sephus as historian.
Josephus'
first work, Bellum Judaicum (History of the Jewish War), was
written
in seven books between AD 75 and 79, toward the end of
Vespasian's
reign. The original Aramaic has been lost, but the extant
Greek
version was prepared under Josephus' personal direction. After
briefly
sketching Jewish history from the mid-2nd century BC, Josephus
presents
a detailed account of the great revolt of AD 6670. He
stressed
the invincibility of the Roman legions, and apparently one of
his
purposes in the works was to convince the Diasporan Jews in
Mesopotamia,
who may have been contemplating revolt, that resistance
to Roman
arms was pure folly. The work has much narrative brilliance,
particularly
the description of the siege of Jerusalem; its fluent Greek
contrasts
sharply with the clumsier idiom of Josephus' later works and
attests
the influence of his Greek assistants. In this work, Josephus is
extremely
hostile to the Jewish patriots and remarkably callous to their
fate.
The Jewish War not only is the principal source for the Jewish revolt
but
is especially valuable for its description of Roman military tactics and
strategy.
In Rome,
Josephus had been granted citizenship and a pension. He was
a favourite
at the courts of the emperors Vespasian, Titus, and
Domitian,
and he enjoyed the income from a tax-free estate in Judaea.
He had
divorced his third wife, married an aristocratic heiress from
Crete,
and given Roman names to his children. He had written an official
history
of the revolt and was loathed by the Jews as a turncoat and
traitor.
Yet despite all of this, Josephus had by no means abandoned
his
Judaism. His greatest work, Antiquitates Judaicae (The Antiquities of
the
Jews), completed in 20 books in AD 93, traces the history of the
Jews
from creation to just before the outbreak of the revolt of AD 66
70.
It was an attempt to present Judaism to the Hellenistic world in a
favourable
light. By virtually ignoring the Prophets, by embellishing
biblical
narratives, and by stressing the rationality of Judaic laws and
institutions,
he stripped Judaism of its fanaticism and made it appealing
to the
cultivated and reasonable man. Historically, the coverage is
patchy
and shows the fatigue of the author, then in his middle 50s. But
throughout,
sources are preserved that otherwise would have been
lost,
and, for Jewish history during the period of the Second
Commonwealth,
the work is invaluable.
The
Antiquities contains two famous references to Jesus Christ: the one
in Book
XX calls him the so-called Christ. The implication in the
passage
in Book XVIII of Christ's divinity could not have come from
Josephus
and undoubtedly represents the tampering (if not invention)
of a
later Christian copyist.
Appended
to the Antiquities was a Vita (Life), which is less an
autobiography
than an apology for Josephus' conduct in Galilee during
the
revolt. It was written to defend himself against the charges of his
enemy
Justus of Tiberias, who claimed that Josephus was responsible
for
the revolt. In his defense, he contradicted the account given in his
more
trustworthy Jewish War, presenting himself as a consistent
partisan
of Rome and thus a traitor to the rebellion from the start.
Josephus
appears in a much better light in a work generally known as
Contra
Apionem (Against Apion, though the earlier titles Concerning the
Antiquity
of the Jews and Against the Greeks are more apposite). Of its
two
books, the first answers various anti-Semitic charges leveled at the
Jews
by Hellenistic writers, while the second provides an argument for
the
ethical superiority of Judaism over Hellenism and shows Josephus'
commitment
to his religion and his culture.
Since
Against Apion mentions the death of Agrippa II, it is probable that
Josephus
lived into the 2nd century; but Agrippa's death date is
uncertain,
and it is possible that Josephus died earlier, in the reign of
Domitian,
sometime after AD 93.
Assessment.
As a
historian, Josephus shares the faults of most ancient writers: his
analyses
are superficial, his chronology faulty, his facts exaggerated,
his
speeches contrived. He is especially tendentious when his own
reputation
is at stake. His Greek style, when it is truly his, does not
earn
for him the epithet the Greek Livy that often is attached to his
name.
Yet he unites in his person the traditions of Judaism and
Hellenism,
provides a connecting link between the secular world of
Rome
and the religious heritage of the Bible, and offers many insights
into
the mentality of subject peoples under the Roman Empire.
Personally,
Josephus was vain, callous, and self-seeking. There was not
a shred
of heroism in his character, and for his toadyism he well
deserved
the scorn heaped upon him by his countrymen. But it may be
said
in his defense that he remained true to his Pharisee beliefs and,
being
no martyr, did what he could for his people.
[BY
JK: This last assessment of Josephus is inaccurate.
Since there is
no external
source on him, we must turn to the internal character of his
own
self-assessment. If we accept that he opposed the rebellion
openly
and believed that it was doomed, but was drawn into it by his
high
position in the community, then his actions after capture do not
betray
a cause he never supported. As for scorn heaped upon him by
his
countrymen there is no external source. I assume that the scorn
would
not be for his actions during the war, for there is nothing that we
know
of that deserves scorn, but rather for being Romanized. The Jews
were
divided between those who adopted Greco-Roman ways and the
orthodox. There were riots in Alexandria over this falling away from the
law
(of the Torah). As a orthodox leader of the highest station, to
adopt
Roman would be the cause of scorn. Finally, Josephuss works
translated
into English, during the 17th and 18th centuries was one of
the
4 most widely read books in this country.]
Gary William Poole
Copyright © 1994-2002 Encyclopędia Britannica, Inc.
