Jerusalem's Traitor: Josephus, Masada, and the Fall of Judea

by Seward, Desmond

  7 Josephus, Vita, in Complete Works, 424.

  8 Ibid., 427.

  9 Josephus, The Jewish War, in Complete Works, 1, 6.

  10 F. Parente, “The Impotence of Titus,” in Sievers and Lembi, Josephus and Jewish History in Flavian Rome and Beyond, p. 66.

  11 Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, in Complete Works, 1, 1-3.

  12 Ibid., 1, 4.

  13 Ibid., 20, 263.

  14 Josephus, Contra Apionem, in Complete Works, I, 50.

  15 Rajak, Josephus, pp. 234-236.

  23. MASADA AND THE LAST ZEALOTS

  1 Josephus, The Jewish War, in Complete Works, 7, 163.

  2 Ibid., 7, 190-215.

  3 Ibid., 7, 284.

  4 Ibid., 7, 323-336.

  5 Ibid., 7, 341-388.

  6 Ibid., 7, 401.

  7 Ibid., 7, 399-401.

  8 Ibid., 7, 406.

  9 Ibid., 7, 419.

  10 Ibid., 7, 433-436.

  24. A ROMAN CITIZEN

  1 Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History, I, p. 227.

  2 Goodman, “Josephus as Roman Citizen,” in Parente and Sievers (eds.), Josephus and the History of the Greco-Roman Period, p. 332.

  3 H. M. Cotton and W. Eck, “Josephus’s Roman Audience: Josephus and the Roman Elite,” in E. Edmondson, S. Mason, and J. Rives (eds.), Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 52.

  4 P. Spilsbury, “Reading the Bible in Rome: Josephus and the Constraints of Empire,” in Sievers and Lembi (eds.), Josephus and Jewish History in Flavian Rome and Beyond, p. 240.

  5 Rajak, “Josephus and the Diaspora,” in Edmondson, Mason, and Rives (eds.), Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome, pp. 85-90.

  6 Josephus, Contra Apionem, in Complete Works, 1, 51-52.

  7 Josephus, Vita, in Complete Works, 363.

  8 Ibid., 366.

  9 Josephus, The Jewish War, in Complete Works, 4, 643.

  10 Rajak, Josephus, p.195 n. 23.

  11 Jones, The Emperor Titus, p. 93.

  12 Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, VIII, Vespasian, xxiii.

  13 Ibid., VIII, Titus, vii.

  14 Josephus, Vita, in Complete Works, 428.

  15 Ibid., 429.

  16 Josephus, The Jewish War, in Complete Works, 7, 85-88.

  17 Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, VIII, Domitian, ii, 1.

  18 Josephus, The Jewish War, in Complete Works, 7, 152; S. Mason, “Reading Josephus’s Bellum Judaicum in the Context of a Flavian Audience,” in Sievers and Lembi (eds.), Josephus and Jewish History in Flavian Rome and Beyond, p. 100.

  19 Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, VIII, Domitian, x, 1.

  20 Ibid., VIII, Domitian, xiv, 1.

  21 Josephus, Vita, in Complete Works, 429.

  22 Dio Cassius, Roman History, LXVII, 14, 3.

  23 Josephus, Vita, in Complete Works, 429.

  24 Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, VIII, Titus, x.

  25 Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, in Complete Works, 1, 8.

  26 Spilsbury, “Reading the Bible in Rome,” p. 213.

  27 Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, in Complete Works, 18, 13.

  28 Ibid., 13, 298.

  29 Josephus, Contra Apionem, in Complete Works, I, 53.

  30 S.J.D. Cohen, Josephus in Galilee and Rome: His Vita and Development as a Historian (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1979), p. 101.

  31 Josephus, Contra Apionem, in Complete Works, II, 1.

  32 Ibid., II, 143.

  33 J.M.G. Barclay, “Judean Historiography in Rome: Josephus and History in Contra Apionem, Book I,” in Sievers and Lembi (eds.), Josephus and Jewish History in Flavian Rome and Beyond, p. 36.

  34 M. Goodman, “The Fiscus Iudaicus and Attitudes to Judaism,” in Edmondson, Mason, and Rives (eds.), Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome, p. 25.

  25. HISTORY’S VERDICT

  1 Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, I, p. 57.

  2 Josephus, The Jewish War, trans. G. A. Williamson (New York: Penguin, 1959), p. 11.

  3 Perowne, The Later Herods, p. 109.

  4 Schürer, The History of the Jewish People, I, p. 57.

  5 Josephus, The Works of Josephus, trans. R. Traill (London, 1847), p. 12.

  6 R. Laqueur, Der jüdischer Histotiker Flavius Josephus (Giesen, 1920).

  7 H. St. J. Thackeray, Josephus, the Man and the Historian (New York: Jewish Institute of Religion Press, 1929), pp. 18-22.

  8 S.J.D. Cohen, Josephus in Galilee and Rome, p. 240.

  9 A. Bunzel, La Trilogie de Josèphe de Lion Feuchtwanger, Bibliothèque d’études germanique et centre-européennes, vol. 8, University of Montpellier, 2006, pp. 31-32.

  10 Rajak, Josephus, p. xiv.

  11 F. Millar, “Empire, Community, and Culture in the Roman Near East: Greeks, Syrians, Jews, and Arabs,” Journal of Jewish Studies 38 (1987): 147.

  12 Josephus, Contra Apionem, in Complete Works, II, 277.

  SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

  References to the works of Josephus given in my source notes are to the text of the definitive Loeb edition (see below), but nearly all the quotations and excerpts from his writings are my own renderings, which to some extent have been inspired by the translations of Whiston and Traill, although they are very much modernized. The literature on Josephus is vast, and it continues to grow at a rapid pace because of increasing interest. The selection of books and articles listed here, in addition to primary sources, is a reasonably representative selection of the more recent and more important scholarship.

  PRIMARY SOURCES

  Augustine of Hippo. St. Augustine’s Confessions. Translated by W. Watts. 2 vols. London: Loeb Classical Library, 1912.

  Babylonian Talmud. Translated by I. Epstein. 35 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1935-1952.

  Dio Cassius. Dio’s Roman History with an English Translation. Translated by E. Cary. 9 vols. London: Loeb Classical Library, 1914-1927.

  Eusebius. The Ecclesiastical History. Translated by K. Lake and J.E.L. Oulton. 2 vols. London: Loeb Classical Library, 1926, 1932.

  Josephus. Josephus: Complete Works. Translated by H. St. J. Thackeray, R. Marcus, A. Wikgren, and L. H. Feldman. 9 vols. London: Loeb Classical Library, 1926-1965.

  ______. The Jewish War. Translated by G. A. Williamson. New York: Penguin, 1959.

  ______. Oeuvres complètes de Flavius Josephus. Translated by J. Weill. 5 vols. Paris, 1900.

  ______. The Works of Flavius Josephus, the Learned and Authentic Jewish Historian. Translated by W. Whiston. London, 1736.

  ______. The Works of Josephus: A New Translation. Translated by R. Traill. London, 1847, 1851.

  The Mishna. Translated by H. Danby. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1934.

  Petronius. Petronius with an English Translation. Translated by M. Heseltine. London: Loeb Classical Library, 1913.

  ______. The Satyricon. Translated by P. G. Walsh. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.

  Philo of Alexandria. Philo with an English Translation. Translated by F. H. Colson and G. H. Whitaker. 10 vols. London: Loeb Classical Library, 1962.

  Pliny. Letters. Translated by W. Melmoth and W.M.L. Hutchinson. 2 vols. London: Loeb Classical Library, 1915.

  Suetonius. The Lives of the Caesars. Vol. 2. Translated by J. C. Rolfe. London: Loeb Classical Library, 1914.

  Tacitus. The Histories and The Annals. Translated by C. H. Moore and J. Jackson. 4 vols. London: Loeb Classical Library, 1925-1931.

  MODERN SOURCES

  Abel, F. M. Géographie de la Palestine. Paris, 1967.

  ______. Histoire de la Palestine depuis la conquête d’Alexandre jusqu’à l’invasion arabe. Paris, 1952.

  ______. “Topographie du siège de Jerusalem en 70,” Révue Biblique (Paris), 1949.

  Alon, E. T. Jews, Judaism and the Classical World. Translated by I. Abrahams. Jerusalem, 1977.

  Appelbaum, S. “The Zealots: The Case for Re-evaluation.” Journal for Roman Studies 61:155-170.

  Avigad, N. Discovering Jerusalem. Oxford: Blackwell, 1
984.

  Baras, Z. “The Testimonium Flavianum and the Martyrdom of James.” In Feldman and Hata (eds.), Josephus, Judaism and Christianity.

  Barclay, J.M.G. Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora from Alexander to Trajan. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clarke, 1996.

  ______. “Judean Historiography in Rome: Josephus and History in Contra Apionem, Book I.” In Sievers and Lembi (eds.), Josephus and Jewish History in Flavian Rome and Beyond.

  Barnes, T. D. “The Sack of the Temple in Josephus and Tacitus.” In Edmondson, Mason, and Rives (eds.), Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome.

  Baron, S. W. A Social and Religious History of the Jews. Vols. 1 & 2. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962.

  Betz, O. “Miracles in the Writings of Flavius Josephus.” In Feldman and Hata (eds.), Josephus, Judaism and Christianity.

  Bilde, P. “Flavius Josephus between Jerusalem and Rome: His Life, His Works and Their Importance.” Journal for the Study of the Pseudoepigraph (Sheffield), 1988.

  Bonsirven, J. Le Judaisme Palestinien. 2 vols. Paris, 1934-1935.

  ______. Textes rabbiniques des deux premiers siècles chrétiens. Rome, 1955.

  Brinton, C. The Anatomy of a Revolution. New York: W. W. Norton, 1938.

  Bunzel, A. La Trilogie de Josèphe de Lion Feuchtwanger. Bibliothèque germanique et centre-européennes. Vol. 8. University of Montpellier, 2006.

  Cambridge History of Judaeism. Vol. 3. Edited by W. Horbury, W. D. Davies, and J. Sturdy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

  Coggins, R. J. “The Samaritans in Josephus.” In Feldman and Hata (eds.), Josephus, Judaism and Christianity.

  Cohen, A. Everyman’s Talmud. London: J. M. Dent, 1949.

  Cohen, S.J.D. Josephus in Galilee and Rome: His Vita and Development as a Historian . Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1979.

  ______. From the Maccabees to the Mishnah. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.

  Comay, J. The Temple of Jerusalem with the History of the Temple Mount. New York: Holt, Reinhart & Winston, 1975.

  Cotton, H. M., and W. Eck. “Josephus’s Roman Audience: Josephus and the Roman Elites.” In Edmondson, Mason, and Rives (eds.), Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome.

  Crook, J. “Titus and Berenice.” American Journal of Philology 72 (1951):162-175.

  Daniel-Rops, H. Jésus en son temps. Paris, 1945.

  ______. La vie quotidienne en Palestine au temps de Jésus Christ. Paris, 1959.

  Edersheim, A. The Temple: Its Ministry and Services. Rev. ed. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1994.

  Edmondson, E., S. Mason, and J. Rives (eds.). Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

  Farmer, W. R. Maccabees, Zealots, and Josephus. New York: Columbia University Press, 1956.

  Feldman, L. H. “Flavius Josephus Revisited: The Man, His Writings, and His Significance.” In Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt. Part 2. Edited by Wolfgang Haase. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1984.

  Feldman, L. H., and G. Hata (eds.). Josephus, Judaism and Christianity. Detroit: E. J. Brill, 1987.

  ______ (eds.). Josephus, the Bible, and History. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1989.

  Feldman, W. M. The Jewish Child. London: Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox, 1917.

  Ferrar, W. J. The Uncanonical Jewish Books: Short Introduction to the Apocrypha and Other Jewish Writings, 200 bc-100 ad. London, 1918.

  Feuchtwanger, L. Der Jüdische Krieg. Berlin, 1932.

  Freyne, S. Galilee from Alexander the Great to Hadrian, 323 bce to 135 ce. Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier / Notre Dame, Ind.: Notre Dame University Press, 1980.

  Goodman, M. “The Fiscus Iudaicus and Gentile Attitudes to Judaism in Flavian Rome.” In Edmondson, Mason, and Rives (eds.), Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome.

  ______ (ed.). Jews in the Graeco-Roman World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

  ______. “Josephus as Roman Citizen.” In Parente and Sievers (eds.), Josephus and the History of the Greco-Roman Period.

  ______ (ed.). Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

  ______. The Roman World, 44 bc-ad 140. London: Routledge, 1997.

  ______. Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilisations. London: Allen Lane, 2007.

  ______. The Ruling Class of Judea: The Origins of the Jewish Revolt against Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

  Grabbe, L. L. Judaism from Cyrus to Hadrian. London: SCM Press, 1994.

  Gray, R. Prophetic Figures in Late Second Temple Jewish Palestine: The Evidence from Josephus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.

  Greenhalgh, P.A.L. The Year of the Four Emperors. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1975.

  Hadas-Lebel, M. Flavius Josephus: Eyewitness to Rome’s First Century Conquest of Judea. Translated by R. Miller. New York: Macmillan, 1993.

  ______. “Flavius Josephus, Historian of Rome.” In Parente and Sievers (eds.), Josephus and the History of the Greco-Roman Period.

  Hata, G. “Imagining Some Dark Periods in Josephus’s Life.” In Parente and Sievers (eds.), Josephus and the History of the Greco-Roman Period.

  Hazel, J. Who’s Who in the Roman World. London: Routledge, 2002.

  Hengel, M. The Zealots. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clarke, 1989.

  Hornblower, S., and A. Spawforth (eds.). The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

  Horsley, R. A. Jesus and the Spiral of Violence: Popular Jewish Resistance in Roman Palestine. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987.

  Horsley, R. A., and J. S. Hanson. Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements at the Time of Jesus. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988.

  Jeremias, J. Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus. London: SCM Press, 1969.

  Johnson, P. A History of the Jews. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987.

  Jones, B. W. The Emperor Titus. London: Croom Helm / New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984.

  ______. The Emperor Domitian. London: Routledge, 1992.

  Jordan, R. Berenice. London: Constable, 1974.

  Jossa, G. “Jews, Romans and Christians from the Bellum Judaicum to the Antiquitates.” In Sievers and Lembi (eds.), Josephus and Jewish History in Flavian Rome and Beyond.

  ______. “Josephus’s Action in Galilee during the Jewish War.” In Parente and Sievers (eds.), Josephus and the History of the Greco-Roman Period.

  Kadman, L. The Coins of the Jewish War of 66-73 ce. Vol. 3 of Corpus Nummorum Palaestinensium. Tel Aviv: Schocken, 1960.

  Ladouceur, D. J. “Josephus and Masada.” In Feldman and Hata (eds.), Josephus, Judaism and Christianity.

  Laqueur, R. Der jüdischer Historiker Flavius Josephus. Giessen, 1920.

  Leon, H. J. The Jews of Ancient Rome. Philadelphia: Jewish Publications in America, 1960.

  Levick, B. Vespasian. London: Routledge, 1999.

  Levine, I. L. “Josephus’s Description of the Jerusalem Temple: War, Antiquities and Other Sources.” In Parente and Sievers (eds.), Josephus and the History of the Greco-Roman Period.

  Madden, F. W. The Coins of the Jews, London, 1881.

  ______. History of Jewish Coinage. London, 1864.

  Masada: The Yigael Yadin Excavations, 1963-1965. Final Report, 6 vols. Jerusalem, 1989.

  Mason, S. Flavius Josephus on the Pharisees. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991.

  ______. Josephus and the New Testament. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1992.

  ______. “Josephus, Daniel and the Flavian House.” In Parente and Sievers (eds.), Josephus and the History of the Greco-Roman Period.

  ______. “Of Audience and Meaning: Reading Josephus’s Bellum Judaicum in the Context of a Flavian Audience.” In Sievers and Lembi (eds.), Josephus and Jewish History in Flavian Rome and Beyond.

  ______. Understanding Josephus: Seven Perspectives. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1988.

  Mattingly, H., and R.A.G. Carson. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum . 9 vols. London, 1932-1975.