Josephus the Historian and His Society

281 Pages·2002·5.619 MB·English

by  Rajak, Tessa

JOSEPHUS
Remercie humblement aussi ton Créateur
Que t'a donné Iosephe, un si fidèle auteur,
Certes qui tousiours semble avoir de Dieu guidée
La plume, en escrivant tous les faits de Iudée:
Car bien qu'il ait suyui le Grec langage orné,
Tant s'en faut qu'il se soit à leurs moeurs adonné,
Que plutost au vray but de l'histoire il regarde
Qu'il ne fait pas au fard d'une langue mignarde.
Pierre Tredehan, au peuple françois, 1558.
JOSEPHUS
The Historian and His
Society
Tessa Rajak
DUCKWORTH
This impression 2003
Paperback edition published 2002
First published in 1983 by
Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd.
61 Frith Street, London W1D 3JL
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
[email protected]
www.ducknet.co.uk
© 1983, 2002 by Tessa Rajak
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 0 7156 3170 5
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Bookcraft (Bath) Ltd, Midsomer Norton, Avon
Contents
Preface to the First Edition vi
Preface to the Second Edition vii
Introduction to the Second Edition ix
Abbreviations xvi
Table of events xvii
Map: the Palestine of Josephus xviii
Introduction 1
1. Family, Education and Formation 11
2. The Greek Language in Josephus'Jerusalem 46
3. Josephus' Account of the Breakdown of Consensus 65
4. Josephus' Interpretation of the Jewish Revolt 78
5. The Structure of the Jewish Revolt 104
6. Josephus and the Civil War in Galilee 144
7. Josephus as an Aramaic Writer 174
8. Flavian Patronage and Jewish Patriotism 185
Epilogue: The Later Josephus 223
Appendixes 1. The native language of Josephus 230
2. The assistant theory 233
3. The dating of Josephus' Antiquities and Life 237
Bibliography 239
Guide to Literature since 1983 251
Index 255
Preface
This book is a re-interpretation of Josephus' history and of the war
which he described, rather than a general introduction either to the
author or to first century Palestine. It is, none the less, intended
for, among others, readers who are not specialists in this period,
and I have borne their needs in mind, along with those of scholars.
Thus, while the arguments are fully documented and (it is hoped)
substantiated, the supporting texts are translated into English, and
unfamiliar concepts, whether Greek, Roman or Jewish, are ex­
plained. Occasional Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic words are trans­
literated, and this is done according to simple, largely phonetic
principles.
I have incurred debts over a long period of time. Without Fergus
Millar's vision, advice and encouragement, this book could hardly
have been written; and he has also commented on various versions
of its chapters. I am much indebted to Alan Wardman who has
improved both substance and style and given generous assistance
with proof reading. I am grateful to Peter Brunt and David Lewis,
the examiners of the Oxford D.Phil, thesis out of a section of which
the book has grown, for many detailed and acute corrections; to
Geza Vermes, Arnaldo Momigliano and Miriam Griffin for support
and useful suggestions; to my parents for their help and constant
interest; and to my husband, Harry Rajak, for perceptive criticism
and for loving concern of every kind, of which this book is one result
and one acknowledgment.
This work reached its final form at the Center for Hellenic Stud­
ies, Washington D.C.; I must thank the Trustees of Harvard Uni­
versity, and especially Bernard Knox, the Center's Director, who
presides over a stimulating and tranquil writing environment. A
year's leave of absence granted by the University of Reading ena­
bled me to benefit from this, as also did a Fulbright Scholarship.
I have been further assisted by grants from the Memorial Found­
ation for Jewish Culture and from the Wolfson Foundation. Doreen
Janes typed a difficult manuscript with tolerance. My publishers
waited patiently for the book and then looked after it admirably.
London, 1982. T.R.
Preface
to the Second Edition
The welcome suggestion of my publishers, Gerald Duckworth &
Co. Ltd., that we should bring out a new edition of my 1983
study of Josephus, has given me the opportunity both to improve
the volume and to bring it up to date. The text remains as it was,
since the assumption behind the re-publication is that this treat­
ment of the central issues surrounding Josephus' controversial
career and writings is still valid and relevant. The book's wide
readership during the last two decades argue strongly that this is so.
The few errors in the text and footnotes of the original edition are listed
at the end of this Preface. In the first edition the footnotes were the
sole repository of the extensive bibliography. Now there is a separate
bibliography, at the end of which key publications since 1983 have been
listed. A number of these works are discussed in a new Introduction to
this edition, in the context of a general assessment of changing ideas on
Josephus and of how this book has fared in their midst.
Many debts were acknowledged in my original preface. I should add
to my husband's name that of my children, Saul and Dinah, able now
to lend support and encouragement of a kind which even they could
not quite manage in 1983. Two recent, much-appreciated fellow­
ships have given me the time and the facilities to return to Josephus
and to catch up with the latest publications in ideal settings: I am
deeply grateful to the Institute for Advanced Studies at the Hebrew
University, Jerusalem, Israel; and to the organisers of the excellent
2000-2001 Hellenism group, David Satran and Daniel Schwartz,
and also, for my stay during April and May 2002, to the Ancient
History Documentary Research Centre at Macquarie University,
Sydney, Australia, its most hospitable Directors, Alanna Nobbs and Sam
Lieu, and its ever-helpful secretary, Pat Geidans. The University of
Reading willingly gave me leave, and my colleagues in the Department
of Classics put a good face on my absences. I have had excellent assis­
tance with preparing the bibliographies from Claire Phillpotts of Balliol
College, Oxford and Norman Ricklefs of Macquarie University. At
viii Preface
Duckworth, Deborah Blake's enthusiasm and competence could not
have been bettered. I dedicate this new edition to the memory of my
parents, to whom the twenty-year survival of Josephus: The Historian and
His Society would have given considerable pleasure.
April 2002 T.R.
Errata in the first edition
p. 12 n. 4; p. 34 n. 67: for 1949-50 read 1950
p. 13 n. 10: for Tiberius read Tiberias
p. 27 n. 51: for^N. Morris readN. Morris
p. 50 n. S.forJRS 57 readJRS 58
p. 52 n. 15: for JThs readJThS
p. 56 n. 26: for Stephen read St Stephen
p. 57 n. 32: for sons read sous
p. 57 n. 32: for 8.2 read 2^
p. 61 n. 45:/or 1969 read 1968
p. 68 n. 4:/or 117-25 read 115-25
p. 75 n. 13 line 4: for 1954 read 1956
p. 80 n. 4: insert dak for Walbank: 1966
p. 85 n. 13: for McMullen raa/MacMullen
p. Ill n. 16; p. 112 n. 19:>r Allon readAlon
p. Ill n. 16; p. 189 n. 7 (reference to Alon):/or 1976 read 1977
p. 113 n. 22: for Millenarism read Millenarianism
p. 126 n. 61 : for N. Stone read L. Stone
p. 132 n. 74:/or 1969 read 1972
p. 176 n. 10:/or 89-109 read 89-108
p. 177 n. 11: fir Leiden read 2 (Leiden
p. 180 line 26: for excurses reflects read excursuses reflect
p. 189 n. 7: Schäfer reference should read: 'Die Flucht Johanan ben Zakkais aus
Jerusalem und die Gründung des "Lehrhauses" injabne', op. cit. (n. 3), 2.19.2
(1979), 43-101
p. 198 n. 31:/or 1968 read 1958
p. 210 n. 66:/or 18-47 read 252-68
p. 212 n. 75: for Traube read Traute
p. 213 line 8:/orp. 000 read pp. 195-6
p. 215 n. 80 last line:>r 1970 read 1972
p. 229 n. 13: insert if after even
p. 230 n. 1 line 2: fir 1902 read 1909
p. 234 n. 4: after Rhetorik insert und Metrik
p. 234 n. 4 Une 6: for 1960 read 1950
Index s.v. Josephus as a Pharisee: add p. 100
Introduction
to the Second Edition
Josephus in the Twenty-First Century
Josephus is a historian who has been much read and valued over the mil­
lennia. He has been appreciated as the indispensable source of virtually
our entire narrative of events and society in uniquely formative times
and places - Palestine in the first century A.D., together with the wider
Jewish world in the Hellenistic and Roman framework. The Jews may
have ignored or forgotten him for centuries, leaving him to the affections
principally of Christian readers, but one way or another, Josephus has
always been scrutinised and quarried for countless different purposes.
And yet, when the first edition of this book appeared in 1983, relatively
few attempts were being made to achieve a broader perspective on him.
In the last two decades all that has changed: monographs and studies,
commentaries and introductions, conferences and colloquia have prolif­
erated, and they show no signs of abating. The major translation and
commentary enterprise published by Brill under the general editorship of
Steve Mason deserves to be singled out. (Full details of work referred to
in this discussion are given at the end of the Bibliography, under the
heading 'Guide to Literature since 1983'.) Various reasons could be sug­
gested for the change. While I can hardly claim any special credit, it is
gratifying that the 1983 book was pinpointed in Per Bilde's invaluable
1988 analysis of Josephus and his scholarship, as the leading exponent of
the 'modern' (as distinct from the 'classical') conception of the historian.
The modern approach is one that takes the historian seriously on his own
terms, which is indeed what my book sought to do, and that is a contin­
uing thread as well in most of the research carried out since 1988.
Plenty of progress has been made, but the book has stood the test of
time - a closely comparable time-lapse, interestingly, to that which
occurred between Josephus' Jewish War and his subsequent revisiting of
the action (or some of it) in his autobiographical Life, Josephus dealt with
the public's reaction by re-writing a good deal of the story. In this case,
the scarcely altered re-publication implies rather that I would like to