Chronology
Although a few scholars have questioned the existence of Jesus as an actual historical figure, and some early Christian sects denied that Jesus existed as a physical being (see below), most scholars involved with historical Jesus research believe he existed, but that the supernatural claims associated with him cannot be established using documentary and other evidence. As discussed in the sections immediately below, the estimation of the year of death of Jesus places his lifespan around the beginning of the 1st century AD/CE, in the geographic region of Roman Judaea.
Roman involvement in Judaea began around 63 BC/BCE and by 6 AD/CE Judaea had become a Roman province. From 26-37 AD/CE Pontius Pilate was the governor of Roman Judaea. In this time period, although Roman Judaea was strategically positioned in the Near East, close to Arabia and North Africa, it was not viewed as a critically important province by the Romans. At the time the Romans were highly tolerant of other religions and allowed the local populations such as the Jews to practice their own faiths.
Read more about this topic: Gesus