Quote:No, but I could do a little research and come up with a decent estimate, because I am sure people reported on the event, and kept records of those reports. If I had to answer now, without Google, I would say something like 22,000, because I remember that number from somewhere. But it has only been two years. I am sure in 50 years I will be able to write a perfectly accurate, inspired account of the earthquake.
Do you remember how many people were killed in the earthquake in Bam, Iran, on Dec. 26, 2003?
Quote:In case you didn't notice, I don't get your analogy.
Because in just a few years time, journalists have shaped the collective memory of events; the Bam earthquake has already been mostly forgotten (except in Iran) -- since there has been a worse natural disaster since then. Similarly, as bad as the slaughter in Bethlehem was, it became overshadowed by other terrible things Herod did, and by other violent events.
Iran:
The event occurs, multiple people write about at the time, the facts get confused over time, people start to forget about it or lose interest in it, and then eventually (in less than two years) it fades into insignificance and people stop writing much about it at all.
Herod's Slaughter:
The event occurs, no one finds it important enough to write about it at the time, but nonetheless, the story is perfectly preverved for years and years with no confusion of the details, and despite the fact that Herod commits many more atrocities and worse things happen, the story somehow continues to persevere for more years and years, and then all of the sudden, decades later, people decide it is imperative to write a very detailed account of it, and accurately accomplish that task, despite the fact that they probably didn't witness the event and are relying on second hand accounts.
