Josephus

Josephus (c. 37 – c. 100), who introduced himself as "Joseph, son of Matthias, , a priest from Jerusalem" (cf. War I.3), giving the Greek form I?s?pos Matthiou pais of his name in Hebrew Yosef Ben-Matityahu (יוסף בן מתתיהו), is also known as Flavius Josephus. He was a 1st century Jewish historian and apologist of priestly and royal ancestry who survived and recorded the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 and later settled in Rome.

Works

The Jewish War

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 (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?s own part in the events since his return to Jerusalem from a brief visit to Rome in the early 60s (Life 13-17).

Related Topics:
Jew - Mesopotamia - Aramaic - Greek - Jewish War - Maccabees - Jerusalem - Cyrene - 60s

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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?s triumphant legions leading their Jewish captives, and experienced the popular presentation of the Jews as a bellicose and misanthropic people.

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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 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.

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Jewish Antiquities

Josephus is next encountered in his twenty-one volume Antiquities of the Jews, completed in the last year of Flavius Domitian (93). 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.

Related Topics:
Antiquities of the Jews - Domitian - 93

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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's own conduct at the end of the war when he cooperated with the Roman forces.

Related Topics:
Creation - Abraham - Science - Egyptians - Greeks - Moses - Biblical stories

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Against Apion

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 by the Greek writer Apion, and myths accredited to Manetho are also exposed.

Related Topics:
Against Apion - Judaism - Classical - Religion - Philosophy - Greeks - Apion - Manetho

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