Subject Area
History
Description
According to the autobiographical work that he wrote, Titus Flavius Josephus, born Yosef ben Matityahu, was born in the year 37, the same year Caligula ascended to the imperial throne in Rome. He was born in the Roman province of Judaea to a priestly, aristocratic family and raised in Jerusalem in the privilege and wealth associated with such a family. Following the war between the Romans and the Jews in 66 and his capture by the Romans at the siege of Jotapata, he became a prisoner of the future emperor, Vespasian, later winning his favor by prophesying his rise to power. Working with the Romans for the rest of the war, he eventually moved to Rome and enjoyed the patronage of Vespasian and his imperial successors. From Rome, Josephus penned his history of the war in seven volumes, known as the Bellum Iudaicum, or the War of the Jews (BJ).
Through this history, Josephus gives the most valuable insight into a multitude of aspects concerning Jewish thought, culture, history, and religion in the first century. Josephus’ style of writing history affects how we read the Bellum Iudaicum in a number of ways. By extension it reveals a number of things concerning topics such as audience, bias, and intended reception. In this project, I will investigate how Josephus utilizes Moses and how he intended his audience to receive him. Though the topic is treated often, and especially in the past fifty years, there is not yet a wide consensus concerning Josephus’ specific motives in using Mosaic themes, how these uses reflect on those characters he likens him to, and to what extent his audiences would have made the connections. Therefore, my approach in this paper will be to liberally investigate in what ways Josephus might have accomplished these objectives.
Publisher
Providence College
Academic Year
2019-2020
Date
Fall 2019
Type
Thesis
Format
Text
Language
English
Included in
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, History of Religion Commons
