Part 1

Selections From Josephus

_TRANSLATIONS OF EARLY DOCUMENTS_

GENERAL EDITORS: W. O. E. OESTERLEY, D.D. G. H. BOX, D.D.

SERIES II

HELLENISTIC-JEWISH TEXTS

SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS

SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS

TRANSLATED BY H. ST. J. THACKERAY, M.A.

LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1919

IN PIAM MEMORIAM

PATRIS CARISSIMI

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 9

SELECTIONS 33

I. AUTOBIOGRAPHY

(1) THE BOY AMONG THE DOCTORS. HIS EDUCATION (_V._) 33

(2) A SHIPWRECK ON THE VOYAGE TO ROME. EVE OF THE WAR (_V._) 34

(3) THE _JEWISH WAR_ AND ITS RECEPTION. CRITICISM OF A RIVAL HISTORIAN (JUSTUS) (_V._) 35

(4) AFTER THE WAR. JOSEPHUS AS ROMAN CITIZEN (_V._) 37

II. SPECIMENS OF AMPLIFICATION OF THE BIBLICAL NARRATIVE

(5) MOSES, THE INFANT PRODIGY, INTRODUCED TO PHARAOH (_A._ II) 40

(6) EXORCISM IN THE NAME OF SOLOMON (_A._ VIII) 41

(7) MICAIAH AND ZEDEKIAH PROPHESY BEFORE AHAB (_A._ VIII) 42

III. THE COMING OF THE ROMANS

(8) LOSS OF JEWISH INDEPENDENCE. PALESTINIAN SETTLEMENT UNDER POMPEY (_A._ XIV) 45

(9) DIVISION OF THE COUNTRY INTO FIVE DISTRICTS BY GABINIUS (_B._ I) 47

(10) SETTLEMENT UNDER JULIUS CÆSAR (_A._ XIV) 47

IV. HEROD THE GREAT

(11) THE YOUTH HEROD FREES GALILEE FROM THE BRIGANDS (_A._ XIV) 48

(12) HEROD ON HIS TRIAL BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN (_A._ XIV) 48

(13) HEROD AND CASSIUS. MURDER OF ANTIPATER, HEROD’S FATHER (_A._ XIV) 51

(14) ANTONY MAKES HEROD AND PHASAEL TETRARCHS OF JUDÆA (_A._ XIV) 52

(15) HOW HEROD WON HIS KINGDOM (_A._ XIV) 53

(16) HOW HEROD MADE HIS PEACE WITH AUGUSTUS (AFTER THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM) (_B._ I) 55

(17) HEROD AND MARIAMNE (_B._ I) 56

(18) EXTENSION OF HEROD’S REALM. HIS POPULARITY WITH AUGUSTUS AND AGRIPPA (_A._ XV) 57

(19) THE HISTORIAN’S READING OF HEROD’S CHARACTER (_A._ XVI) 58

(20) REFLECTIONS ON THE TRAGIC FATE OF HEROD’S SONS (_A._ XVI) 60

(21) HEROD’S DYING PROVISION FOR A NATIONAL MOURNING (_A._ XVII) 63

V. ARCHELAUS AND PILATE

(22) ARCHELAUS IN QUEST OF A KINGDOM (_A._ XVII) 66

(23) ARCHELAUS DEPOSED AND HIS TERRITORY ADDED TO THE ROMAN PROVINCE OF SYRIA (_A._ XVII) 71

(24) THE REVOLT OF JUDAS “IN THE DAYS OF THE ENROLMENT” UNDER QUIRINIUS (_A._ XVIII) 72

(25) PILATE OFFENDS JEWISH SUSCEPTIBILITIES IN THE MATTER OF (i) THE EMPEROR’S BUSTS, (ii) THE CORBAN MONEY (_A._ XVIII) 74

(26) JESUS CHRIST (_A._ XVIII) 76

(27) TIBERIUS EXPELS ALL JEWS FROM ROME (_A._ XVIII) 76

(28) PILATE SENT TO ROME FOR TRIAL (_A._ XVIII) 77

VI. THE LATER HERODS

(29) HEROD THE TETRARCH, HIS MARRIAGE WITH HERODIAS AND MURDER OF JOHN THE BAPTIST (_A._ XVIII) 79

(30) HOW HEROD AGRIPPA BECAME KING, AND HEROD THE TETRARCH LOST HIS TETRARCHY (_A._ XVIII) 81

(31) PETRONIUS AND THE STATUE OF GAIUS (_A._ XVIII) 84

(32) HEROD AGRIPPA’S KINGDOM ENLARGED BY CLAUDIUS (_A._ XIX) 88

(33) DEATH OF HEROD AGRIPPA (_A._ XIX) 88

(34) THE STORY OF KING IZATES AND HIS MOTHER HELENA (_A._ XX) 90

(35) THE FATE OF THE IMPOSTOR THEUDAS AND OF THE SONS OF JUDAS THE GALILÆAN (_A._ XX) 93

(36) AGRIPPA II, FELIX, AND DRUSILLA (_A._ XX) 94

(37) THE DEATH OF JAMES, “THE LORD’S BROTHER” (_A._ XX) 95

VII. SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR

(38) INTRODUCTION TO THE _JEWISH WAR_ (_B._ I) 98

(39) SEEDS OF THE WAR SOWN UNDER THE LAST OF THE PROCURATORS. RISE OF THE SICARII (_B._ II) 102

(40) THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF THE WAR. ABROGATION OF SACRIFICES FOR THE EMPEROR (_B._ II) 107

(41) INITIAL JEWISH SUCCESS. ROUT OF A ROMAN ARMY IN THE DEFILES OF BETH-HORON (_B._ II) 110

(42) JERUSALEM BEFORE THE SIEGE (_B._ II) 118

(43) THE FALL OF JOTAPATA. JOSEPHUS TAKEN PRISONER (_B._ III) 119

(44) RECEPTION AT JERUSALEM OF THE NEWS OF THE FALL OF JOTAPATA (_B._ III) 128

(45) MURDER OF THE HIGH PRIEST ANANUS; ALSO OF ZACHARIAS AFTER A MOCK TRIAL (_B._ IV) 129

(46) HOW JOSEPHUS WAS LIBERATED (_B._ IV) 133

(47) A ROMAN REVERSE INSPIRES FALSE CONFIDENCE (_B._ V) 134

(48) CESSATION OF THE DAILY SACRIFICE. JOSEPHUS APPEALS TO THE JEWS (_B._ VI) 135

(49) CONFLAGRATION OF THE TEMPLE (_B._ VI) 137

(50) PORTENTS AND ORACLES (_B._ VI) 141

(51) THE LAST SCENE. CAPTURE OF THE UPPER CITY. JERUSALEM IN FLAMES (_B._ VI) 145

(52) THE SPOILS FROM THE TEMPLE IN THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION IN ROME (_B._ VII) 147

VIII. THE JEWISH SECTS

(53) THE THREE SECTS AND THEIR VIEWS ON FATE AND FREE-WILL (_A._ XIII) 148

(54) THE ESSENES, WITH A NOTE ON PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES (_B._ II) 148

(55) ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF THE THREE SECTS—AND A FOURTH (_A._ XVIII) 158

(56) WHY JOHN HYRCANUS WENT OVER FROM THE PHARISEES TO THE SADDUCEES (_A._ XIII) 161

(57) “CONCILIATE THE PHARISEES”—ALEXANDER’S DYING ADVICE TO ALEXANDRA (_A._ XIII) 164

(58) HOW THE PHARISEES ROSE TO POWER UNDER QUEEN ALEXANDRA (_B._ I) 166

(59) HEROD EXEMPTS PHARISEES AND ESSENES FROM THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. THE ESSENE PROPHET MENAHEM (_A._ XV) 167

(60) THE PHARISEES REFUSE TO TAKE THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE (ANOTHER ACCOUNT) (_A._ XVII) 168

IX. JEWISH THEOLOGY, SCRIPTURES AND CUSTOMS

(61) SOME ASPECTS OF JEWISH THEOLOGY. MOSES AS RELIGIOUS EDUCATOR (_Ap._ II) 170

(62) A FUTURE LIFE—FOR THE LAW-ABIDING (_Ap._ II) 173

(63) THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES AND THEIR PRESERVATION (_Ap._ I) 174

(64) UNIVERSAL IMITATION OF OUR LAWS THE SINCEREST FLATTERY (_Ap._ II) 177

(65) THE OATH “CORBAN” (_Ap._ I) 179

APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES 180

TABLE OF DATES 204

INDEX 207

ABBREVIATIONS

The _Jewish Antiquities_ _Ant._ or _A._

The _Jewish War_ (_Bellum Judaicum_) _B.J._ or _B._

The Treatise _Against Apion_ _Ap._

The _Life_ _Vita_ or _V._

Schürer, _Jewish People in the Time of_ _Jesus Christ_ (_JPTC_)

_circa_ (“about” of dates) _c._

References, _e.g._ _Ant._ XVII. 6.5 f. (171-181). The figures 6.5 f. refer to the older division, found in all editions (Niese’s included), of the books into sections (6 or vi) and subsections (5 and following subsection). The bracketed figures (171-181) indicate the smaller divisions first introduced by Niese.

SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS INTRODUCTION

Life

Josephus, son of Matthias the priest, and on his mother’s side claiming descent from the royal Hasmonæan house—or Flavius Josephus, to give him the name which he adopted out of gratitude to his Imperial patrons—was born in the first year of the Emperor Caligula, A.D. 37-38. St. Paul’s conversion had probably taken place a few years earlier.[1] His life of upwards of sixty years falls into two nearly equal parts, spent respectively in Palestine and in Rome. The Palestinian portion, again, is sharply divided into the pre-war period (to A.D. 65), of which we know comparatively little, and the great four years’ war (A.D. 66-70), of which we know a great deal.

Of his precocious youth, when, if we may believe him, Rabbis flocked to hear the wisdom of the boy of fourteen; how he himself two years later “did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint,” making trial successively of the three sects of his nation, and ending his education by three years passed as an ascetic with a hermit in the wilderness; how on his return to Jerusalem at the age of nineteen he joined the popular and influential party of the Pharisees; of the one outstanding incident of his early manhood, his visit to Rome at the age of twenty-six—of all these things we may read in his own words.[2] Although he finally threw in his lot with the Pharisees, we may judge from the three years’ stay with Ban(n)us, the specially full account which he gives of the Essenes,[3] and other indications, that the tenets and communistic life of that order left a lasting impression. If we may again attempt a synchronism with events in the life of St. Paul, we may say that the Rabbis were listening to the boy about the time of the first Council of the Church at Jerusalem, he was receiving his schooling during the third missionary journey, and his return to Jerusalem nearly coincided with the arrest of the Apostle in that city.

The journey to Rome (A.D. 63-4), like St. Paul’s a few years earlier, began with a shipwreck. Its nominal purpose was to plead the cause of certain priests who had been sent by Felix to Italy for trial. Chronology[4] will hardly permit us to accept the suggestion of Edersheim[5] to connect St. Paul’s liberation with the mission of Josephus; but he cannot have failed, during his stay in the city on the eve of the Neronian persecution, to become acquainted, if not with the work of the Apostle, at least with the existence of the Christian community. Through the influence of Poppæa, the mistress and afterwards wife of Nero, who coquetted with Judaism (Josephus’s words imply that she was a proselyte), he was successful in obtaining the release of the priests and returned to Judæa laden with presents. Besides the expressed object, was there any ulterior motive in this visit to the capital? Edersheim suggests that, foreseeing the trend of events, Josephus was already fired with the ambition of becoming the intermediary between Rome and his nation.

At any rate, his visit had impressed him with a sense of Rome’s invincible power; and on his return to Judæa, where he found the Jews drifting towards revolt and everything pointing to the immediate outbreak of war, he at first tried to pacify the war-party, but in vain. The turbulent state of the country at length induced Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, to advance against Jerusalem. With the disastrous rout of his army in the defiles of Beth-Horon towards the end of A.D. 66, following upon his unexpected withdrawal from the gates of the metropolis,[6] it was realized that the irrevocable step had been taken, and all preparations were made for the impending war.

Josephus, then but twenty-nine years of age, was entrusted with the command of Galilee. The reason for the selection of the young priest for so important a post, for which, notwithstanding his frequent assertions of his skill and strategy, he seems to have been ill-qualified, is obscure. The history of the sequel fills the greater part of the _Life_, but it is not very easy to follow the course of events and to read the motives of the leaders at Jerusalem and the conflicting aims of the various cities of Galilee, which Josephus found in a divided state. His first steps were to fortify the principal places, to reform the army on the Roman model by appointing subordinate officers, and to set up a council of seventy of the principal Galilæans to try cases and to act as hostages for the loyalty of the district. But his efforts to enforce discipline and to secure the allegiance of the Galilæans were unavailing. He had many opponents, in particular John of Gischala, who afterwards played an important part in the siege of Jerusalem. The spring of A.D. 67 was chiefly spent by Josephus in civil strife and in avoiding plots against his life. He was suspected, perhaps justly, of harbouring designs of betraying the country to Rome; he may have hoped to stave off war by some form of compromise. At length John succeeded in inducing the Jerusalem leaders to supersede Josephus, and an embassy was sent to relieve him of his command. He, however, refused to accept the order, and obtained letters from the capital reinstating him. Meanwhile, Vespasian was advancing upon Galilee from Antioch. On the fall of Gadara Josephus was at first inclined to surrender and wrote to Jerusalem for instructions, but finally resolved to stand a siege in the fortified town of Jotapata.

Of the forty-seven days’ siege of Jotapata and the various machinations and counter-machinations of the belligerents Josephus has given us a graphic account in the third book of the _Jewish War_. The story of its fall (July, A.D. 67) and of the sequel—the capture of the general, after a narrow escape, through a ruse, from death at the hands of his compatriots, and his prophecy of Vespasian’s rise to power—will be found in the text.[7]

“By the end of A.D. 67,” I quote from what I have written elsewhere, “the whole of northern Palestine was in the hands of the Romans. Only Jerusalem, where a bloody civil war was raging, remained to be taken. But its capture was delayed by the events of A.D. 68, which drew the attention of the generals to the west. News came first of the death of Nero, which took place in June, and then, in rapid succession, of the accession of Galba, Otho and Vitellius. In July, A.D. 69, Vespasian’s legions took the law into their own hands, and proclaimed him emperor. One of his first acts as emperor was to liberate Josephus, whose prophecy had now come true.[8]... [Josephus] now accompanied the emperor to Alexandria, and from there was sent back with Titus to take part in the siege of Jerusalem.... [His] services as interpreter and intercessor were more than once requisitioned by Titus;[9] on one occasion he was hit by a stone, and barely escaped capture and death at the hands of his countrymen. He was, he tells us, at this time between two fires; for, while bitterly hated by the Jews, he was suspected by the Romans of treachery whenever they met with a reverse.”[10]

For his life in Rome, where he witnessed (with what feelings we are left to imagine) the triumphal procession of the two emperors,[11] and for the various privileges bestowed on him by Vespasian, Titus and Domitian, we may refer to his own narrative.[12] Awarded the rights of Roman citizenship, he was also among the first to be placed on the “civil list” newly instituted by Vespasian.[13] He was still pursued by Jewish hatred; among his opponents he names in particular Justus, a rival historian of the war, and Jonathan, the leader of a revolt in Cyrene, who accused him of complicity in his designs; but with his unfailing tact he succeeded in retaining the favour of the Flavian emperors and defeating his enemies. He appears to have survived into the second century, since he outlived Agrippa II,[14] whose death is placed by Photius in A.D. 100. Eusebius (_H. E._ III. 9) tells us that our author was honoured by the erection of his statue in Rome, and that his works were placed in the public library. He was married at least four times;[15] one wife deserted him, another he divorced.

Works

During the leisure of his life in Rome Josephus composed the four works which, owing largely, no doubt, to their popularity with early Christian writers, have survived entire: the _Jewish War_ (7 books), the _Jewish Antiquities_ (20 books), the _Life_ and the treatise _Against Apion_ (2 books). There is no adequate ground for thinking that he published anything further.

(i) The _Jewish War_. This, the earliest of the works, was, in its present Greek form, finished in the latter half of Vespasian’s reign, between A.D. 75 and 79. It cannot be earlier than A.D. 75, because it mentions the completion of the temple of Pax (_B. J._ VII. 158), which was dedicated in that year; it had, moreover, been preceded by other histories of the war. The Greek, as the author tells us,[16] is a translation, made for the use of the learned Roman world at large, of a first draft, written in his native Aramaic for the benefit of a smaller circle of readers in upper (or inland) Syria. The Aramaic has not survived. The Greek—for which assistance was obtained, “employing certain _collaborateurs_ with a view to the Greek style” are his words, _c. Ap._ I. 50—shows no sign of its Semitic parentage and probably amounted to practically a new work. It is unlikely, _e. g._, that the first draft contained the summary sketch of Jewish history from the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, which occupies Books I and II of the Greek. The work seems to have been issued in parts.[17] Copies were presented to Vespasian and Titus and other Romans who had taken part in the war, and _sold_ to Herod Agrippa II and other learned Jews (_c. Ap._ I. 51). Titus himself affixed his _imprimatur_. A long correspondence on the work passed between the author and his friend, Agrippa; two specimens of the king’s letters, in rather slipshod Greek, are quoted.[18]

Books I and II give a rapid sketch (expanded in the _Ant._) of Jewish history from the capture of Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes (168 B.C.) down to the defeat of Cestius Gallus in A.D. 66 and the preparations for the war. Book III narrates the coming of Vespasian and Titus, the siege of Jotapata and the fighting in Galilee; Book IV the close of the Galilæan campaign, the factions in Jerusalem, the advance of Vespasian upon the city and his return to Rome on being elected emperor by his army; Book V describes the city and Temple, the investment by Titus and the capture of the first and second walls; Book VI the horrors of the famine, the taking of the fortress of Antonia, followed by the burning of the Temple and the capture and destruction of the city; Book VII the return of Titus to Rome, the triumphal procession and the capture of the last strongholds of the Jewish fanatics.

(ii) The _Jewish Antiquities_. In this, his _magnum opus_, Josephus undertook to write the history of his nation from the creation to the outbreak of the Jewish War. He tells us of his misgivings in entering on so large a task, the toil which it involved, and how it was only through the encouragement of his patron Epaphroditus (to whom _Ant._, the _Life_ and the _Apion_ treatise are all dedicated) that it was finally completed in the thirteenth year of Domitian’s reign and the fifty-sixth of his own life, A.D. 93-94 (_Ant._ I. 6 ff.; XX. 267). The work towards the close shows some marks of weariness. The title (Ἰουδαïκὴ Ἀρχαιολογία) and the division into twenty books were doubtless derived from the great Roman history (Ῥωμαïκὴ Ἀρχαιολογία) of Dionysius of Halicarnassus.

In Books I-X the narrative closely follows the Biblical account down to the Babylonian captivity; XI carries on the story to Alexander the Great; XII to the death of Judas Maccabæus (161 B.C.); XIII contains the history of the Hasmonæan house to the death of Queen Alexandra (67 B.C.); XIV the intervention of Pompey and the Romans and the accession of Herod the Great (37 B.C.), whose reign (37-4 B.C.) fills XV, XVI and the first half of XVII; the rest of XVII comprises the reign of Archelaus (4 B.C. to A.D. 6); XVIII, XIX and XX cover the remainder of the period of the Gospels and the Acts, including notices of Quirinius, Pilate, Tiberius, Herod the Tetrarch, and the two later Herods; the greater part of XIX is occupied with a full, but irrelevant, account of the assassination of the emperor Gaius and the accession of Claudius (A.D. 41); XX summarizes the events to the outbreak of the war (A.D. 66).

As regards the historian’s authorities for the first half of his work, the main source was the Greek Bible (“the Septuagint”), occasional use being made of the Hebrew. This was supplemented by (1) legends and commentary, drawn, in part at least, from Rabbinic tradition (_Haggadah_ and _Halachah_); (2) Hellenistic reproductions of the Biblical history by Alexandrians such as Demetrius and Artapanus; (3) secular historians and non-Biblical documents such as Berosus, the annals of Tyre, etc. The number of authorities named under this last head is considerable, but it is probable that many of them were known to Josephus only through the great Universal History of Nicolas of Damascus, the friend of Herod the Great and Augustus, to which he is largely indebted throughout the whole of _Ant._ For the centuries following the Captivity his authorities are unfortunately scanty and of little value. From the Captivity to Antiochus Epiphanes his main sources are the LXX books of _1 Esdras_ and _Esther_, some legends of Alexander the Great, the _Letter of Aristeas_, _1 Maccabees_ and (occasionally) Polybius. From this point he relies largely on two lost Universal Histories of Augustan writers, Strabo and Nicolas of Damascus. The latter was undoubtedly his chief authority for the very full account of the reign of Herod the Great, though he does not accept all his statements without question, and appears to have had access to some less eulogistic history of that monarch. Mention is once made of the “Memoirs of King Herod” (XV, 174). With the accession of Archelaus the history, unfortunately for the student of the N.T., again becomes meagre, expanding into greater fullness when the reign of Agrippa I is reached. With regard to him Josephus would obtain information from his son, Agrippa II, and for the events leading up to the war he could draw on his own recollections. The account of the assassination of Gaius, which is of primary importance for the Roman historian, was thought by Mommsen to be derived from the work of Cluvius Rufus, a witness of the events which immediately preceded it. Besides these authorities Josephus had access to priestly records (he notes the succession of high priests throughout the narrative) and to important decrees concerning privileges granted on various occasions to Jews resident in Asia and elsewhere.

(iii) The _Life_ was written as a sequel to the _Antiquities_, to which it is appended in the MSS. A promise of such an appendix is made at the end of _Ant._ (XX. 266); and the _Life_ closes with a dedication of the whole history to Epaphroditus, the patron named in the exordium to the larger work. But the _Life_ seems to have been an afterthought, added only after an interval of some six or seven years, since it is implied that, Agrippa II is already dead,[19] and his death is said to have occurred in A.D. 100. The immediate occasion for its production was the appearance of a rival history of the Jewish War by Justus of Tiberias, in which the writer accused Josephus of being the real cause of the war with Rome. “The appearance of Justus’s work, with its damaging criticisms, was likely to endanger the secure position which Josephus had won for himself at Rome, and the earlier historian of the war felt bound to defend himself. The _Life_, then, by no means answers to its name. It is not a complete autobiography, but simply an apologetic statement as to the actions of Josephus as commander in Galilee, to which have been added a few details as to the earlier and later events of his life, by way of prologue and epilogue.”[20] The defence, in which Josephus attempts to pose as friendly to the Romans, while he has to admit the part which he took in organizing the Jewish forces to oppose them, is extremely weak; and the work, which is characterized by inordinate self-praise, is the least satisfactory of the historian’s writings.