Crucifixion of Jesus

====Temple veil, earthquake and resurrection of dead saints====
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The synoptic gospels state that the [[Veil#Biblical references|veil]] of [[temple in Jerusalem|the temple]] was torn from top to bottom.

The Gospel of Matthew mentions an account of earthquakes, rocks splitting, and the opening of the graves of dead [[saint]]s, and describes how these resurrected saints went into the holy city and appeared to many people.<ref>{{bibleverse|Mt.|27:51–53}}</ref>

In the Mark and Matthew accounts, the [[Longinus|centurion in charge]] comments on the events: "Truly this man was the Son of God!"<ref>{{bibleverse|Mk.|15:39}}</ref> or "Truly this was the [[Son of God]]!".<ref>{{bibleverse|Mt.|27:54}}</ref> The Gospel of Luke quotes him as saying, "Certainly this man was innocent!"<ref>{{bibleverse|Lk.|23:47}}</ref><ref>New Revised Standard Version; New International Version renders "...this was a righteous man".</ref>

The historian [[Sextus Julius Africanus]] in the early [[third century]] wrote, describing the day of the crucifixion, "A most terrible darkness fell over all the world, the rocks were torn apart by an earthquake, and many places both in Judaea and the rest of the world were thrown down. In the third book of his Histories, [[Thallus (historian)|Thallos]] dismisses this darkness as a solar eclipse. ..."<ref name=Africanus>[[George Syncellus]], ''Chronography'', [http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/syncellus/#E1 chapter 391] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411014004/http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/syncellus/#E1 |date=April 11, 2021 }}.</ref>

A widespread 5.5 magnitude earthquake has been hypothesized to have taken place between 26 and 36 AD. This earthquake was dated by counting [[varve]]s (annual layers of sediment) between the disruptions in a core of sediment from [[En Gedi]] caused by it and by an earlier known quake in 31&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jefferson Williams, Markus Schwab and Achim Brauer |title=An early first-century earthquake in the Dead Sea' |journal=International Geology Review |date=Jul 2012 |volume=54 |issue=10 |pages=1219–1228 |doi=10.1080/00206814.2011.639996 |bibcode=2012IGRv...54.1219W |s2cid=129604597 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229810999}}</ref> Although other earthquakes may have been responsible, the authors concluded that either this was the earthquake in Matthew and it occurred more or less as reported, or else Matthew "borrowed" this earthquake which actually occurred at another time or simply inserted an "allegorical fiction".