Even the Gospels are widely admitted to having been written after Jesus' death. According to the evidence we have within the text itself, the earliest gospel - the Gospel of Mark - was probably written between 70 and 75 CE, although Catholic sources claim the date was closer to 50 CE. Either way, it was clearly written after Jesus died, supposedly 33 CE.
As for historical sources, only one of them is reported to have been written during the first century - Josephus' "Antiquities", in 90-95 CE. His two short mentions of a man named Jesus who had disciples and did good works are under heavy controversy, and recently, the discovery of the probable original of "Antiquities" shows that one of the two passages was an interpolation. Even if all these objections are false, Josephus cannot be a contemporary source.
Thallus is also reported as having talked about the crucifixion of Jesus, but this is only known second-hand, and critics claim that he said nothing about Jesus.
Such a deafening silence on the existence of any other historical figures would be extremely suspicious. In the case of an earth-shaking messiah who raised the dead and fed the multitudes, clearly we should find masses of testimonies and evidence, but we find none. It is clearly an argument for the non-existence of Jesus.
But the clinching evidence is that even Christian leaders considered Jesus purely as a mythical figure and did not know anything about his life.
"In the first half century of Christian correspondence, including letters attributed to Paul and other epistles under names like Peter, James and John, the Gospel story cannot be found. When these writers speak of their divine Christ, echoes of Jesus of Nazareth are virtually inaudible, including details of a life and ministry, the circumstances of his death, the attribution of any teachings to him. God himself is often identified as the source of Christian ethics. No one speaks of miracles performed by Jesus, his apocalyptic predictions, his views on any of the great issues of the time. The very fact that he preached in person is never mentioned, his appointment of apostles or his directive to carry the message to the nations of the world is never appealed to. No one looks back to Jesus' life and ministry as the genesis of the Christian movement, or as the pivot point of salvation history."The Jesus Puzzle, by Earl Doherty (Journal of Higher Criticism, Fall 1997)
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