FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS THE MAN AND HIS AMBITIONS: A PROSOPOGRAPHIC STUDY (original) (raw)

FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS THE MAN AND HIS AMBITIO

This renewed prosopographic study on Flavius Josephus 1 will allow me to analyze in greater depth the personal life and ambitions of our Jewish historian 2 . There are grounds to believe that he married four times rather than three and that he had in mind a return of the Hasmonean rule in his homeland, let alone he had planned for himself to become a Hasmonean type of leader in Judea.

Thinking through Josephus and his Readers

2017

rom antiquity to the present day Yosef ben Matityahu, alias Titus Flavius Iosephus, has been undoubtedly the best source on the history of Judea in the Roman period and on the history of the Second Temple period in general. Without Josephus we would know little about the Jewish War and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE; or indeed on Judean politics and society in the Roman period, on king Herod, but also on the intellectual traditions that formed Josephus' own sources. A Jewish priest of royal descent born in Jerusalem in 37 CE, a leader of the Jewish revolt against Rome, and thereafter, a friend of the Flavians, a Roman citizen, and a writer in Rome, Josephus is a multifaceted figure that is hard to confine under a single label. Was he a Roman historian? Was he an historian at all? Serious or critical engagement with his work has emerged since the 1970s. Previously, scholars regarded him as simple and careless compiler, or a mine where information could be extracted regardless of its context, audience, aims, literary form: that was the 'classical conception of Josephus'.

Josephus on Herod’s Domestic Intrigue in the Jewish War

Journal for the Study of Judaism, 2012

This article argues that women and domestic intrigue are prominent within the Herod narrative in Josephus’ Jewish War for a specific rhetorical reason. While the first half of the narrative presents the famous king in encomiastic terms, using him to illustrate Josephus’ contention that Jews generally were content to remain loyal to Rome, the second half of the account subtly presents a rather different thesis. Attention to domestic drama allowed Josephus to suggest that Herod was a man who was unable to control either his own emotions or his turbulent family, and so was unfit to rule. Ultimately for Josephus, the ideal constituency for Judaea is not monarchy (as represented by Herod) but the theocratic reign of priests.

JGRChJ 10 (2014) 113-31] JOSEPHUS'S LIFE AND JEWISH WAR COMPARED TO THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS

Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, 2014

This article compares the often conflicting autobiographical accounts in Josephus' Life and Jewish War to the differences found in the synoptic gospels, exploring the possible outer limits of variation which would have been expected by first-century readers/hearers who read/heard the synoptic gospels as ancient biographies.

Josephus and his Historiographical Balancing Act

Until recently, Josephus was the most trusted and only comprehensive source in piecing together events surrounding the Great Jewish Revolt of A.D. 65 – 73. Yet Josephus was a man torn between his Jewish roots and a desire to impress his Roman benefactors. His works are often contradictory and demonstrate his torn allegiance. How much then, can we rely on the account of events he records in his work, The Jewish Wars? This publication evaluates Josephus' historiographical method, his sources, target audience and conflicting accounts and interests with a view to discerning where the historian demonstrates objectivity and where it may be compromised.

“Josephus’s Use of Scripture to Describe Hasmonean Territorial Expansion.”

Jewish Studies, an Internet Journal 19 , 2020

Paper available at: https://jewish-faculty.biu.ac.il/files/jewish-faculty/shared/JSIF19/atkinson.pdf Journal Website: https://jewish-faculty.biu.ac.il/en/JSIJ Abstract: Although Josephus primarily employs Jewish traditions to shape his narratives of the Hasmoneans, his writings are complex because of his connections to multiple traditions. He sought to write apologetic historiography that accurately described the Jewish people based on their accomplishments as a means to correct Hellenistic misconceptions of the Jews. Yet, he also intended his works to be understandable to the wider Greco-Roman world. In the process, Josephus created a truly unique version of Israel’s past. His concept of Hellenized-Judaism was largely connected with the unique circumstances of his life as a leader in the First Jewish Revolt. He selectively drew upon Jewish Scripture in light of this experience and his life in Rome. As a Roman citizen, Josephus was exposed to Greco-Roman conceptions of historiography, which greatly contributed to his imaginative account of Hasmonean land conquests.