He initially fought against theRoman Empire during theFirst Jewish–Roman War asgeneral of the Jewish forces inGalilee, until surrendering in AD 67 to theRoman army led by military commanderVespasian after the six-weeksiege of Yodfat. Josephus claimed theJewish messianicprophecies that initiated the First Jewish–Roman War made reference to Vespasian becomingRoman emperor. In response, Vespasian decided to keep him as a slave and presumablyinterpreter. After Vespasian became emperor in AD 69, he granted Josephus his freedom, at which time Josephus assumed the Emperor's family name ofFlavius.[9]
Flavius Josephus fully defected to the Roman side and was grantedRoman citizenship. He became an advisor and close associate of Vespasian's sonTitus, serving as his translator during Titus's protractedsiege of Jerusalem in AD 70, which resulted in the near-total razing of the city and the destruction of theSecond Temple.
Josephus recorded the Great Jewish Revolt (AD 66–70), including thesiege of Masada. His most important works wereThe Jewish War (c. 75) andAntiquities of the Jews (c. 94).[10]The Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation.Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an ostensibly Greek and Roman audience. These works provide insight into first-century Judaism and the background ofEarly Christianity.[10] Josephus's works are the chief source next to the Bible for the history and antiquity ofancient Israel, and provide an independent extra-biblical account of such figures asPontius Pilate,Herod the Great,John the Baptist,James, brother of Jesus, andJesus of Nazareth.[11]
Galilee, site of Josephus's governorship, before the First Jewish–Roman War
Josephus was born into one of Jerusalem's elite families.[12] He was the second-born son of Matthias, aJewish priest. His older full-blooded brother was also, like his father, called Matthias.[13] Their mother was an aristocratic woman who was descended from the royal and formerly rulingHasmonean dynasty.[14] Josephus's paternal grandparents were a man also named Joseph(us) and his wife—an unnamed Hebrew noblewoman—distant relatives of each other.[15] Josephus's family was wealthy. He descended through his father from the priestly order of theJehoiarib, which was the first of the 24 orders of priests in theTemple in Jerusalem.[16] Josephus calls himself a fourth-generation descendant of "High Priest Jonathan", referring to eitherJonathan Apphus orAlexander Jannaeus.[16] He was raised in Jerusalem and educated alongside his brother.[17]
In his mid twenties, he traveled to negotiate with EmperorNero for the release of some Jewish priests.[18] Upon his return to Jerusalem, at the outbreak of theFirst Jewish–Roman War, Josephus was appointed the military governor ofGalilee.[19] His arrival in Galilee, however, was fraught with internal division: the inhabitants ofSepphoris andTiberias opted to maintain peace with the Romans; the people of Sepphoris enlisted the help of the Roman army to protect their city,[20] while the people of Tiberias appealed toKing Agrippa's forces to protect them from the insurgents.[21] Josephus trained 65,000 troops in the region.[11]
Josephus also contended withJohn of Gischala who had also set his sight over the control of Galilee. Like Josephus, John had amassed to himself a large band of supporters fromGischala (Gush Halab) andGabara,[b] including the support of theSanhedrin in Jerusalem.[25] Meanwhile, Josephus fortified several towns and villages inLower Galilee, among which were Tiberias,Bersabe,Selamin,Japha, andTarichaea, in anticipation of a Roman onslaught.[26] InUpper Galilee, he fortified the towns ofJamnith,Seph,Mero, andAchabare, among other places.[26] Josephus, with the Galileans under his command, managed to bring both Sepphoris and Tiberias into subjection,[20] but was eventually forced to relinquish his hold on Sepphoris by the arrival of Roman forces underPlacidus the tribune and later byVespasian himself. Josephus first engaged the Roman army at a village calledGaris, where he launched an attack against Sepphoris a second time, before being repulsed.[27] At length, he resisted the Roman army in itssiege of Yodfat (Jotapata) until it fell to the Roman army in the lunar month ofTammuz, in the thirteenth year ofNero's reign.
After the Jewish garrison of Yodfat fell under siege, the Romans invaded, killing thousands; the survivors committed suicide. According to Josephus, he was trapped in a cave with 40 of his companions in July 67 AD. The Romans (commanded by Flavius Vespasian and his son Titus, both subsequentlyRoman emperors) asked the group to surrender, but they refused. According to Josephus's account, he suggested a method of collective suicide;[28] they drew lots and killed each other, one by one, and Josephus happened to be one of two men that were left who surrendered to the Roman forces and became prisoners.[c] In 69 AD, Josephus was released.[30] According to his account, he acted as a negotiator with the defenders during thesiege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, during which time his parents were held as hostages bySimon bar Giora.[31]
While being confined atYodfat (Jotapata), Josephus claimed to have experienced a divine revelation that later led to his speech predicting Vespasian would become emperor. After the prediction came true, he was released by Vespasian, who considered his gift of prophecy to be divine. Josephus wrote that his revelation had taught him three things: that God, the creator of the Jewish people, had decided to "punish" them; that "fortune" had been given to the Romans; and that God had chosen him "to announce the things that are to come".[32][33][34] To many Jews, such claims were simply self-serving.[35]
Josephus interpreted the destruction of the Temple as a sign that God had turned to the Romans due to Jewish sins, urging submission to Roman authority. However, he also believed that the covenant between God and Israel remained intact, with restoration dependent on Jewish repentance, echoing biblical interpretations of theFirst Temple's destruction.[36]
In 71 AD, he went to Rome as part of the entourage of Titus. There, he became a Roman citizen and client of the rulingFlavian dynasty. In addition toRoman citizenship, he was granted accommodation in the conqueredJudaea and a pension. While in Rome and under Flavian patronage, Josephus wrote all of his known works. Although he only ever calls himself "Josephus" in his writings, later historians refer to him as "Flavius Josephus", confirming that he adopted thenomenFlavius from his patrons, as was the custom amongstfreedmen.[5][6]
Vespasian arranged for Josephus to marry a captured Jewish woman, whom he later divorced. Around the year 71, Josephus married anAlexandrian Jewish woman as his third wife. They had three sons, of whom only Flavius Hyrcanus survived childhood. Josephus later divorced his third wife. Around 75, he married his fourth wife, a Greek Jewish woman fromCrete, who was a member of a distinguished family. They had two sons, Flavius Justus and Flavius Simonides Agrippa.
Josephus's life story remains ambiguous. He was described by Harris in 1985 as alaw-observant Jew who believed in the compatibility ofJudaism andGraeco-Roman thought, commonly referred to asHellenistic Judaism.[10]Josippon, the Hebrew version of Josephus, contains changes.[37] His critics were never satisfied as to why his suicide attempt did not kill him in Galilee, and after his capture, accepted the patronage of Romans.
The works of Josephus provide information about the First Jewish–Roman War and also represent literary source material for understanding the context of theDead Sea Scrolls and lateTemple Judaism.
Josephan scholarship had traditionally identified him as aPharisee. Some authors portrayed him as a member of the sect and as a traitor to the Jewish nation—a view which became known as the classical concept of Josephus.[38] In the mid-20th century, scholars challenged this view and formulated the modern concept of Josephus. They consider him a Pharisee but describe him in part as patriot and a historian of some standing. In his 1991 book,Steve Mason argued that Josephus was not a Pharisee but an orthodox Aristocrat-Priest who became associated with the philosophical school of the Pharisees as a matter of deference, and not by willing association.[39]
The works of Josephus include useful material for historians about individuals, groups, customs, and geographical places. However, modern historians have been cautious of taking his writings at face value. For example,Carl Ritter, in his highly influentialErdkunde in the 1840s, wrote in a review of authorities on the ancient geography of the region:
Outside of the Scriptures, Josephus holds the first and the only place among the native authors of Judaea; for Philo of Alexandria, the later Talmud, and other authorities, are of little service in understanding the geography of the country. Josephus is, however, to be used with great care. As a Jewish scholar, as an officer of Galilee, as a military man, and a person of great experience in everything belonging to his own nation, he attained to that remarkable familiarity with his country in every part, which his antiquarian researches so abundantly evince. But he was controlled by political motives: his great purpose was to bring his people, the despised Jewish race, into honour with the Greeks and Romans; and this purpose underlay every sentence, and filled his history with distortions and exaggerations.[40]
A careful reading of Josephus's writings and years of excavation allowedEhud Netzer, anarchaeologist fromHebrew University, to discover what he considered to be the location ofHerod's Tomb, after searching for 35 years.[46] It was aboveaqueducts and pools, at a flattened desert site, halfway up the hill to theHerodium, 12 km south of Jerusalem—as described in Josephus's writings.[47] In October 2013, archaeologists Joseph Patrich and Benjamin Arubas challenged the identification of the tomb as that of Herod.[48] According to Patrich and Arubas, the tomb is too modest to be Herod's and has several unlikely features.[48] Roi Porat, who replaced Netzer as excavation leader after the latter's death, stood by the identification.[48]
Scholars debate about Josephus's intended audience. For example,Antiquities of the Jews could be written for Jews—"a few scholars from Laqueur onward have suggested that Josephus must have written primarily for fellow Jews (if also secondarily for Gentiles). The most common motive suggested is repentance: in later life he felt so bad about the traitorousWar that he needed to demonstrate … his loyalty to Jewish history, law and culture."[51] However, Josephus's "countless incidental remarks explaining basic Judean language, customs and laws … assume a Gentile audience. He does not expect his first hearers to know anything about the laws or Judean origins."[52] The issue of who would read this multi-volume work is unresolved. Other possible motives for writingAntiquities could be to dispel the misrepresentation of Jewish origins[53] or as an apologetic to Greek cities of the Diaspora in order to protect Jews and to Roman authorities to garner their support for the Jews facing persecution.[54]
Josephus was a very popular writer with Christians in the 4th century and beyond as an independent source to the events before, during, and after the life ofJesus of Nazareth. Josephus was always accessible in the Greek-reading Eastern Mediterranean. His works were translated into Latin, but often in abbreviated form such asPseudo-Hegesippus's 4th century Latin version ofThe Jewish War (Bellum Judaicum). Christian interest inThe Jewish War was largely out of interest in the downfall of the Jews and the Second Temple, which was widely considered by Christians to bedivine punishment for the crime of killing Jesus. Improvements in printing technology (theGutenberg Press) led to his works receiving a number of new translations into the vernacular languages of Europe, generally based on the Latin versions. Only in 1544 did a version of the standard Greek text become available in French, edited by the DutchhumanistArnoldus Arlenius. The first English translation, byThomas Lodge, appeared in 1602, with subsequent editions appearing throughout the 17th century. The 1544 Greek edition formed the basis of the 1732 English translation byWilliam Whiston, which achieved enormous popularity in the English-speaking world. It was often the book—after the Bible—that Christians most frequently owned. Whiston claimed that certain works by Josephus had a similar style to theEpistles of St. Paul.[55][56] Later editions of the Greek text include that ofBenedikt Niese, who made a detailed examination of all the available manuscripts, mainly from France and Spain.Henry St. John Thackeray and successors such asRalph Marcus used Niese's version for theLoeb Classical Library edition widely used today.
On the Jewish side, Josephus was far more obscure, as he was perceived as a traitor. Rabbinical writings for a millennium after his death (e.g. theMishnah) almost never call out Josephus by name, although they sometimes tell parallel tales of the same events that Josephus narrated. An Italian Jew writing in the 10th century indirectly brought Josephus back to prominence among Jews: he authored theYosippon, which paraphrases Pseudo-Hegesippus's Latin version ofThe Jewish War, a Latin version ofAntiquities, as well as other works. The epitomist also adds in his own snippets of history at times. Jews generally distrusted Christian translations of Josephus until theHaskalah ("Jewish Enlightenment") in the 19th century, when sufficiently "neutral" vernacular language translations were made.Kalman Schulman finally created a Hebrew translation of the Greek text of Josephus in 1863, although many rabbis continued to prefer the Yosippon version. By the 20th century, Jewish attitudes toward Josephus had softened, as he gave the Jews a respectable place in classical history. Various parts of his work were reinterpreted as more inspiring and favorable to the Jews than the Renaissance translations by Christians had been. Notably, the last stand at Masada (described inThe Jewish War), which past generations had deemed insane and fanatical, received a more positive reinterpretation as an inspiring call to action in this period.[56][57]
The standardeditio maior of the various Greek manuscripts is that ofBenedictus Niese, published 1885–95. The text ofAntiquities is damaged in some places. In theLife, Niese follows mainly manuscript P, but refers also to AMW and R. Henry St. John Thackeray for theLoeb Classical Library has a Greek text also mainly dependent on P. André Pelletier edited a new Greek text for his translation ofLife. The ongoing Münsteraner Josephus-Ausgabe ofMünster University will provide a new critical apparatus. Late Old Slavonic translations of the Greek also exist, but these contain a large number of Christian interpolations.[58]
Author Joseph Raymond calls Josephus "the JewishBenedict Arnold" for betraying his own troops at Jotapata,[59] while historianMary Smallwood, in the introduction to the translation ofThe Jewish War byG. A. Williamson, writes:
[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 benefited for the rest of his days from his change of side.[60]
In the Preface toJewish Wars, Josephus criticizes historians who misrepresent the events of theJewish–Roman War, writing that "they have a mind to demonstrate the greatness of the Romans, while they still diminish and lessen the actions of the Jews."[61] Josephus states that his intention is to correct this method but that he "will not go to the other extreme ... [and] will prosecute the actions of both parties with accuracy."[62] Josephus confesses he will be unable to contain his sadness in transcribing these events; to illustrate this will have little effect on his historiography, Josephus suggests, "But if any one be inflexible in his censures of me, let him attribute the facts themselves to the historical part, and the lamentations to the writer himself only."[62]
His preface toAntiquities offers his opinion early on, saying, "Upon the whole, a man that will peruse this history, may principally learn from it, that all events succeed well, even to an incredible degree, and the reward of felicity is proposed by God."[63] After inserting this attitude, Josephus contradicts Berossus: "I shall accurately describe what is contained in our records, in the order of time that belongs to them ... without adding any thing to what is therein contained, or taking away any thing therefrom."[63] He notes the difference between history and philosophy by saying, "[T]hose that read my book may wonder how it comes to pass, that my discourse, which promises an account of laws and historical facts, contains so much of philosophy."[64]
In both works, Josephus emphasizes that accuracy is crucial to historiography.Louis H. Feldman notes that inWars, Josephus commits himself to critical historiography, but inAntiquities, Josephus shifts to rhetorical historiography, which was the norm of his time.[65] Feldman notes further that it is significant that Josephus called his later work "Antiquities" (literally, archaeology) rather than history; in the Hellenistic period, archaeology meant either "history from the origins or archaic history."[66] Thus, his title implies a Jewish peoples' history from their origins until the time he wrote. This distinction is significant to Feldman, because "in ancient times, historians were expected to write in chronological order," while "antiquarians wrote in a systematic order, proceeding topically and logically" and included all relevant material for their subject.[66] Antiquarians moved beyond political history to include institutions and religious and private life.[67] Josephus does offer this wider perspective inAntiquities.
His first work in Rome was an account of the Jewish War, addressed to certain "upper barbarians"—usually thought to be the Jewish community inMesopotamia—in his "paternal tongue" (War I.3), arguably the WesternAramaic language. In AD 78 he finished a seven-volume account inGreek known as theJewish War (LatinBellum Judaicum orDe Bello Judaico). It starts with the period of theMaccabees and concludes with accounts of the fall ofJerusalem, and the subsequent fall of the fortresses of Herodion, Macharont and Masada and the Roman victory celebrations in Rome, the mopping-up operations, Roman military operations elsewhere in the empire and the uprising inCyrene. Together with the account in hisLife 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).[69]
In the wake of the suppression of the Jewish revolt, Josephus would have witnessed the marches ofTitus's triumphant legions leading their Jewish captives, and carrying treasures from the despoiledTemple in Jerusalem. It was against this background that Josephus wrote hisWar. He blames the Jewish War on what he calls "unrepresentative and over-zealous fanatics" among the Jews, who led the masses away from their traditional aristocratic leaders (like himself), with disastrous results. For example, Josephus writes that "Simon [bar Giora] was a greater terror to the people than the Romans themselves."[70] Josephus also blames some of theRoman governors ofJudea, representing them as corrupt and incompetent administrators.
The next work by Josephus is his 21-volumeAntiquities of the Jews, completed during the last year of the reign of the Emperor FlaviusDomitian, around 93 or 94 AD. In expounding Jewish history, law and custom, he is entering into many philosophical debates current in Rome at that time. Again he offers anapologia for the antiquity and universal significance of the Jewish people. Josephus claims to be writing this history because he "saw that others perverted the truth of those actions in their writings",[71] those writings being the history of the Jews. In terms of some of his sources for the project, Josephus says that he drew from and "interpreted out of the Hebrew Scriptures"[72] and that he was an eyewitness to the wars between the Jews and the Romans,[71] which were earlier recounted inJewish Wars.
He outlines Jewish history beginning with the creation, as passed down through Jewish historical tradition.Abraham taughtscience to theEgyptians, who, in turn, taught theGreeks.[73]Moses set up a senatorial priestly aristocracy, which, like that of Rome, resistedmonarchy. The great figures of theTanakh are presented as ideal philosopher-leaders. He includes an autobiographical appendix defending his conduct at the end of the war when he cooperated with the Roman forces.
Louis H. Feldman outlines the difference between calling this workAntiquities of the Jews instead ofHistory of the Jews. Although Josephus says that he describes the events contained inAntiquities "in the order of time that belongs to them,"[63] Feldman argues that Josephus "aimed to organize [his] material systematically rather than chronologically" and had a scope that "ranged far beyond mere political history to political institutions, religious and private life."[67]
An autobiographical text written by Josephus in approximately 94–99 CE – possibly as an appendix to hisAntiquities of the Jews (cf. Life 430) – where the author for the most part re-visits the events of the War and his tenure in Galilee as governor and commander, apparently in response to allegations made against him by Justus of Tiberias (cf. Life 336).
Josephus'sAgainst Apion is a two-volume defence ofJudaism asclassicalreligion andphilosophy, stressing its antiquity, as opposed to what Josephus claimed was the relatively more recent tradition of the Greeks. Someanti-Judaic allegations ascribed by Josephus to the Greek writerApion and myths accredited toManetho are also addressed.
^Modern authors give his birth name, includingpatronymic, as "Yosef ben Mattityahu", “Yoseph bar Mattityahu" or "Yosef ben Matityahu",[5][6][7][8] literally meaning "Joseph son of Matthias". That is what he calls himself at the start ofThe Jewish War (Ἰώσηπος Ματθίου παῖς,Iósipos Matthíou país). "Flavius" was not part of his birth name, and was only adopted later.[5]
^A large village in Galilee during the 1st century AD, located to the north of Nazareth. In antiquity, the town was called "Garaba", but in Josephus's historical works of antiquity, the town is mentioned by its Greek corruption, "Gabara".[22][23][24]
^This method as a mathematical problem is referred to as theJosephus problem, or Roman roulette.[29]
^abCollins, John J.; Harlow, Daniel C. (2012)."Josephus".Early Judaism: A Comprehensive Overview. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.ISBN978-1-4674-3739-4.
^Ben-Ari, Nitsa (2003)."The double conversion ofBen-Hur: a case of manipulative translation"(PDF).Target.14 (2):263–301.doi:10.1075/target.14.2.05ben. Retrieved28 November 2011.The converts themselves were banned from society as outcasts and so was their historiographic work or, in the more popular historical novels, their literary counterparts. Josephus Flavius, formerly Yosef Ben Matityahu (34–95), had been shunned, then banned as a traitor.
^abJosephus, Flavius; Whiston, William; Maier, Paul L. (1999).The New Complete Works of Josephus. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications. p. 7-8.ISBN9780825429484.
^Goodman 2007, p. 8: "Josephus was born into the ruling elite of Jerusalem"
^Josephus 1737,3.6.4: After describing the curtain that hung in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, Josephus adds: "Whence that custom of ours is derived, of having a fine linen veil, after the temple has been built, to be drawn over the entrances."
^Flavius Josephus,The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated byWilliam Whiston, A. M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley: 1895, s.v.The Jewish War 1.24.2 (end) (1.473).
^Whealey, Alice (2003).Josephus on Jesus: The Testimonium Flavianum Controversy from Late Antiquity to Modern Times.Peter Lang Publishing.ISBN978-0-8204-5241-8.In the sixteenth century the authenticity of the text [Testimonium Flavianum] was publicly challenged, launching a controversy that has still not been resolved today
^Millar 2011, Chapter 14: "Hagar, Ishmael, Josephus, and the origins of Islam": "Josephus is thus alluding to a proposition, not yet established in his narrative, that Ishmael was the founder (ktistēs) of the race (ethnos) of the 'Arabes' and offers this as his explanation of a custom currently observed by them."
^Gilad, Elon (17 June 2019)."The Myth of Masada: How Reliable Was Josephus, Anyway?".Haaretz. Retrieved28 September 2023.The only source we have for the story of Masada, and numerous other reported events from the time, is the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, author of the book 'The Jewish War'.
^abJosephus, Flavius (2017) [c. 75].The Jewish War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. xxix–xxxv.. Information is from the Introduction, byMartin Goodman.
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den Hollander, William (2014).Josephus, the Emperors, and the City of Rome: From Hostage to Historian. Boston: Brill.
Hillar, Marian (2005). "Flavius Josephus and His Testimony Concerning the Historical Jesus".Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism.13. Washington, DC: American Humanist Association:66–103.
Kókai-Nagy, Viktor; Vér, Ádám (2023).Peace and war in Josephus. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter.ISBN9783111146034.
Mason, Steve (1991).Flavius Josephus on the Pharisees: a composition-critical study. Leiden: Brill.
Mason, Steve (2003).Josephus and the New Testament: Second Edition, Hendrickson Publishers.
Rajak, Tessa (2002).Josephus: the Historian and His Society. 2nd ed. London. (Oxford D.Phil. thesis, 2 vols. 1974.)
Raphael, Frederic (2013).A Jew Among Romans: The Life and Legacy of Flavius Josephus. New York: Pantheon Books.
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The Works of Josephus, Complete and Unabridged New Updated Edition. Translated byWhiston, William; Peabody, A. M. (Hardcover ed.). M. A. Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. 1987.ISBN0-913573-86-8. (Josephus, Flavius (1987).The Works of Josephus, Complete and Unabridged New Updated Edition (Paperback ed.). Hendrickson Publishers.ISBN1-56563-167-6.)
PACEArchived 16 October 2015 at theWayback Machine Josephus: text and resources in the Project on Ancient Cultural Engagement at York University, edited bySteve Mason.
