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Flavius Josephus
Wikipedia, on Josephus (adapted by Patrick
Rogers)
Life
Significance
to scholarship
Works
The
Jewish War
Antiquities
of the Jews
Against
Apion
Josephus
(37 – c. 100 AD), also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu, who became
known, in his capacity as a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus, was a 1st-century Jewish historian and
apologist of priestly and royal ancestry who survived and recorded the
Destruction of Jerusalem in 70. His works give an important insight into first-century
Judaism.
Josephus's two most important works
are Jewish War (c. 75) and Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94). Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt
against Rome (66-70). Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the
world from a Jewish perspective. These works provide valuable insight into
the background of 1st-century Judaism and early Christianity.
The Galilee, site of Josephus' governorship, in late
antiquity.Josephus, who introduced himself in Greek as "Iosepos
(Ιώσηπος), son of Matthias, an ethnic Jew,
a priest from Jerusalem", fought
the Romans in the First Jewish-Roman War of 66-73 as a Jewish military leader
in Galilee. After the Jewish garrison of Yodfat was taken under siege, the
Romans invaded, killing thousands, and the remaining survivors who had
managed to elude the forces committed suicide. However, in circumstances that
are somewhat unclear, Josephus and one of his soldiers surrendered to the
Roman forces invading Galilee in July 67. He became a prisoner and provided
the Romans with intelligence on the ongoing revolt. The Roman forces were led
by Flavius Vespasian and his son Titus, both subsequently Roman emperors. In
69, Josephus was released (cf. War IV.622-629) and according to Josephus's
own account, he appears to have played some role as a negotiator with the
defenders in the Siege of Jerusalem in 70.
In 71, he arrived in Rome in the
entourage of Titus, becoming a Roman citizen and a client
of the Flavian dynasty (hence he is often referred to as Flavius Josephus - see below). In addition
to Roman citizenship he was granted accommodation in conquered Judea, and a
decent, if not extravagant, pension. It was while in Rome, and under Flavian
patronage, that Josephus wrote all of his known works.
Although he only ever calls himself
"Josephus", he appears to have taken the Roman nomen Flavius and
praenomen Titus from his patrons. This was standard for new citizens.
Josephus's first wife died
in Jerusalem, together with his parents, during the siege and Vespasian
arranged for him to marry a Jewish woman who had been captured by the Romans.
This woman left Josephus, and around 70, he married another Jewish woman from
Alexandria by whom he had three male children. Only one, Flavius Hyrcanus,
survived childhood. Josephus later divorced his third wife and around 75,
married his fourth wife, a Jewess from Crete, of a distinguished
family. This last marriage produced two sons, Flavius Justus and Simonides
Agrippa.
Josephus's life is beset with
ambiguity. For his critics, he never satisfactorily explained his actions
during the Jewish war — why he failed to commit suicide in Galilee in 67 with
some of his compatriots, and why, after his capture, he cooperated with the
Roman invaders. Historian E. M. Smallwood wrote:
(Josephus) was conceited, not only about his own learning but also
about the opinions held of him as
commander both by the Galileans and by the Romans; he was guilty of shocking duplicity at
Jotapata, saving himself by sacrifice of his companions; he was too naive to see how he stood condemned
out of his own mouth for his
conduct, and yet no words were too harsh when he was blackening his opponents; and after landing, however
involuntarily, in the Roman camp, he turned his captivity to his own advantage, and benefitted for
the rest of his days from his change
of side.
However, his critics ignore the fact
that also Simon Bar Giora and John of Giscala, both extreme zealots and great
opponents of Josephus, who stayed in Jerusalem and led the war against Rome
in its final stage, in a moment of truth, preferred life over suicide and
humbly surrendered to the Romans. At any rate, those who have viewed Josephus
as a traitor and informer have questioned his credibility as a historian —
dismissing his works as Roman propaganda or as a personal apologetic, aimed
at rehabilitating his reputation in history. More recently, commentators have
reassessed previously-held views of Josephus. As P.J. O'Rourke quipped,
Reason dictates we should hate this man. But it's hard to get angry at
Josephus. What, after all, did he
do? A few soldiers were tricked into suicide. Some demoralizing claptrap was shouted at a
beleaguered army. A wife was
distressed... all of which pale by comparison to what the good men did. For it was the loyal, the idealistic and
the brave who did the real damage. The devout and patriotic leaders of Jerusalem sacrificed tens
of thousands of lives to the cause
of freedom. Vespasian and Titus sacrificed tens of thousands of more to the cause of civil order. Even Agrippa II,
the Roman client king of Judea who
did all he could to prevent the war, ended by supervising the destruction of half a dozen of his cities and
the sale of their inhabitants into
slavery. How much better for everyone if all the principal figures of the region had been slithering filth like
Josephus.
Josephus was unquestionably an
important apologist in the Roman world for the Jewish people and culture,
particularly at a time of conflict and tension. He always remained, in his
own eyes, a loyal and law-observant Jew. He went out of his way both to
commend Judaism to educated Gentiles, and to insist on its compatibility with
cultured Graeco-Roman thought. He constantly contended for the antiquity of
Jewish culture, presenting its people as civilised, devout and philosophical.
Eusebius reports that a statue of
Josephus was erected in Rome.
A fanciful representation of Flavius Josephus, in an engraving
in William Whiston's translation of his worksThe works of Josephus provide
crucial information about the First Jewish-Roman War and are also important
literary source material for understanding the context of the Dead Sea
Scrolls and post-Second Temple Judaism. Josephan scholarship in the 19th and early
20th century became focused on Josephus' relationship to the sect of the
Pharisees. He was consistently portrayed as a member of the sect, but
nevertheless viewed as a villainous traitor to his own nation - a view which
became known as the classical concept of Josephus. In the mid 20th century,
this view was challenged by a new generation of scholars who formulated the
modern concept of Josephus, still considering him a Pharisee but restoring
his reputation in part as patriot and a historian of some standing. Recent
scholarship since 1990 has sought to move scholarly perceptions forward by
demonstrating that Josephus was not a Pharisee but an orthodox
Aristocrat-Priest who became part of the Temple establishment as a matter of
deference and not willing association (Cf. Steve Mason, Todd Beall, and Ernst
Gerlach).
Josephus offers information about
individuals, groups, customs and geographical places. His writings provide a
significant, extra-biblical account of the post-exilic period of the
Maccabees, the Hasmonean dynasty and the rise of Herod the Great. He makes
references to the Sadducees, Jewish High Priests of the time, Pharisees and
Essenes, the Herodian Temple, Quirinius' census and the Zealots, and to such
figures as Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, Agrippa I and Agrippa II, John
the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus, and a disputed reference to Jesus.
He is an important source for studies of immediate post-Temple Judaism (and,
thus, the context of early Christianity).
A careful reading of Josephus'
writings allowed Ehud Netzer, an archaeologist from Hebrew University, to
confirm the location of Herod's Tomb after a fruitless search of 35 years -
on top of tunnels and water pools at a flattened desert site, halfway up the
hill to the Herodium, 12 kilometers south of Jerusalem - exactly where it
should be according to Josephus writings.
For many years, the works of Josephus
were printed only in an imperfect Latin translation from the original Greek.
It was only in 1544 that a version of the Greek text was made available,
edited by the Dutch humanist Arnoldus Arlenius. The first English translation
appeared in 1602 by Thomas Lodge with subsequent editions appearing
throughout the 17th century. However, the 1544 Greek translation formed the
basis of the 1732 English translation by William Whiston which achieved
enormous popularity in the English speaking world and which is currently
available online for free download by Project Gutenberg. Later editions of
the Greek text include that of Benedikt Niese, who made a detailed examination
of all the available manuscripts, mainly from France and Spain. This was the
version used by H. St J. Thackeray for the Loeb Classical Library edition widely
used today.
A 1640 edition of the works of Josephus translated by Thomas
Lodge which originally appeared in 1602.(c. 75) War of the Jews, or Jewish
War, or Jewish Wars, or History of
the Jewish War (commonly abbreviated JW, BJ or War) (date unknown) Josephus's Discourse to the
Greeks concerning Hades (spurious; adaptation of "Against Plato, on the Cause of the
Universe" by Hippolytus of Rome) (c. 94)
Antiquities of the Jews, or Jewish Antiquities, or Antiquities of the Jews/Jewish Archeology (frequently
abbreviated AJ, AotJ or Ant. or Antiq.) (c. 97) Flavius Josephus Against Apion, or Against Apion, or
Contra Apionem, or Against the
Greeks, on the antiquity of the Jewish people (usually abbreviated CA) (c. 99) The Life of Flavius Josephus, or Autobiography of
Flavius Josephus (abbreviated Life
or Vita)
His first work in Rome was an account
of the Jewish War, addressed to certain "upper barbarians" –
usually thought to be the Jewish community in Mesopotamia – in his
"paternal tongue" (War I.3), arguably the Western Aramaic language.
He then wrote a seven-volume account in Greek known to us as the Jewish War
(Latin Bellum Iudaicum). It starts with the period of the Maccabees and
concludes with accounts of the fall of Jerusalem, the Roman victory
celebrations in Rome, the mopping-up operations, Roman military operations
elsewhere in the Empire and the uprising in Cyrene. Together with the account
in his Life of some of the same events, it also provides the reader with an
overview of Josephus' own part in the events since his return to Jerusalem
from a brief visit to Rome in the early 60s (Life 13-17).
Rome cannot have been an easy place
for a Jew in the wake of the suppression of the Jewish revolt. Josephus would
have witnessed the marches of Titus' triumphant legions leading their Jewish
captives, and carrying trophies of despoiled treasure from the Temple in
Jerusalem. He would have experienced the popular presentation of the Jews as
a bellicose and misanthropic people.
It was against this background that
Josephus wrote his War, and although often dismissed as pro-Roman propaganda
(perhaps hardly surprising given where his patronage was coming from), he
claims to be writing to counter anti-Judean accounts. He disputes the claim
that the Jews serve a defeated god and are naturally hostile to Roman
civilization. Rather, he blames the Jewish War on what he calls
"unrepresentative and over-zealous fanatics" among the Jews, who led
the masses away from their natural aristocratic leaders (like him), with disastrous
results. He also blames some of the governors of Judea, but these he presents
as atypical Romans: corrupt and incompetent administrators. Thus, according
to Josephus, the traditional Jew was, should be, and can be, a loyal and
peace-loving citizen. Jews can, and historically have, accepted Rome's hegemony
precisely because of their faith that God himself gives empires their power.
The next literary work by Josephus is
his twenty-one volume Antiquities of the Jews, completed in the last year of
the emperor Flavius Domitian (between 1.9.93 and 14.3.94, cf. AJ X.267). He
claims that interested persons have pressed him to give a fuller account of
the Jewish culture and constitution. Here, in expounding Jewish history, law
and custom, he is entering into many philosophical debates current in Rome at
that time. Again he offers an apologia for the antiquity and universal
significance of the Jewish people.
Beginning with the story of Creation,
he outlines Jewish history. Abraham taught science to the Egyptians, who in
turn taught the Greeks. Moses set up a senatorial priestly aristocracy, which
like that of Rome resisted monarchy. The great figures of the biblical
stories are presented as ideal philosopher-leaders. There is again an
autobiographical appendix defending Josephus' own conduct at the end of the
war when he cooperated with the Roman forces.
Josephus' Against Apion is a final
two-volume defence of Judaism as classical religion and philosophy, stressing
its antiquity against what Josephus claimed was the relatively more recent
traditions of the Greeks. Some anti-Judean allegations ascribed by Josephus
to the Greek writer Apion, and myths accredited to Manetho are also exposed.
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