Josephus and the Politics of Historiography: Apologetic and Impression Management in the Bellum Judaicum (Mnemosyne, Bibliotheca Classica Batava Supplementum)

Although Josephus' debt to the traditions of Greco-Roman historiography is widely recognized, the classical elements in his Bellum Judaicum are still often dismissed as just formal ornatus . This study reconsiders Josephus' intellectual affiliation to his predecessors in the genre and argues that the work's classical complexion, and in particular its distinctive color Thucydideus , are integral to the intellectual and ideological design of BJ . Deployed typically at crucial points where Josephus deals with the motives of the Jewish insurgents, the classical elements directly subserve the work's apologetic and polemical tendencies, subtly predisposing the reader to a particular interpretation by applying the rationalist and psychological categories of 'scientific' Greek historiography. In this sense the classical form of BJ is interpreted in light of the historian's partisan political agenda. Contents 6 Acknowledgements 8 Preface 10 Chapter One. Means and Ends 12 1. Premise 12 2. Josephus and Classical Historiography 16 3. Josephus and the Jewish Insurgents 21 4. Method 28 Chapter Two. Manufactured Motives: A ‘Rationalist’ Model of Cause and Effect 30 1. Spes credula—Apocalypse Now (6.283-288) 30 2. Και ερωζ ενεπεσε τοιζ πασιν ... (2.345-347) 36 3. Animus turpis admissi memor (6.2-4) 41 4. De-Mythologizing Beth Horon (2.517-518; 3.9-25) 48 5. Auri sacra fames (5.556-560) 59 6. Summary 63 Chapter Three. The Semantics of Stasis: Some Thucydidean Strands in BJ 4.121-282 66 1. Josephus and Thucydides as Krisenhistoriker 67 2. Enter ’Ιωαννηζ δολιωτατοζ (4.103-135) 78 3. Iusque datum sceleri: Meaning Destabilized (4.138-146; 147-157) 84 1. Predicate and προφασιζ (4.138-146) 86 2. The appointment of Phanni (4.147-157) 88 4. ’Ετυμουζ τοιζ πραγμασι ταζ κλησειζ εφαρμοΖειν : Meaning Reconstituted (4.162-192) 93 5. Deception Unmasked: John and the Idumaeans (4.193-235) 98 6. The Grand Antilogy as Self-Reflexive Discourse (4.236-282) 103 7. Summary 112 Chapter Four. Message and Medium: Further Lines of Cohesion 116 1. ’Αριστεια, Art and Ideology 116 1. Longinus (5.309-316) 117 2. Sabinus the Syrian (6.54-67) 119 3. Julianus the Bithynian (6.81-91) 121 4. Jonathan, Pudens and Priscus (6.169-176) 123 5. Longus (6.186-189) 126 6. Simon (2.469-476) 128 7. Form and function 130 2. Κινειν τα ακινητα: Dramatizing ασεβεια 134 3. Diet and Design in BJ: στασιζ, σπαραγμοζ and αλληλοφαγια 144 Chapter Five. Model and Mirror: Impression Management by Intertextual Strategy 158 Bibliography 170 Indices 178 Index of Passages 178 General Index 182 A 182 B 182 C 182 D 182 E 182 F 182 G 182 H 182 I 182 J 182 M 182 N 182 O 182 P 183 R 183 T 183 V 183 Z 183 "Although Josephus' debt to the traditions of Greco-Roman historiography is widely recognized, the classical elements in his Bellum Judaicum are still often dismissed as just formal ornatus. This study reconsiders Josephus' intellectual affiliation to his predecessors in the genre and argues that the work's classical complexion, and in particular its distinctive color Thucydideus, are integral to the intellectual and ideological design of BJ. Deployed typically at crucial points where Josephus deals with the motives of the Jewish insurgents, the classical elements directly subserve the work's apologetic and polemical tendencies, subtly predisposing the reader to a particular interpretation by applying the rationalist and psychological categories of 'scientific' Greek historiography. In this sense the classical form of BJ is interpreted in light of the historian's partisan political agenda."--Jacket A study of the "Bellum Judaicum". It reconsiders Josephus' intellectual affiliation to his predecessors and argues that the work's classical complexion, and in particular its distinctive "color Thucydides", are integral to its intellectual and ideological design