This article is contributed by Ray Konig, the author of Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Prophet, Jesus the Miracle Worker, and 100 Fulfilled Bible Prophecies.
By Ray Konig
Published: August 19, 2024
Question: A reader asks: "Is it true that Apollonius was a traveling preacher who worked miracles like Jesus at the same time as Jesus?"
Response: The short answer is no. And it is a defendable answer. Although some scholars believe that Apollonius of Tyana was a real person -- a first-century philosopher from Turkey -- there is no first-century evidence that he was ever credited with being a miracle worker. In fact, the oldest known claim that he was a miracle worker comes from a third-century writer, who was hired to advance the pagan religion, during a time when Christianity was fast becoming the dominant religion throughout the Roman world.
In other words, the oldest known "record" that Apollonius was a miracle worker was created more than 100 years after the time of Apollonius and nearly 200 years after the time of Jesus. And that "record" shows clear evidence of plagiarizing details from the Gospel accounts of Jesus' miracles.
Apollonius and a few others who lived within a century of Jesus are credited with having performed miracles.
Commentators sometimes use these people in an attempt to undermine the uniqueness of Jesus as a miracle worker. They claim that Jesus is not unique as a first-century miracle worker because there were others, during the same period of time, who also were said to have been miracle workers.
The most compelling examples are Apollonius of Tyana; Vespasian, the Roman Emperor; Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa; Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai; and Rabbi Honi the Circle Drawer. You can learn more about these people via an article on azbible.com: Claims of ancient miracle workers, outside of the Bible.
All of these people, aside from Apollonius, are associated with only one or two miracle claims. And, those claims were written many decades -- and sometimes centuries -- after those people had died. And, they were written long after the Gospels accounts of Jesus' miracles had been circulated throughout the Roman world. And, the records of their alleged miracles have the undeniable appearance of having copied details directly from the Gospel accounts.
In contrast, as explained in my book Jesus the Miracle Worker, Jesus is recorded as having performed miracles on at least 46 occasions during his public ministry. His miracles, as well as his teachings, were recorded in the Gospels of the New Testament, during the same century in which he lived. And, his miracles had the impact that one would expect of a true miracle worker -- his miracles inspired his followers to become believers, evangelists and biographers.
None of this is true for the other people listed above.
Even so, through no fault of their own, Apollonius, Vespasian, Hanina, Shimon and Honi, are sometimes held up as competing examples to Jesus of Nazareth.
Among these people, though, Apollonius presents the most detailed record of alleged miracle working. Instead of one of two miracle accounts, he has several, perhaps dozens, depending on how one defines a miracle.
Apollonius is said to have been born in Tyana, in what is now Turkey. He is believed to have been a neo-Pythagorean philosopher who traveled throughout parts of the Mediterranean world, perhaps including Syria, Turkey and Greece.
Some commentators claim that he was born as early as 3 BC or AD 10, which would make him a contemporary of Jesus. Others say that he more likely was born in the second half of the first century.
During the third century of this era, Philostratus, a sophist philosopher, was hired to write about Apollonius, and he completed The Life of Apollonius of Tyana sometime after AD 220.
His book was said to be based on earlier documents, but, as it so happens, these earlier documents are not known to be in existence, and it is not provable that they ever existed. And so, Philostratus’ book is actually the earliest known source of claims that Apollonius performed miracles.
In fact, Philostratus’ book might actually be the oldest piece of "evidence" that Apollonius of Tyana even existed.
Aside Philostratus’ book, we have a statue from Athens that is believed to be dedicated to Apollonius of Tyana, but that statue is commonly dated to have been created in the third century. And, we have what might be passing references to Apollonius of Tyana in the writings of a satirist named Lucian of Samosata, but those writings are from the second century.
And so, we have very little to work with in trying to build a case that Apollonius of Tyana even existed, let alone was an influential teacher, or miracle worker, who lived during the first century.
It interesting to note that someone like Apollonius of Tyana, who Philostratus claims was a traveling teacher and miracle worker during the first century, is not mentioned by name in the writings of Dio Chrysostom, who lived from about AD 40-120. Dio Chrysostom was a traveling philosopher, during the first century, from Turkey.
For someone who, according to Philostratus' book, is said to have performed as many miracles as he did, and to have associated with as many historical figures as Philostratus claims, it is remarkable that we don't have several first-century and second-century documents attesting to his existence and impact. It is as if Apollonius of Tyana did not "exist" until Philostratus wrote about him -- in the third century.
In broad strokes, the miracles that Philostratus attributes to Apollonius are remarkably similar to those of Jesus -- miracles of healings, exorcisms, and raising dead people back to life.
The similarity is strong enough that a critical thinker would consider the possibility that Philostratus was trying to invite comparisons to Jesus, and that he was crafting a version of Apollonius to compete with Jesus.
It should be noted that the Gospel accounts of Jesus' miracles were circulated throughout Israel, and beyond, during the first century, which is a full century before Philostratus wrote his book about Apollonius, meaning Philostratus could have based his account of Apollonius on Jesus.
And then there are specific details, which appeared first in the Gospels, and then much later in Philostratus' book about Apollonius.
To show some examples, let's take a look at what is probably the single greatest miracle in Philostratus' book about Apollonius and compare it with a miracle event in the Gospels, which was written more than a century earlier:
“Here too is a miracle which Apollonius worked: A girl had died just in the hour of her marriage, and the bridegroom was following her bier lamenting as was natural his marriage left unfulfilled, and the whole of Rome was mourning with him, for the maiden belonged to a consular family. Apollonius then witnessing their grief, said: ‘Put down the bier, for I will stay the tears that you are shedding for this maiden.’
“And withal he asked what was her name. The crowd accordingly thought that he was about to deliver such an oration as is commonly delivered to grace the funeral as to stir up lamentation; but he did nothing of the kind, but merely touching her and whispering in secret some spell over her, at once woke up the maiden from her seeming death; and the girl spoke out loud, and returned to her father’s house, just as Alcestis did when she was brought back to life by Heracles. And the relations of the maiden wanted to present him with the sum of 150,000 sesterces, but he said that he would freely present the money to the young lady by way of dowry.
“Now whether he detected some spark of life in her, which those who were nursing her had not noticed -- for it is said that although it was raining at the time, a vapor went up from her face -- or whether her life was really extinct, and he restored it by the warmth of his touch, is a mysterious problem which neither I myself nor those who were present could decide.”
- Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Book 4, chapter 45, as translated by F.C. Conybeare.
Philostratus’ account appears to be using the Gospel accounts of Jairus' daughter (Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:21-43 and Luke 8:40-56), and the widow's son in Nain (Luke 7:11-17), to construct a new story in which Apollonius is the miracle worker.
In the Gospel account of the miracle in Nain, which took place nearly 200 years before Philostratus wrote his account, there is a bier, a large crowd, a lot of grieving, and an instruction from the healer to stop crying, followed with an instantaneous healing. And in both accounts, the recipient of the miracle begins speaking and is reunited with a relieved parent.
And, like the Gospel miracle involving Jairus’ daughter, there is a young girl, a healing touch, and a father who is prominent within the community.
In another account, Philostratus’ Apollonius is depicted as performing an exorcism that again shares distinct similarities with the exorcisms in the Gospels:
“Apollonius then was talking about libations, and was urging them not to drink out of a particular cup, but to reserve it for the gods, without ever touching it or drinking out of it. But when he also urged them to have handles on the cup, and to pour the libation over the handle, because that is the part at which men are least likely to drink, the youth burst out into loud and coarse laughter, and quite drowned his voice. Then Apollonius looked up and said: ‘It is not yourself that perpetrates this insult, but the demon, who drives you without your knowing it.’
“And in fact the youth was, without knowing it, possessed by a devil; for he would laugh at things that no one else laughed at, and then would fall to weeping for no reason at all, and he would talk and sing to himself. Now most people thought that it was boisterous humor of youth which led him into excesses; but he was really the mouthpiece of a devil, though it only seemed a drunken frolic in which on that occasion he was indulging.
“Now, when Apollonius gazed on him, the ghost in him began to utter cries of fear and rage, such as one hears from people who are being branded or racked; and the ghost swore that he would leave the you man alone and never take possession of any man again. But Apollonius addressed him with anger, as a master might a shifty, rascally, and shameless slave and so on, and he ordered him to quit the young man and show by a visible sign that he had done so. ‘I will throw down yonder statue,’ said the devil, and pointed to one of the images which were there in the king’s portico, for there it was that the scene took place.
“But when the statue began by moving gently, and then fell down, it would defy anyone to describe the hubbub which arose thereat and the way they clapped their hand with wonder.”
- Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Book 4, chapter 20, as translated by F.C. Conybeare.
Philostratus' account is using the same template that was established in the Gospels nearly 200 years earlier, especially in Mark 1:21-28 and Luke 4:31-37, where Jesus heals a demon-possessed man in a synagogue in Capernaum.
In the Gospel accounts, Jesus is teaching when he is interrupted by a demon-possessed man. Then, Jesus casts out the demon, and witnesses express amazement for what they have just seen and heard.
In the Philostratus account, Apollonius is teaching when he is interrupted by a demon-possessed man. Then, Apollonius casts out the demon, and witnesses express amazement for what they have just seen and heard.
Philostratus’ account also might be borrowing from other Gospel accounts. When Jesus heals a possessed man in Gadarenes (Matthew 8:28-32; Mark 5:1-13; Luke 8:26-33), for example, he first converses with the possessed man. And when Jesus casts out the man's legion of demons, there is a clear and visible confirmation of the success of the exorcism -- the demons leave the possessed man and possess a nearby herd of pigs, which then race into the sea and drown.
In Philostratus’ account, the visual confirmation is given when the cast-out demon knocks over a statue, showing that he has left his victim.
By the time that Philostratus lived, Christianity had been vigorously evangelized throughout the Roman world. And so, it is reasonable that Philostratus would have had access to information about the miracles that Jesus performed.
Some scholars have suggested that Philostratus’ book is the result of efforts to create or embellish the story of Apollonius to serve as a pagan alternative to Jesus, to compete with Christianity, which was rapidly becoming the dominant religion of the Roman world.
In any event, it is possible that a man named Apollonius of Tyana did exist during the first century. And it is possible that he was a traveling teacher.
But, the oldest available record of any alleged miracles attributed to Apollonius of Tyana is Philostratus’ book, which was written about 200 years after Christianity began spreading throughout the Roman world.