(Tacitus, Annals 15.44).[8][68] The authenticity of this passage has been disputed, and it is possible that Tacitus received this information from Christian informants.[69] Josephus appears also to have mentioned Jesus's execution by Pilate at the request of prominent Jews (Antiquities of the Jews 18.3.3). However, the original text has been greatly altered by later Christian interpolation, so that it is impossible to know what Josephus may have originally said.[70] Discussing the paucity of extra-biblical mentions of the crucifixion, Alexander Demandt argues that the execution of Jesus was probably not seen as a particularly important event by the Romans, as many other people were crucified at the time and forgotten.[71]