius Atius Balbus (Sr.) and Marcus Nonius Atius Balbus (Jr.) of circa 68 C.E. apparently were also involved in the Pisos' conspiracy against Nero, as well as helping to put down the rivals of Vespasian in his pursuit of the Imperial power. Those of you who have been researching this subject may know, that the key person in the invention and writing of the New Testament was Arrius Calpurnius Piso aka Flavius Josephus, and he was a great nephew of the Emperor Vespasian by way of Vespasian's brother, T. Flavius Sabinus whose wife was Arria the Elder. Arrius Calpurnius Piso was the son of Arria the Younger, who was the daughter of Arria the Elder. There wasn't any need to claim Josephus/Arrius Piso as having been adopted by Vespasian, other than to be used as another way to hide behind the alias of Flavius Josephus. Here we have laid out some relationships, and perhaps these are beginning to show the reader how the royals were connected and to whom, and why they were so powerful.
In his "Vita," Flavius Josephus' (actually Arrius Calpurnius Piso) great-grandfather was called Simon 'Psellus,' which means 'stutterer.' If you take the information that we have and trace his ancestry back and concentrate on his great-grandfathers, you will find that a piece of the puzzle fits! Arrius Piso did have a great-grandfather whose name means 'stutterer,' but it is not 'Psellus,' but Balbus! And this is because Balbus also means stutterer! This great-grandfather is the father of Arrius Piso's grandmother, and we discovered that her name of 'Munatia' is really 'Nonia' (that is, with 'mun' as 'nun'/'non' phonetically) Atia. Knowing this reveals her as a Balbii. She is the daughter of Plancinas Munatius, the wife of Gneius Calpurnius Piso, whom we have already discussed above.
The Introduction to Pliny the Younger's Letters and Panagericus, Book I, page xiv (Loeb Classical Library Edition). This gives a genealogy of the line involving Arria the Elder and Arria the Younger.
"Herculaneum: Italy's Buried Treasure," Joseph Jay Deiss, Harper & Row, 1985. This gives information on the villas found at Herculaneum regarding the Pisos & Balbii.
"Nero, the end of a Dynasty," Griffen. Piso family information.
"Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone" (This refers to the tablet which was mentioned above).
"A Historical Commentary on Tacitus' Histories I and II," Guy Edward F. Chilver, Claridon Press, Oxford, 1979, pg. 74. Information on the Piso family tree.
"From Tiberius to the Antonines (A.D. 14-192)," by Albino Garzetti, pub. Methuen, London, 1974: Distributed in the U.S. by Harper & Row, Barnes & Noble.
"Dio Cassius," Loeb Classical Library Edition, (LXVIII, 3,2). Piso family relations.
Below is a link to a very scholarly genealogy of the Piso family which shows some of the marriages between the Pisos and other royal houses; particularly, those mentioned above.
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/publie/pison/caeso.htm
Gneius (Gnaeus) Calpurnius Piso, the husband of Plancina Munatia was consul in the year 7 B.C.E. Studying Arrius Piso's ancestry back through his father's mother (Plancina Munatia), to her father as Arrius Piso's maternal great-grandfather, and if her name indicates that her father was a Balbii, then Arrius Piso's statement (in his Vita), writing as Flavius Josephus, of his great-grandfather having the name 'Psellus' (stutterer) is found to be correct as Balbi also means "stutterer." One may also wish to note that this great-grandfather of Arrius Piso (Plancinas Munatius) can be found under that name in history. So, as with our process of finding out who other alias names belong to, we must do the same thing in this instance by creating a profile utilizing all known data regarding Plancina Munatius. Marcus Nonius Atius Balbus Sr. (c. 68 C.E.) was proconsul of Crete and Cyrenaica; a Roman colony in North Africa.
SOME PISO FAMILY RELATIVES
The Atii Balbii are royal relatives of the Piso family. The Balbii family intermarried with the Piso family. One confirmed marriage between the two families has been found. Perhaps at a later date a detailed treatise can be given on the Balbii family. That family also supported Vespasian (there is the link between the Pisos and the Flavians, via the Balbii) financially, helping to secure Vespasian's position as Emperor.
The Balbii family were also neighbors of the Pisos at Herculaneum, and had a villa of their own close to that of the Pisos. To research this you will want to read "Herculaneum: Italy's Buried Treasure," a book by Joseph Jay Deiss. It is a major source of information for the facts regarding Atii Balbii.
THE ANNII VERI
The Annii Veri(i) are generally considered the family that derived from a great-grandfather of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. This great-grandfather of Marcus Aurelius was also the grandfather of Annia Galeria Faustina I, wife of Emperor Antoninus Pius. In "Marcus Aurelius, A Biography," by Birley, published at Yale, circa 1986, there is a genealogy chart given for the Annii Veri(i). It is informative as it mentions "Annius Verus" of Ucubi as the common ancestor of the Annii Verii. This person is undoubtedly Arrius Piso using the alias 'Annius Verus'. He is simply being called Annius (changed from 'Arrius'), with "Veri," which is the Roman version of the Egyptian 'Veru,' meaning "wise man" or in the plural, "wise men." This could have been associated with the "wise men" who had come from the East as mentioned in the Jesus story. Birley's chart is helpful, but it is only when one is able to further identify those listed in it, that a greater clarification is acquired.
(Continues...)
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