Year: 2007
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Awareness of timeTwo of the four works of Flavius Josephus (37/38-ca.100 CE), Joseph Ben-Matityahu for his fellow Judeans, are elaborate histories.The seven books of The Jewish War (De bello Judaico) describe the war between Jews and Romans in 66-70 CE, with its devastating consequences for the Jerusalem Temple.The preamble to that war is also part of the story, which starts at 171/170 BCE.The Jewish Antiquities (Antiquitates Judaicae) offer a comprehensive history of the Jews from the creation of the world until 66 CE in twenty books. 1 The introduction to The Jewish War strongly emphasises the importance of an accurate account of the events in line with a Thucydidean preference for akribeia (BJ 1.3, 6, 9, 25-26; cf. also 7.454-455 and AJ 3.230; 8.56; 9.208), which was taken up by other authors from the imperial period as well (→ Philostratus).One of the ways in which Josephus obtains this akribeia is by choosing a recent subject instead of from the more remote past, just like, as he himself emphasises, the 'ancient historians' do (BJ 1.13).This remark can be taken as a veiled reference to Thucydides, who had rebuked Herodotus for choosing a remote subject. 2 The Jewish War abounds in time-markers, which is another way of effecting the akribeia promised by the historian.Josephus is very precise with his time-markers in comparison to several Greek historiographers (→ Herodotus, → Xenophon).Throughout The Jewish War we find 1 Bilde 1988 offers a concise introduction to Josephus and his works.2 Cf.Th. 1.20-22 with S. Hornblower 1991-1996: ad 20.3, 21.1, 22.4, and Thucydides (→) on the origins of contemporary history.
Source: BRILL eBooks
Authors: J.W. Van Henten, L. Huitink
Language: English
Topic: Classical Antiquity Studies
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4205847983