Phlegon

Phlegon of Tralles, generally just Phlegon (unknown lifespan, 2nd century CE) was a Greek writer during the rule of the emperor Hadrian.

Phlegon recorded a great earthquake in Bithynia, on the coast of the Black Sea in what is today Turkey. Intrepid Christian apologist (184/185 – 253/254 CE) decided that because Phlegon wrote about an earthquake and an eclipse, this must have been a reference to the darkness and earthquake following the crucifixion of Jesus:

However, judging from the quote of Phlegon contained in a work by later apologist (260/265 – 339/340 CE), this is simply wrong:

How anyone could take a reference to an earthquake and eclipse in Nicea, 900 kilometres from Jerusalem, as evidence for the earthquake described in (and only there) is more a sign of the shaky state of the "evidence" for the fantastic events in the New Testament, even in the age of the Church Fathers than anything else.