the reliability ofjosephusjosephusofcan he be trusted

eric D huntsman

the author joseph ben matthias ha cohen like most membersof the judean upper class lived in several worlds at once born inAD 37 to an aristocratic family of priestly lineage josephus wasostensibly connected with the hasmoneanhasmonaeanHasmonean family that had ruledjudea between 165 BC and 38 BC 1 his native language was ara-maic although hhee was well versed in hebrew which by his timewas largely a liturgical language he was an observant jew whosereligious interests led him to affiliate with the three major schoolsofjudaism the sadducees essenesespenesEssenes and the phariseesPharis ees

nevertheless josephus was educated in greek literature andwas comfortable with the hellenistic culture that then dominatedthe eastern mediterranean he was also familiar with roman civiliza-

tion not only from the romanizingwomanizingRomanizing efforts of the herodiansHerodians andthe subsequent direct roman occupation but also from his ownvisits to the imperial capital when he finally wrote the works thatimmortalized him he had by some surprising turns of eventsbecome a roman citizen and had taken the name flaviusjosephusflavius josephus 21

an awareness ofofjosephussjosephussjosephuesJosephuss multiculturalmulticultural background is essen-tial in order to understand his extant writings jewish war jewishantiquities against apron and his vita or life 5131135333 all of theseworks in their final form at least were published in greek ratherthan in aramaic or hebrew 4 in addition to writing in greek jose-phus also closely followed the greek historiographic traditionadopting many elements of its style and outlook and employinggreek historical methods 5

392

reliability of josephus 393

josephus was also uniquely equipped to be a writer ofjewishhistory he had the correct religious foundation knowledge andbackground 6 furthermore he had access to the necessary sourcesand was an eyewitness for many of the later events especiallythose recorded in jewish war such firsthand knowledge was aqualification that thucydides the first scientific greek historianthought was absolutely necessary for writing any contemporaryhistory 7 for all these reasons josephus had such success as a his-torical author that jerome once called him the greek livy com-paring him to one of the great latin authors of roman history 8

josephus however was sometimes inaccurate somewhat eva-sive prone to tangents and even sloppy in his writing 9 the diffi-culty of working in a second language and the authors ownpersonality might explain some of these failings even other acknowl-edged ancient historians such as herodotus who is the earliestgreek historian whose works are fully extant were also known fortheir digressions nevertheless when elements ofofjosephussjosephussjosephuesjosephuss worksare contradictory inaccurate obviously fabricated or simply wrongthe modernmodem reader may begin to question josephussjosephuesJosephuss reliability tounderstand how an author like josephus could be both a greatwriter and at the same time a questionable historian we must under-stand the difference between history and historiography

first we must realize that our current view of history is quitea modern concept not until the late nineteenth century did histo-rians begin to believe that the facts of past events were recover-able if all the surviving pieces of evidence could be gathered andweighed 10 students of ancient history during this period readilyadopted this approach particularly in germany where encyclope-dias and vast collections of evidence were amassed and detailedhistories of the ancient world were written this however wasnot the ancient approach to history in antiquity historiographywas writing about history and was a literary genre of its own

to the sophisticated reading audiences of greece and romerhetoric was as important as accuracy it was a truism that historywas nothing but rhetoric meaning that the authors tried to per-suade their audiences that what the authors thought happened oreven what they thought should have happened actually occurredtherefore greek and roman writers of history omitted expanded

394 masada and the world of the new testament

or compressed historical material to suit their own needs freelyappropriated whole passages from other writers and readily in-vented detail while adorning their narrative to make it more per-suasive and aesthetically pleasing

how clearly josephus falls into the classical historiographictradition is clear from the direct influence exerted on him by pre-vious greek authors his prologue to the jewish war is immedi-ately reminiscent of thucydides history of the peloponnesian warboth authors began by asserting that their works would cover thegreatest of all wars 11 josephus also appears to have deliberatelymodeled himself on thucydides both in his use of alternating di-rect and indirect discourse and in the use of other compositionaltechniques such as using the first book to establish the back-ground and to identify the causes of the upcoming war more strik-ing are the reflections of thucydides plague stricken athens thatone finds ininjosephussjosephussjosephuesJosephuss depiction of jerusalem as famine settled induring its long siege 12 another model for josephus was polybiusa greek author who lived in the second century before christ likejosephus polybius had watched his homeland the greek citystates of the achaean league fall before the onslaught of romeboth authors sought to explain to their countrymen romes appar-ently invincible power and they both identified their captors asthe divinely appointed masters of the world 13 from polybius jose-phus adopted some greek terms commonly used in hellenisticperiod such as to theion godly power or being to daimondivinity or hebi tychetychi fortune and regularly used these expres-

sions where one would expect him to make a traditional referenceto god 14 finally josephus thucydidestbucydides and polybius all shared simi-

lar experiences each was successively an aristocrat a politician ageneral and finally an exile from his homeland 15

josephussjosephuesJosephuss other major work jewish antiquities while still

part of the classical tradition of historiography seems to have beenbased on slightly different models it is not a history of contempo-rary events like thethejewisbjewish war or thucydides history of the pelo-ponnesianponnesian war instead it is a survey of the history of the jewishpeople from the time of creation although the influence of poly-bius is still present in this work josephus seems to have adoptedfrom dionysius of halicarnassus the same scheme that dionysius

reliability of josephusofjosepbus 395

had employed in his work on roman antiquities 16 rememberingjosephussjosephuesJosephuss multiculturalmulticultural background however we are not sur-prised to find that this work in particular reflects some near east-ern elements in both its style and purpose

gregory sterling has identified a subgenresubgenre of history writingthat he calls apologetic historiography 17 he sees this as a type ofwriting particularly in the hellenizedhellenizer near east in which a localcontent the history of a particular people is recounted in a non-native form adapted from a superimposed dominant culture theearliest examples of this kind of historical writing are berossos andmantheonpantheonMantheon a hellenizedhellenizer babylonian and egyptian respectively whowrote their national histories in greek according to the outwardform of classical historiography 18 josephus engaged in this kind ofapologetic writing when he tried to redefine judaism within thecontext of a greco roman world by doing so he hoped to informothers about his people while defending them and their traditionsfrom growing antisemitismanti semitism among the greeks 19

the importance of rhetoric is apparent in the regular use ofset speeches by the ancient historians direct speeches in greekliterature developed out of the epic tradition and herodotus sub-sequently introduced speeches into prose writing 20 thucydidesfurther developed the speech by using it to convey the intentionsof historical characters and to illustrate other factors that narrativealone could not although thucydides claimed that he tried to keepclose to the sense of what was actually said in such situations headmitted that he had his speakers say what seemed to be appropri-ate for a given situation 21 thucydides rhetorical speeches writtenby the historian but placed in the mouths of his characters laterbecame a standard feature of classical historiography these speechesoften became set or stock pieces for a given situation and neverclaimed to be a verbatim reproduction of what a real historical fig-ure actually said

hence in a famous episode prior to the fall of masada to theromans josephus composed an elaborate philosophical treatisefor the rebel leader eleazar josephus was not present to hear whatspeech if any eleazar actually gave neither were the roman troopsnor for that matter were the masada survivors who by this timehad safely hidden themselves in a cistern 22 the speech like others

396 masada and the world of the new testament

ininjosephussjosephussjosephuesJosephuss works is a literary creation and while it contains viewsthat eleazar might have shared it nonetheless belongs to josephus

chronological inconsistency is another frequent factor in thehistoriographic genre although thucydides made an effort to main-tain a regular chronology most ancient authors followed the exam-ple of another writer named ephorus who arranged his materialthematically the latter approach was favored for its clarity even ifit meant that the narrative lost some chronological accuracy

classical historiography also privileged political and militaryhistory and often failed to provide the kinds of material that manymodemmodern historians feel is necessary consequently one must sup-plement the literary sources with material such as archaeologicalevidence inscriptions and numismatics in order to produce socialeconomic or cultural history for the period accordingly josephusschuss jewish war underestimates the widespread apocalypticbeliefs of his contemporaries and practically omits social and eco-nomic factors that contributed to the outbreak of the war 23

since ancient history was intended to be didactic its writersfashioned their narratives for their own purposes subordinatingevents that they recounted to their theme while at the same timecreating a new literary work 2421 the purpose of the history affectedauthors selection of material determining what they would includeand what they would omit ancient writers were thus subjectivelyselective if an event did not support their point they were free toignore or modify it

writers of this period were also heavily dependent upon theirown sources for the modern student of ancient history thereforesource criticism becomes particularly important as we try to iden-tify an ancient authors sources and to assess the reliability of thosesources As mentioned above josephus was an eyewitness tomany of the events in injewisbjewish war in which case he was often hisown source his captivity after the fall of jotapataJotapata in AD 67 af-forded him time to take notes on what was transpiring and toreflect upon the course of the war 2521 but as his own ideas regardingthe causes of the war and its final outcome developed his recol-lections could have been affected

many other witnesses to the events of the war on both sideswould have been available to josephus and they could both provide

reliability ofofjosephjosephus 397

information and verify his account 26 because of his later associa-tion with the flavian emperors josephus would also have hadready access to the commentariicommentarii or field reports of vespasiantitus and succeeding commanders as well as to other jewish androman archives 27

some ofofjosephussjosephussjosephuesJosephuss sources were in as much a position toapprove or even censure his account as theywerethey were to provide infor-mation for it josephus tried to bolster the veracity of his history bysoliciting the endorsement of herod agrippa 11II and the flaviansflavianaFlaviansparticularly titus josephus reminded his readers that the jewishwar had received the approval of titus and revealed that duringthe composition of the history he had regularly provided agrippa 11II

with installments of the work for his review the king wrote jose-phus sixty two letters confirming josephussjosephuesJosephuss accuracy and commend-ing him for his efforts 28128211 nevertheless it is apparent that thesepolitical figures were able to influence and even direct his historyinsomuch that it has been suggested thatthatt jewish war was a workcommissioned by the imperial government 29 josephussjosephuesJosephuss accountindeed did take the roman point of view since to the jews thejewish war was actually the roman war

the need to please his patrons provided josephus with anexternal bias that imposed limits on what he could and could notinclude in his work he regularly praised the roles of both ves-pasian and titus and worked to legitimize the new flavian dynastyaccordingly josephus emphasized his belief that vespasian waschosen by god to rule the world noting his own role in prophesy-ing vespasiansvespasianaVespasians accession before it occurred 3010 even when jose-phus included questionable actions of the flaviansflavianaFlavians such as theroman burning of the temple he modified them thus josephusportrayed titus as anxious to spare the holy edifice and attributedits destruction to common roman soldiers and jews alike 31

it was josephussjosephuesJosephuss internal bias however that had the great-est affect on his selection and use of evidence sometimes this biaswas purely personal such as when he exaggerated his own achieve-ments and skills or tried to justify his surrender atjotapataatjotapataJotapata 32 moreimportantly josephussjosephuesJosephuss subject presented him with two seeminglyconflicting loyalties he was at the same time pro roman and projewish josephussjosephuesJosephuss solution to this dilemma was to blame the war

398 masada and the world of the new testament

on neither the romans nor the aristocratic jewish leaders whomhe regularly portrayed as desiring peace and working for accom-modationmodation instead he held responsible the jewish extremists whomwhether they were the zealotszealous in jerusalem or the sicariisicardi whoseized control of masada 33 he called lesteslistislestislistes or bandits

this shifting of blame however is probably only the proxi-mate purpose ofofjewishjewish war josephussjosephuesJosephuss ultimate intent seems tolielleileliefardeeperfar deeper 34 his later works especially antiquities and againstaaionapion were written largely to defend the history and current rightsof the jews outwardly thejewishthe jewish war by shifting the responsibil-ity of the war away from the body of the jewish people achievedthis same purpose inwardly however josephussjewishjosephvissJosephviss jewish war servedto promote within the jewish community greater openness andmore cooperation with rome 35 the roman empire with divinesanction had conquered the jewish homeland it was necessarytherefore for the remnants of the jewish people to submit to godswill and work within the roman system to preserve their way of life

the reliability of the works of josephus suffered even moreafter the texts actually left his hands As with any ancient textthose of josephus experienced the usual problems of copying andtransmission unlike the bible for which the textual tradition is

surprisingly and fortunately strong the survival of the works ofjosephus is similar to that of other greco roman literature exceptfor a single fragment of ofjewishjewish war which dates to the third cen-tury AD the oldest manuscripts date between the ninth andeleventh centuries at least eight hundred years after josephus firstbegan to write 36 during that time copying errors were made mar-ginal notes were accidentally included and interpolations werewillfully injected into the text

this last type of change is particularly significant because ofthe popularity that josephus gained among early christian writersjosephus provided a link between the old and new testamentsthat furnished the young religious community with a connectionto the more ancient jewish tradition for the christians the de-structionstruction of jerusalem was a clear fulfillment of the prophecies ofjesus matt 241 2 later when the jewish and christian commu-nities had clearly split and begun to grow hostile to each other the

reliability ofjosepbus 399

destruction of the jewish state and the further dispersion of itspopulace seemed to the christians to be fitting punishments forthe death of christ 37

most importantly josephussjosephuesJosephuss antiquities occasionally providedcorroborating evidence for events in the gospels and the book ofacts the census ofofquiriniusquiriniusQuirinius luke 22 the reported general cru-elty of herod the activity ofjohn the baptist matt 35 the deathof herod agrippa I1 acts 1220 23 and the existence ofjamesofjames thebrother of jesus are all attested by josephus 3831 in each of theseinstances there are some discrepancies between the biblical andjosephanjosenhanJosephan accounts 39 but these may actually strengthen thethejosephanjosephanjosenhanjosephanreferences claim to legitimacy since christian copyists or editorswould have been likely to harmonize the accounts completely

many scholars feel however that the mention of james thelords brother the material about john the baptist and any directreferences to jesus are deliberate interpolations 4010 the most sus-pect of these is the so called testimonium flavianumFlavianum in antiqui-ties 18.631863 64 which gives an account of a wise man if one reallyshould say that he is a man who was christ it then speaks of thelords trial crucifixion and resurrection and concludes by statingthat the christians have not disappeared to this day

although the historical aim of josephus was to recount thetruth about his people he also endeavored to write beautifully anddramatically as an heir to the classical rhetorical tradition 41 thuswhen using josephussjosephuesJosephuss writings to reconstruct a certain period wemust remember the traditions in which he worked and be aware ofthe historical we might occasionally call them ahistorical meth-ods that were accepted in his own time As with any other literarysource of the period the evidence he presents must be evaluatedcritically and used carefully especially when he provides the onlyliterary account for a particular event

while josephussjosephuesJosephuss writings may not always be completely reli-able his works can nonetheless be trusted to recreate a dramaticimage of a people and the critical events in their history that havebeen important for jews christians and other students of the an-cient classical world

eric D huntsman is lecturer in classics at brigham young university

400 masada and the world of the new testament

NOTES

josephus jewish war 1.3131315 josephus antiquities 16.18716187 josephus life1 2 7 see mireille hadas lebel flaviusjosepbusflavius josephus eyewitness to romes firstcentury conquest ofjudeaof judea trans richard miller new york macmillan 19937 11 opinions are divided as to the veracity ofofjosephussjosephussjosephuesjosephuss claim ofofhasmoneanhasmocasmo neandescent for max radin the pedigree of josephus classical philology 241929 193 94 against holscher josephus in real encyclopddie der klassi

scbenschenmcben altertumswissenschaft 9 stuttgart J B metzler 1916 col 1935 andshaye J D cohenjosephuscohengohen josephus in galileogalilee and rome his vita and development asa historian leiden brill 1979 107 8 n 33

perer bilde flavius josephus between jerusalem and rome his life hisworks and their importance journal for the study of the pseudepigrapha sup-plement series 2 sheffield eng sheffield academic press 1988 27 32 gre-gory E sterling historiography and seifselfserdefinitionjosephusdefinition josephus luke acts andapologetic historiography newnewyorkyork brill 1992 229 35

3theathehe usual dating of these documents is isjewisbjewish war circa AD 78 antiqui-ties circa AD 94 life shortly after AD 94 as a supplement to antiquities andagainst aaionapion in AD 95 see steve mason josephus and the new testamentpeabody mass hendrickson 1992 58 81 and michael grant readings in the

classical historians new york charles scribners sons 1992 367 68 hadaslebel places the publishing of the greek version of Jewish war during the reignof titus AD 708170 81 hadas lebeljosephuslebellebei josephus 213

although josephus read and spoke greek with relative ease josephusantiquities 1.71717 8 20.2632026320265 writing the language well stillstiffstinn caused him some diffi-

culty accordingly he often composed in aramaic his native tongue and thenreworked the material into suitable greek with the help of secretaries who helpedhim with his style see Bildeblidebildejosephusjosephus betweenbetweenjerusalemjerusalem and rome 62 masonjosephus and the new testament 58 59 and hadas lebeljosephuslebellebei josephus 209

513lideilde josepjosephusbus between jerusalem and rome 2034203 4 cohen josepjosephusbusdusin galileogalilee and rome 28 29

josephus jewish war 3.35233525352 josephus antiquities 20.26220262 63 josephusagainst aaionapion 11541.5415454 see also bilde josephus between jerusalem and rome 62

josephus jewish war 1.3131315 josephus antiquities 1.414 josephus againstaaionapion 1.48491484914814849 49 53537532 55 for the methodology of thucydides see thucydidespeloponnesian war 1.20231202312012023 23

jerome epistles 22.3522352255 admittedly jerome like many early christian writ-ers was favorably disposed towards josephus because he saw him as a linkbetween the old and new testaments and as a witness of the apocalyptic pun-ishmentsishments of the jews

9masonjosephusason josephus and the new testament 29lohH E bamesbarnes A history of historical writing new york dover 1963

26675266 75mason josephus and the new testament 59 sterling historiography

241 cohengohencohenjosephusjosephus in galileogalilee androneandromeanand dRomerome 91hadas lebeljosephuslebellebei josephus 211hadas13hadas lebeljosephuslebellebei josephus 211 12

reliability ofjosepbus 401

blidebildejosephusBilde josephus between jerusalem and rome 200 201 contrast hadaslebel who maintains that josephus did not see god as nemesis or fortune butrather as a judge and father hadas lebeljosepbuslebellebei josephus 212

bilde josephus between jerusalem and rome 202 thucydides was anupper class athenian who was active in politics and was later elected generalafter the loss of amphipolisAmphipolis during the peloponnesian war he was exiled fromhis home likewise polybius was elected a general of the achaean league but waslater deported to italy by the romans for the different stages ofofjosephussjosephussjosephuesJosephuss lifesee notes I11 and 2 above

emilio gabba literature in sources for ancient history ed michaelcrawford cambridge cambridge university press 1983 18 19 cohen jose-phus in galilee and rome 25 26

17 apologetic17apologetic historiography is the story of a subgroup of people in anextended prose narrative written by a member of the group who follows thegroups own traditions but hellenizeshellenizerHellenizes them in an effort to establish the identity ofthe group within the setting of the larger world sterling historiography 17

sterling historiography 104 36hadas lebeljosephuslebellebei josephus 215 18

11cC W fornara the nature of history in ancient greece and romeberkeley and los angeles university of california press 1983 142 68 michael

grant greek and roman historians information and misinformation newyork routledge 1995 44 47

what thucydides actually meant in peloponnesian war 1.22122122 has beenthe subject of much discussion see A W gomme A historical commentary onthucydides7bucydides 5 vols oxford oxford university press 1945 70 1140 48 andJ S rusten thucydides the peloponnesian war book 2 cambridge cam-bridge university press 1989 7 17

solomon Zeitzeltzeitlinbinfin masada and the sicardisicariiSicarii jewish quarterly review 5555

april 1965 305cohen josephus in galilee and rome 188 9911

14cohenjosephuscohen josephus in galilee and rome 30 3115josephus15josephus against aaionapion 1.49149149 hadas lebel suggests that the jotapataJotapata

account reads as if it were new information suggesting that josephus wrote anearly draft of the siege shortly after the city fell hadas lebeljosephuslebellebei josephus 122

bilde josephus between jerusalem and rome 62 63 noting josephusagainstapionagainst aaionapion I11150511.15051150511150150 51 and life 361 64 for the frequent collusion of witnesseswith the artistic license taken by ancient historians see the discussion of jose-phus and flavius silva in eric D huntsman and they cast lots divinationdemocracy and josephus in this volume

2727josephusjosephus antiquities 14.18514185 89 265 67 16.16116161 164 78 josephusagainstapionagainst aaionapion 1.56156156 josephus life 342 358 for a discussion see bildejosepbusbildeblide josephusbetween jerusalem and rome 62

21josephus21josephus life 363 josephus even goes to the extent of quoting two ofagrippasrippasAg letters an unusual expedient in ancient history writing see hadaslebellebeljosephusjosephus 213 14

29hadashadnshadas lebeljosephuslebelfosephus 207 8300opinions300pinionspinions differ on josephussjosephuesJosephuss prophecy to vespasian who was pro-

claimed emperor inadanadin AD 69 by his legions while stillstiffstinn campaigning in judea see

402 masada and the world of the new testament

mason josephus and the new testament 45 49 and hadas lebel josephus104 6 one possibility is that josephus conspired with vespasian after the fact forpropaganda purposes saving his own life in the process another possibility isthat he was reinterpreting existing oracles that claimed that a future princewould arise in judea and rule the world josephus apparently came to believethat although the promised ruler was to come from judea he did not need to bejewish josephus jewish war 6.3136313 there remains the possibility that josephushad a revelatory experience of some kind especially since he seems to have beena mystic who viewed himself as a chosen messenger to his people cohen notesthat his self perception as a latter day jeremiah helped him justify his surrender atjotapataJotapata cohen josephus in galilee and rome 98

31josephus jewish war 1.28128128 6.2506250 80cohen3cohenacohen josephus in galilee and rome 94 97

33mason33mason josephus and the new testament 60 61 cohen josephus ingalilee and rome 97 for the difference between the zealot party and thesicardisicarii dagger men who recognized no human lordship of man over man seezeitlin masada and the sicardisicariiSicarii 310 31417314 17 see also S kent jackson revolu-tionariestionaries in the first century in this volume

31 compare31compare thucydides peloponnesian war 1.23123123125 and his discussion of thepretexts as opposed to the actual causes of the peloponnesian war

35blidebilde josephus between jerusalem and rome 121 22 the first ara-maic version ofofjewishjewish war seems to have been directed towards the jews in theeastern diaspora as a warning for them not to challenge rome the later greekedition however targeted the largely greek speaking jewish population withinthe roman empire

3papyruspapyrus graecusGraecus vindobensis 29810 containsjewishcontains jewish war 2.576792576792576257679 79 and582 84 see bilde josephus between jerusalem and rome 63 for a discussionof the earliest manuscripts and their transmission

hadas3hadasthadas lebeljosephuslebellebei josephus 223 29josephus antiquities 18.2618261826 28 census and its aftermath 18.11618116 19

john the baptist 19.34319343 52 death of herod agrippa 20.20020200 james39seesee hadas lebeljosepbuslebellebei josephus 259 nn 9 12 the new testament account in

luke places the census translated as a tax in the king james version beforethe slaughter of the innocents josephus does not mention the slaying of the chil-dren of bethlehem in his list of herodshernds atrocities but it must have occurredbefore herodshernds death which josephus places in 4 BC the census however tookplace when P sulpiciusSulpicius quiriniusQuirinius translated as cyrenius in the king jamesversion was governor of syria and his governorship was in AD 6 see theoxford classical dictionary 3dad ed sv sulpiciusSulpicius quiriniusQuirinius publius josephusalso does not draw a connection between john the baptist and jesus and herodantipas executes the former only because he fears that john will raise a revolt

blideqildejosepbusbildejosephusBilde josephus between jerusalem and rome 88 126 28 hadas lebeljosephus 225 27 lengthy interpolations and other additions are found in thelate slavonic versions of josephus in addition to longer treatments of christ andjohn the baptist the slavonic josephus is more readily anti roman and antiheroanti herodianthandlantian than existing greek versions

bilde josephus between jerusalem and rome 191 92