Reflections on Josephus
Earlier this year, I was inspired to write a novel while reading through the complete works of Philo of Alexandria, a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher and theologian living during the first century. I was mostly interested in a single obtuse reference to something I had read the previous year but became more and more obsessed with his life and the tumultuous times in which he lived, along with his writings on the Essenes, a spiritual, communal sect of the Jewish nation. My research took me on a quest in search of more information relating to Alexandria and the Essenes, which led me to Josephus, a Hellenistic Jewish historian who lived about the same time as Philo and witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 CE. Since I had planned on reading the New Testament next, I figured reading Josephus would be a good companion read for August and September. This article will look at the life of Flavius Josephus, his historical works, his apologetic works, and two interesting controversies surrounding his work.
Flavius Josephus
Most of what we know about Flavius Josephus comes from his own works, in particular his histories of the First Jewish-Roman War, lasting from 66–73 CE. Tensions had been running high between Romans, Greeks, and Jews since the Alexandrian Riots of 38 CE during the chaotic reign of Caius Caesar, aka Caligula. The tensions came to a head when Caius Caesar threatened to install a statue of himself to be worshipped in the Second Temple at Jerusalem, averted by the assassination of Caius Caesar. Minor revolts broke out after that, put down by the Roman Empire, until a match finally lit the fuse in 66 CE.
Josephus was assigned as a commander for Galilee, but was later captured by Vespasian, whom Josephus predicted would become emperor by a vision described in his histories. Vespasian eventually released Josephus to be a translator/advisor for the Roman Empire. Upon the death of Nero, Vespasian is called by his troops to become emperor and returned to Rome to seize the title using military force. Josephus remained with Titus, Vespasian’s son, and proceeded to bear witness to the subjugation of Judea and the utter destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple, followed by three years of putting out the remaining embers of Jewish revolt. After that, Josephus returned to Rome to become part of Vespasian’s family, becoming Flavius Josephus, and began writing his histories. Titus would eventually succeed his father as emperor.
Unsurprisingly, many contemporaneous Jewish figures from Josephus’ time considered him a traitor. Joseph Raymond famously called Josephus the Benedict Arnold of the Jewish people, which makes a great deal of sense based on Josephus’ own writings. His account of his troops killing themselves by lot rather than surrendering doesn’t help his case in the least bit. Contemporaneous historians also had unkind things to say about Josephus, some of which he refuted directly in his attested works. Many challenges to Josephus were mired in the rising antisemitic tone within the Roman Empire following the First Jewish-Roman War, so deciphering what’s true and what’s slander is often difficult, especially after the reign of Titus was over, leaving Josephus without much social or political protection in Rome.
Outside of Josephus’ actions during the First Jewish-Roman War, which he covered extensively, what little else we know about Josephus’ life is found in a few paragraphs at the beginning of The Life of Flavius Josephus. Josephus was born to the family of a high priest and spent his early years learning about the various Jewish sects before becoming a Pharisee. A few paragraphs at the end of The Life of Flavius Josephus concern his later years, including his marriages and children. Based on references to an event cited in Against Apion, his final confirmed treatise, we can infer Josephus died after 100 CE.
Historical Works
Josephus’ major contributions to human history are two massive historical works: The War of the Jews and The Antiquities of the Jews. The War of the Jews covers the history of the Jewish nation from Antiochus Epiphanes sparking the Maccabean Revolt around 168 BCE through to the fall of the final revolutionaries in Judea at the end of the First Jewish-Roman War in 73 CE. The Antiquities of the Jews covers the entire history of the Jewish people, from creation through the beginning of the First Jewish-Roman War, over twenty books full of myths, stories, and histories.
The War of the Jews was Josephus’ first history, largely told from his own perspective, but also with the help of Vespasian, Titus, and others who were present during the war on the Roman side. Josephus seems to be doing three things with this history. The first is to document what happened, including the preliminary events which ultimately influenced the revolts sparking the First Jewish-Roman War. Josephus tends to see the Romans as a divine instrument of punishment for Judea for having fallen away from the faith in its political and religious leadership, which resonates greatly with the early Christian Church and increases the feelings of betrayal by the Jewish nation. And finally, Josephus is attempting to apologize for his own conduct and behavior, pinning his capture on the need for divine revelation and emphasizing his many attempts to convince Jerusalem to surrender to avoid bloodshed, which cleverly puts the blame back onto Jerusalem for its own destruction.
The Antiquities of the Jews was written much later in his life and over a great deal of time. William Whiston, the translator I used for this reading, argues that Josephus likely made this extensive history based upon a combination of his previous training as a priest, as well as with the copies of the Jewish scriptures and histories rescued from the Second Temple in Jerusalem before it was burned to the ground. Whiston even argues that those scriptures may have been the famous library of Nehemiah based on the use of specific passages. Additionally, Josephus weaves in traditional stories told about biblical figures outside of scriptures, included Moses leading a military campaign against Ethiopia and fascinating stories from the reign of Herod the Great. Josephus also uses feedback, insight, and information from contemporary Greek, Roman, and Jewish figures to update, expand, and/or correct claims made in The War of the Jews during the Maccabean Revolt, which Whiston extensively documents in one of his dissertations.
I found a lot of inspiration and notes for my writing from reading both histories during August and September, although it required reading a great deal every day for six days a week. Many of the notes will be used for either fiction pieces or a series of upcoming articles on the Essenes. Here’s a short story I finished earlier this year based on one of the earliest non-scripture myths related by Josephus.
Apologetic Works
Josephus also wrote two apologetic works: The Life of Flavius Josephus and Against Apion. The Life of Flavius Josephus was intended to be an afterword for The Antiquities of the Jews, but sadly Josephus spends about 80% of the treatise defending his actions in Galilee for a third time, this time specifically against allegations made by Justus of Tiberias. I had read this before The War of the Jews, not expecting the polemical nature of the history, but appreciating how early the battles over the historical record were already happening, especially when documenting atrocities like war.
Against Apion was an intentionally apologetic work, one addressing many of the antisemitic claims made by histories written by Manetho, Lysimachus, and Apion, among others. Apion largely repeated the lies written by the first two historians. Moreover, Apion had been appointed to represent the Egyptians during an embassy to Rome following the Alexandrian Riots, where he whispered that same slander into the ear of Caligula. Philo of Alexandria had been appointed to represent the Jewish population. Apion’s repeated slander becomes the basis for the common slander against the Jewish nation throughout the empire, enflaming tensions between the Jews and Romans. Josephus gets the last laugh, however, relating Apion’s death by a vicious groin infection after a lifetime of opposition to circumcision. If you think that’s gross, you should read some of the antisemitic garbage that Apion was pushing.
In a sense, all of Josephus’ works are apologetic works, given the state of the Jewish people after the destruction of Jerusalem. Jews would become open targets for oppression, attacks often motivated purely for economic gain of money or property, and often in contradiction to edicts made by the Roman Empire protecting Jewish populations and preserving their right to practice their religion. While I understand the traitorous story of Josephus for what it is, I also can’t help but admire that he would spend much of his life attempting to defend a nation that had disregarded him, still identifying enough as a Jew to risk the social ramifications in the time after the First Jewish-Roman War.
Contested Passages/Writings
Josephus, like many classical authors preserved throughout the ages, has a few controversies surrounding his work or works attributed to his authorship. We will be looking at two interesting controversies concerning Josephus.
The first controversy relates to the three major references in The Antiquities of the Jews to events from the New Testament, specifically referring to Jesus the Christ whom Pilate executed (Antiquities 18.3.3), John the Baptist’s execution (Antiquities 18.5.2), and the execution of James the Just (Antiquities 20.9.1). William Whiston argues forcefully for the veracity of all three segments, despite some copies of Josephus not containing these passages, based on references to these passages made by other historians. Modern scholars take one of three theories regarding the pages: they are entirely authentic, they are entirely forgeries, or they are authentic texts with translations that insert Christian meaning where it may not actually exist. Regardless of their veracity, these passages make up the bulk of the historicity of Jesus outside of the New Testament, so this particular controversy has some meaning to modern scholarship and interpretation. Wikipedia has a nice summary of all three passages and the various theories surrounding each entry.
The second controversy relates to a short treatise entitled Discourse to the Greeks Concerning Hades, which explains some pre-Nicaean Christian ideas of final judgment and resurrection for a Greek audience, using specific references from the early New Testament writings and probably one or more of the pseudepigraphic works written around this time, like the Book of Enoch. However, this treatise has been attributed to many authors, including Caius (Presbyter of Rome), Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Hippolytus of Rome, the last of whom modern scholars believe wrote this discourse or homily. William Whiston argues forcefully in one of his dissertations that this was written by Josephus, first printing the discourse in English along with Josephus’ complete works, which is why I read it assuming it was attributed to Josephus. Whiston’s argument relies on a string of conjectures, including that Josephus converted to being an Ebionite or Nazarene Christian while writing Antiquities after the death of Vespasian and Titus, which is why he inserts the three contested passages above based off the apocryphal Gospel of the Hebrews, and later becomes a full Catholic Christian to serve as the 14th Bishop of Jerusalem per Eusebius’ list in Ecclesiastical History, which has the bishop’s name listed as Joseph. It’s a lot of fascinating, yet ultimately baseless conjecture, but it paints an incredible story in the hopes of connecting Josephus closer to the Christian faith, and thus giving his contested passages regarding the New Testament even more authenticity.
Conclusion
Josephus provides much of the detail and history of the Jewish nation between The War of the Jews and The Antiquities of the Jews in extensive form, serving as one of a few bedrocks for historical information from the Roman Empire. Compared to the historical writings of Philo, Josephus’ accounts of the Jewish nation are much more accessible and readable, if sometimes quite verbose upon topics of specific interest to Josephus, like the construction of walls and temples. Even his shorter apologetic works provide insight into the nature of antisemitism during the Roman Empire and an in-depth look at the complex character that makes up Flavius Josephus.
You can find free access to the William Whiston translation here:
