Image and Imitation: Josephus' Antiquities 1-11 and Greco-Roman Historiography

by Martin Friis

Overview

Flavius Josephus ranks among the most influential and prolific ancient Jewish writers. His account of near-contemporary events in the Jewish War and the latter half of the Jewish Antiquities have often been subjected to critical scrutiny. Josephus' writings, however, also include an account of the most remote past of the Jewish people in the first eleven books of the Jewish Antiquities. Yet, only rarely has this part of his authorship been subjected to a historiographically oriented analysis. Martin Friis offers such an analysis with emphasis on Josephus' various strategies of self-presentation. He provides numerous examples of the comprehensiveness of Josephus' self-presentational style, and shows how Josephus consistently presents himself as a capable and competent historian in a manner that is highly reminiscent of, and easily comparable to, that of some of the greatest ancient Greco-Roman historians.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783161564666
Publisher:	Mohr Siebeck
Publication date:	10/01/2018
Series:	Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2.Reihe , #472
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	6.06(w) x 9.06(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

List of Abbreviations xii

Chapter 1 Introduction: The Antiquities and Ancient Historiography

1.1 Introductory 1

1.2 A Jewish History for a Non-Jewish Audience 1

1.2.1 Flavius Josephus and his works 2

1.2.2 The Antiquities and ancient historiography 4

1.2.3 Josephus' intended audience for and aim with the Antiquities 7

1.2.4 Aim and outline of this monograph 10

1.3 A Handful of Histories? The Diversity of Ancient Histories 14

1.3.1 Differences in nomenclature 14

1.3.2 Differences in scope and subject matter 15

1.3.3 Different types of historians 18

1.4 Modem Scholarship on Ancient Historiography 19

1.4.1 Brief survey of seminal contributions 19

1.4.2 Ancient histories, modem discussions 22

1.5 Concluding Remarks 34

Chapter 2 Setting the Stage for History: Ways of Introduction

2.1 Introductory 36

2.2 'Allow me to introduce myself…' Ways of Self-introduction 36

2.2.1 Manners of self-presentation in ancient histories 36

2.2.2 Josephus' manner of self-introduction in his histories 38

2.3 '… and my work': The Historian and his Chosen Subject Matter 41

2.3.1 The importance of choosing a proper subject matter 41

2.3.2 The ancient historians on the subject matter of their works 43

2.4 Concluding Remarks 54

Chapter 3 A Matter Of Persuasion: The Importance of a Sound Methodology

3.1 Introductory 55

3.2 Ancient Literary Critics on the Nature of Ancient Histories 56

3.2.1 History 101: Historiography and related ancient genres 56

3.2.2 The importance of proper research 59

3.3 The Historian and his Personal Experience 64

3.3.1 Claims to personal experience amongst the ancient historians 64

3.3.2 Josephus' claims to personal experience 69

3.4 The Historian and the Oral Tradition 72

3.4.1 References to oral tradition in ancient historiography 72

3.4.2 Josephus on oral tradition and hearsay 76

3.5 The Historian and his Written Sources 77

3.5.1 Introduction: Josephus on the issue of written sources 77

3.5.2 The ancient historians on epigraphic material 85

3.5.3 The ancient historians on documentary material 89

3.5.4 Josephus' references to the Scriptures 96

3.6 Concluding Remarks 107

Chapter 4 The Historian and his Predecessors: Josephus and his Colleagues

4.1 Introductory 109

4.2 Ancient Literary Critics on the Works of Specific Historians 109

4.2.1 The stylistic impact of certain historians 109

4.2.2 Various reasons for censure 112

4.3 The Ancient Historian and his Predecessors 117

4.3.1 Herodotus and Thucydides on Homer 117

4.3.2 The ancient historians on the works of their colleagues 121

4.4 Josephus on his Greco-Roman Predecessors 137

4.4.1 Josephus' criticism of the Greek historians in Against Apion 137

4.4.2 Josephus' references to other historians in Antiquities 1-11 139

4.5 Concluding Remarks 146

Chapter 5 A Story for the Ages: Josephus' Authorial Presence

5.1 Introductory 147

5.2 Everything in Order: Ways of Arrangement 148

5.2.1 Ancient literary critics on the importance of arrangement 148

5.2.2 Arrangement and chronology in ancient histories 148

5.2.3 Arrangement and chronology in the Antiquities 155

5.3 A Proper Beginning: Myths and Divine Causality in Ancient Histories 157

5.3.1 'Once more, from the top': Beginnings and myths 157

5.3.2 Making Sense of History: Reasoning and (Divine) Causality 168

5.4 Josephus' Use of Authorial Intrusions 177

5.4.1 "As I have written…": Use of cross-references 177

5.4.2 "Allow me to explain…": Explanatory intrusions 182

5.4.3 Lessons from history: Josephus on the human condition 185

5.5 Concluding Remarks 188

Conclusions 189

Summary 195

Bibliography 197

Primary Sources 197

Secondary Literature 198

Index of Ancient Sources 217

Index of Modem Authors 234

General Index 238