The name “Julius” does not appear in the New Testament at all, and it does not appear in Josephus’ Wars of the Jews either despite many confusing references to other Caesars.
It could be the case that Josephus was repeating Roman lore about Julius (like someone today would about the "glorious" and "beloved" US president and martyr Abraham Lincoln); i.e., it's just what the Romans were taught of their history. Also, one of the authors I've read on this subject wrote that until the Middle Ages, New Testaments always included Josephus as well, which is telling, I think. Because of the growing power and importance of the Church and its much-argued-over teachings, ensuring that the new Christian scriptures agree w/ those (later) teachings makes both the New Testament and the extracanonical writings as they've come down to us hugely suspect; lots of "changes" (usually called scribal errors) found their way into them over the centuries, many even admitted to by scholars.
Have you looked into Laurent Guyenot's take on Julius? He says that he's a fake character as well. And then there are the parallels of Julius' story and Jesus'.
It could be the case that Josephus was repeating Roman lore about Julius (like someone today would about the "glorious" and "beloved" US president and martyr Abraham Lincoln); i.e., it's just what the Romans were taught of their history. Also, one of the authors I've read on this subject wrote that until the Middle Ages, New Testaments always included Josephus as well, which is telling, I think. Because of the growing power and importance of the Church and its much-argued-over teachings, ensuring that the new Christian scriptures agree w/ those (later) teachings makes both the New Testament and the extracanonical writings as they've come down to us hugely suspect; lots of "changes" (usually called scribal errors) found their way into them over the centuries, many even admitted to by scholars.
Have you looked into Laurent Guyenot's take on Julius? He says that he's a fake character as well. And then there are the parallels of Julius' story and Jesus'.