Flavius Josephus' Self-Characterisation in First-Century Rome

A Historiographical Analysis of Autobiographical Discourse in the Judaean War
Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-90-04-69763-8
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 19, 272 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 600 g

Reihe: Historiography of Rome and Its Empire

The Jewish War describes the history of the First Jewish Revolt against Rome (66-70 CE). This study deals with one of this work's most intriguing features: why and how Flavius Josephus, its author, describes his own actions in the context of this conflict in such detail. Glas traces the thematic and rhetorical aspects of autobiographical discourse in War and uses contextual evidence to situate Josephus’ self-characterisation in a Flavian Roman setting. In doing so, he sheds new light on this Jewish writer’s historiographical methods and his deep knowledge and creative use of Graeco-Roman culture.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Glas, Eelco

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Historiographie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Geschichte der klassischen Antike

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Historiography of Rome and Its Empire Series

Acknowledgments and Permissions

Introduction: Josephus’ Self-Fashioning as a Character in the Judaean War

0.1 ‘There’s No Such Thing as Bad Publicity’

0.2 Background, Aims, and Approach

0.3 Outline and Scope of the Study

1 Character and Exemplarity: Reading the Judaean War within Greek and Roman Historiographic Traditions

Introduction

1.1 The Judaean War: Basic Observations

1.2 Character and Rhetoric in Graeco-Roman Culture

1.3 Character and Characterisation in Graeco-Roman Historiography

1.4 Moral Character and the Purposes of Josephus’ Writings

1.5 Rhetoric and the Presentation of Character in the War

1.6 Conclusions

2 The Perspective of Josephus’ Self-Characterisation

Introduction

2.1 Josephus’ Self-Characterisation in the Judaean War: Outline and Compositional Framing

2.2 Josephus and Autobiographical Practice in Flavian Rome

2.3 The Prominence of Autobiographical Discourse in the Judaean War

2.4 Conclusions

3 Josephus’ Virtues and the Moralising Nature of the War

Introduction

3.1 Josephus’ Art of Statesmanship: Beating Stasis in Galilee (BJ 2.569–646)

3.2 Josephus’ Self-Portrayal and Graeco-Roman Models of Ideal Leadership

3.3 Josephus’ Changing Fortunes

3.4 Josephus’ Self-Characterisation and Roman Exemplary Discourse

3.5 From Narrative Persona in the War to Public Persona in Rome

4 Josephus and the Decorum of Self-Praise

Introduction

4.1 Plutarch’s On Inoffensive Self-Praise

4.2 Greeks and Romans on the Problem of Self-Praise (and Solutions for Practising it Anyway)

4.3 Josephus’ Self-Fashioning as a Historian (Beyond the War)

4.4 The Art of Moderating Self-Praise in the War

4.5 Conclusions

5 Character Contested: Josephus’ Rhetoric of Self-Defence and Apology

Introduction

5.1 Josephus’ Use of Apology in the Jotapata Narrative: What Is at Stake?

5.2 Apology and Self-Aggrandisement: Comparative Observations

5.3 Apologetic Pretence in the Autobiographical Sections of the War

5.4 Josephus’ Art of Survival and the Divine in the Cave of Jotapata (BJ 3.340–391)

5.5 Josephus Nightly Dreams in the Cave of Jotapata (BJ 3.351–354)

5.6 Conclusions

6 Conclusions

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Eelco Glas, Ph.D. (2020, University of Groningen), is a postdoctoral fellow at Aarhus University. His research focuses on Jewish literary culture in the context of the Graeco-Roman Mediterranean.