Why did Judas do it? The betrayal of Jesus of Nazareth by Judas Iscariot, one of his 12 disciples, has become the paradigmatic act of treachery in Western culture. Modern historians are sceptical of many and even most details of Jesus’ life and death found in the gospels of the New Testament, but nearly all agree that one of Jesus’ disciples did facilitate his arrest and eventual execution by Roman authorities. Why would early Christians have made up such a disturbing scenario, and why would St Paul and the multiple authors of the gospels have repeated it if it were not a fact they had to confront? Knowing whether and why one of Jesus’ closest followers betrayed him might shed light on how Jesus understood his mission and why he was so controversial, questions of compelling interest for the history of the Roman Empire and its religions.
