Josephus’s Political Vision: Policy and Career Ambitions
In: Journal for the Study of JudaismSearch for other papers by Sören Swoboda in
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Discussing texts on political issues, my article shows that Josephus’s Jewish War reveals far more about his own ambitions in the existing political system than about positive political changes for his country or people, which in the 70s he at best hoped for. Anyone who wants to identify those hopes must distinguish him from “visionaries” like Paul, who were likewise concerned to present their convictions as not in conflict with political realities. Josephus must be understood as a tactician, who, unlike these authors, used his skills as a writer to profile himself and his people and who because of his own career ambitions was not willing to disclose anything that could have jeopardized him. My article suggests, moreover, that after the confusion of the war Josephus took up the role of a compassionate advocate for his people and as their “patron” found a career-promoting niche as mediator between Rome and Judaism.
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14
Andreas Klingenberg, Sozialer Abstieg in der römischen Kaiserzeit: Risiken der Oberschicht in der Zeit von Augustus bis zum Ende der Severer (Paderborn: Schöningh, 2011), 21.
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16
Ibid., 180-81.
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23
E.g., 3.359; cf. 1.153. Uriel Rappaport, “Josephus’ Personality and the Credibility of His Narrative,” in Making History: Josephus and Historical Method, ed. Zuleika Rodgers, JSJSup 110 (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 68-81, esp. 76-77 and 80, aptly shows of course the implausibility of the self-image of the militarily experienced general that Josephus created to gain respect in his new environment.
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44
Matthäus Heil, “Sozialer Abstieg: Beredtes Schweigen?” in Senatores populi Romani: Realität und mediale Präsentation einer Führungsschicht, ed. Werner Eck and Matthäus Heil (Stuttgart: Steiner, 2005), 295-312, esp. 300.
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54
On the question of audience, see Swoboda, Intentionen, 394-97, 457-64.
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56
With references, e.g., to Horace, Sat. 1.6.45-48; Suetonius, Cal. 21.1; Klingenberg, Sozialer Abstieg, 26 (own translation).
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79
Steve Mason, “Of Despots, Diadems, and Diadochoi: Josephus and Flavian Politics,” in Writing Politics in Imperial Rome, ed. William J. Dominik et al., Brill’s Companions in Classical Studies (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 323-49, esp. 325 and 347; cf. Mason, “Flavian Rome,” 579-80.
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82
Tessa Rajak, “The Against Apion and the Continuities in Josephus’s Political Thought,” in The Jewish Dialogue with Greece and Rome: Studies in Cultural and Social Interaction, ed. Rajak (Leiden: Brill, 2001), 195-218, at 196.
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83
Ibid., 201. On the two terms, which in Josephus both mean “constitution” (πολιτεία especially does not mean “citizenship”), see Schäfer, “Theokratie,” 204-5.
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84
Cf. James S. McLaren, “Delving into the Dark Side: Josephus’ Foresight as Hindsight,” in Making History, ed. Rodgers, 49-67, esp. 49.
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87
E.g., Tacitus, Agr. 3.1-2. See Dieter Flach, introduction to S. C. Tacitus, Dialogus de oratoribus: Streitgespräch über die Redner, ed. and trans. Dieter Flach (Stuttgart: Steiner, 2005), 12-33, esp. 12-13.
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89
See Hubert Cancik, “Theokratie und Priesterherrschaft: Die mosaische Verfassung bei Flavius Josephus, c. Apionem 2,157-198,” in Religionstheorie und politische Theologie, ed. Jacob Taubes, 3 vols. (München: Fink, 1987), 3:65-77; Schäfer, “Theokratie,” esp. 217-29; Yehoshua Amir, “Theokratia as a Concept of Political Philosophy: Josephus’ Presentation of Moses’ Politeia,” sci 8-9 (1985/1988): 83-105; Oliver Gußmann, Das Priesterverständnis des Flavius Josephus, tsaj 124 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), 306-17, esp. 306-8.
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95
Cf. Barclay, “Josephan Rhetoric,” 321: “Josephus, as it were, infiltrates Roman discourse with his own distinctively Jewish traditions. The comparison with Roman culture is always indirect: it is typically the ‘Greeks’ with whom Josephus favourably compares the Jewish constitution. But his claim that Judaism is really the best, and most pious, constitution ever invented has indirect and unspoken implications for its position in relation to the Romans themselves.” Cf. Barclay, “Roman Dress,” 238-40.
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99
Schäfer, “Theokratie,” 227, also Rajak, “Against Apion,” 202.
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101
Ibid., 75 (my translation).
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105
See for example Philo, Leg. 3.72; Conf. 76-82; Migr. 13; Gig. 14-15. On Philo and Josephus see for example Rajak, “Against Apion,” 199-200; Daniel R. Schwartz, “On Drama and Authenticity in Philo and Josephus,” sci 10 (1989/1990): 113-29.
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109
See C. Nicolet, “Augustus, Government, and the Propertied Classes,” in Caesar Augustus: Seven Aspects, ed. Fergus Millar and Erich Segal (Oxford: Clarendon, 1984), 89-128, esp. 91; Heil, “Beredtes Schweigen,” 300.
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115
Olli Salomies, “Redner und Senatoren: Eloquenz als Standeskultur (1.–3. Jh. n.Chr.),” in Senatores populi Romani, ed. Eck and Heil, 229-59, esp. 230, 232.
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116
Emmanuel Voutiras, “Representing the ‘Intellectual’ or the Active Politician? The Portrait of Herodes Atticus,” in Pathways to Power, ed. Rizakis and Camia, 209-219, esp. 209.
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119
See Christopher Pelling, ed., Greek Tragedy and the Historian (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997); Martin Ostwald, “Tragedians and Historians,” sci 21 (2002): 9-25.
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120
E.g., Gustav A. Seeck, “Senecas Tragödien,” in Das römische Drama, ed. Eckard Lefèvre (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1978), 378-426, esp. 394, 402; and in the same volume Eckard Lefèvre, “Versuch einer Typologie des römischen Dramas,” 1-90, esp. 20.
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121
Emanuele Narducci, “Rhetoric and Epic: Vergil’s Aeneid and Lucan’s Bellum Civile,” in A Companion to Roman Rhetoric, ed. William J. Dominik and Jon Hall, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 382-95, esp. 387, 395.
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122
Anthony J. Boyle, Tragic Seneca: An Essay in the Theatrical Tradition (London: Routledge, 1997), 9.
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134
Werner Eck, “Der Senator und die Öffentlichkeit,” in Senatores populi Romani, ed. Eck and Heil, 1-18. On the relevance of eloquence especially for senators in the first to third centuries ce, see Salomies, “Redner und Senatoren,” e.g., 231, which points to central sources such as Tacitus (Dial.), Pliny the Younger, and Fronto.
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138
Tacitus, Dial. 36.1 (see Andersen, Garten der Rhetorik, 214); cf. 37.5.
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145
Neuhauser, Patronus und Orator, 167-68. Of course there were increasing possibilities over the course of the Imperial period for clientes to defend themselves in court or to carry on a lawsuit (p. 171).
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146
Ibid., 172.
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165
Cicero, Or. Brut. 38.131; De or. 2.124; Cael. 79-80; Flac. 106; Sull. 88-89; Quintilian, Inst. 6.1.30, 33; 11.3.174. See J. Martin, Antike Rhetorik: Technik und Methode (München: Beck, 1974), 165-66; Jehne, “Rednertätigkeit,” 175.
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Josephus’s Political Vision: Policy and Career Ambitions
In: Journal for the Study of JudaismSearch for other papers by Sören Swoboda in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Discussing texts on political issues, my article shows that Josephus’s Jewish War reveals far more about his own ambitions in the existing political system than about positive political changes for his country or people, which in the 70s he at best hoped for. Anyone who wants to identify those hopes must distinguish him from “visionaries” like Paul, who were likewise concerned to present their convictions as not in conflict with political realities. Josephus must be understood as a tactician, who, unlike these authors, used his skills as a writer to profile himself and his people and who because of his own career ambitions was not willing to disclose anything that could have jeopardized him. My article suggests, moreover, that after the confusion of the war Josephus took up the role of a compassionate advocate for his people and as their “patron” found a career-promoting niche as mediator between Rome and Judaism.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 335 | 53 | 2 |
| Full Text Views | 187 | 3 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 90 | 9 | 1 |
