Jewish extremists suspected of torching Christian church in apparent Jerusalem hate crime

[whatthehey]

44. Apples and oranges

The original copy of Tacitus doesn't exist any more either, and in fact is centuries older than Plato copies, in the 15th Century CE.

But, as I'm sure you know and are hoping you can slide it past less attentive readers, there is an enormous difference between age of oldest copy and timing of authorship.

If nobody had MENTIONED Alexander the Great until many decades after his death, he may be dubious too (although all the cities and Hellenism are a bit of a hint). It doesn't much matter that those mentions are not in the original author's own hand; it does matter that that original author saw Alexander and was with him. There is nothing like that about Jesus, however old the copies. The gospels were not written by apostles despite later naming conventions, and Paul, the earliest writer just a couple of decades later (but the oldest copies are from about 200CE. See how easy it is not to conflate authorship dates and copy dates?), never met the man and is conspicuously almost silent about his supposed life.

When a biography from that period was written is far more important than how old the copy we use is.