Abstract: Chapter 5 Josephus as a Roman Historian Steve Mason, Steve MasonSearch for more papers by this author Steve Mason, Steve MasonSearch for more papers by this author Book Editor(s):Honora Howell Chapman, Honora Howell ChapmanSearch for more papers by this authorZuleika Rodgers, Zuleika RodgersSearch for more papers by this author First published: 30 October 2015 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118325162.ch5Citations: 2 AboutPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShareShare a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Summary This chapter attempts two things. First, it offers reasons for assuming that Flavius Josephus was engaged with his Roman environment in ways that were normal for writers of that time and place. Second, the chapter highlights what seem to be Roman features of both his historiographical perspective and his treatment of imperial themes. It considers how Romans authors presented their texts to their audiences and finds Josephus's texts to have been produced under the normal circumstances at Rome, with a patron and an audience. With respect to the emperors, Josephus struck three poses: flattery and dissimulation; honesty; and ironic flattery; this does not stop him from questioning the explosive issue of hereditary monarchy in Flavian Rome, proposing aristocracy as a better form of government than "tyranny". Least noticed of all are Josephus's rather forceful critiques of monarchy and its crucial prerequisite in the first century: hereditary succession. References Ahl, Frederick. 1984. "The Art of Safe Criticism in Greece and Rome." American Journal of Philology 105: 174–208. 10.2307/294874 Web of Science®Google Scholar Barclay, John M. G. 2007. Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary, Volume 10: Against Apion [BJP], edited by Steve Mason. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar Bartsch, Shadi. 1994. Actors in the Audience: Theatricality and Doublespeak from Nero to Hadrian. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 10.4159/harvard.9780674280991 Google Scholar Brighton, Mark A. 2009. The Sicarii in Josephus's Judean War: Rhetorical Analysis and Historical Observations. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature. Google Scholar Chapman, Honora H. 1998. " Spectacle and Theater in Josephus's Bellum Judaicum ." PhD diss., Stanford University, CA. Google Scholar Comber, Michael. 1997. " Re-reading the Roman Historians." In Companion to Historiography, edited by Michael Bentley, 43–56. London: Routledge. Google Scholar Cotton, Hannah M. and Werner Eck. 2005. " Josephus' Roman Audience: Josephus and the Roman Elites." In Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome, edited by Jonathan Edmondson, Steve Mason, and James Rives, 37–52. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262120.003.0002 Google Scholar Crook, John A. 1951. "Titus and Berenice." American Journal of Philology 72: 162–175. 10.2307/292544 Google Scholar Eckstein, Arthur. M. 1990. "Josephus and Polybius: A Reconsideration." Classical Antiquity 9: 175–208. 10.2307/25010928 Web of Science®Google Scholar Eichholz, David E. 1951. "Galen and his Environment." Greece & Rome 20: 60–71. 10.1017/S0017383500011190 Google Scholar Fantham, Elaine. 1996. Roman Literary Culture: From Cicero to Apuleius. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. Google Scholar Feldman, Louis H. 2000. Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary, Volume 3: Judean Antiquities 1–4 [BJP], edited by Steve Mason. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar Habinek, Thomas N. 1998. The Politics of Latin Literature: Writing, Identity, and Empire in Ancient Rome. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 10.1515/9781400822515 Google Scholar Harris, William V. 1989. Ancient Literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 10.4159/9780674038370 Google Scholar Hölkeskamp, Karl-J. 1996. " Exempla und mos maiorum: Überlegungen zum kollektiven Gedächtnis der Nobilität." In Vergangenheit und Lebenswelt: soziale Kommunikation, Traditionsbildung und historisches Bewusstsein, edited by Hans-Joachim Gehrke and Astrid Möller, 301–338. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. Google Scholar Johnson, William A. 2010. Readers and Reading Culture in the High Roman Empire: A Study of Elite Communities. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176407.001.0001 Google Scholar Kraus, Christina S. 2005. " From Exempla to Exemplar? Writing History around the Emperor in Imperial Rome." In Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome, edited by Jonathan Edmondson, Steve Mason, and James Rives, 181–200. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262120.003.0010 Google Scholar Kraus, Christina S. and A. J. Woodman. 1997. Latin Historians. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar Mader, Gottfried. 2000. Josephus and the Politics of Historiography: Apologetic and Impression Management in the Bellum Judaicum. Leiden: Brill. 10.1163/9789047400233 Google Scholar Marincola, John. 1997. Authority and Tradition in Ancient Historiography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511584831 Google Scholar Mason, Steve. 1998. " 'Should Any Wish to Enquire Further' (Ant. 1.25): The Aim and Audience of Josephus's Judean Antiquities/Life ." In Understanding Josephus: Seven Perspectives, edited by Steve Mason, 64–103. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. Google Scholar Mason, Steve. 2001. " Introduction to the Judean Antiquities ." In Louis H. Feldman, Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary, Volume 3: Judean Antiquities 1–4 [BJP], edited by Steve Mason, xiii–xxxvi. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar Mason, Steve. 2003. " Flavius Josephus in Flavian Rome: Reading on and Between the Lines." In Flavian Rome: Culture, Image, Texts, edited by Anthony J. Boyle and William Dominik, 559–589. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar Mason, Steve. 2005a. " Of Audience and Meaning: Reading Josephus' Bellum Iudaicum in the Context of a Flavian Audience." In Josephus and Jewish History in Flavian Rome and Beyond, edited by Joseph Sievers and Gaia Lembi, 70–100. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar Mason, Steve. 2005b. " Figured Speech and Irony in the Works of T. Flavius Josephus." In Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome, edited by Jonathan Edmondson, Steve Mason, and James Rives, 243–288. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262120.003.0013 Google Scholar Mason, Steve. 2008. Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary, Volume 1b: Judean War 2 [BJP]. Leiden: Brill. 10.1163/ej.9789004169340.i-524 Google Scholar McGushin, Patrick. 1992. Sallust: The Histories.Volume I. Books i–ii. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar McGushin, Patrick. 1994. Sallust: The Histories.Volume II. Books iii–v. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar Mellor, Ronald. 1999. The Roman Historians. London: Routledge. 10.4324/9780203294420 Google Scholar Millar, Fergus. 2005. " Last Year in Jerusalem: Monuments of the Jewish War in Rome." In Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome, edited by Jonathan Edmondson, Steve Mason, and James Rives, 101–128. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262120.003.0006 Google Scholar Mommsen, Theodor. 1878. "Vitorius Marcellus." Hermes 12: 428–430. Google Scholar Nauta, Ruurd R. 2002. Poetry for Patrons: Literary Communication in the Age of Domitian. Leiden: Brill. 10.1163/9789004351141 Google Scholar Ruurd R. Nauta ed. 2004. Catullus' Poem on Attis: Texts and Contexts. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar Ogilvie, Robert M. 1980. Roman Literature and Society. London: Penguin Books. Google Scholar Pelling, Christopher. 2000. Literary Texts and the Greek Historian. London: Routledge. Google Scholar Price, Jonathan J. 2005. " The Provincial Historian in Rome." In Josephus and Jewish History in Flavian Rome and Beyond, edited by Joseph Sievers and Gaia Lembi, 101–20. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar Potter, David. 1999. Literary Texts and the Roman Historian. London: Routledge. Google Scholar Rajak, Tessa. 1983. Josephus: The Historian and his Society. London: Duckworth. Google Scholar Rajak, Tessa. 2005. " Josephus in the Diaspora." In Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome, edited by Jonathan Edmondson, Steve Mason, and James Rives, 79–97. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262120.003.0005 Google Scholar Ramsey, John T. 1984. Sallust's Bellum Catilinae. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar Saller, Richard P. 1983. "Martial on Patronage and Literature." The Classical Quarterly, new series 33: 246–257. 10.1017/S0009838800034431 Web of Science®Google Scholar Salles, Catherine and René Martin. 1992. Lire à Rome. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. Google Scholar Schwartz, Seth. 1990. Josephus and Judaean Politics [Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition 18]. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar Shahar, Yuval. 2004. Josephus Geographicus: The Classical Context of Geography in Josephus. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. Google Scholar Starr, Raymond J. 1987. "The Circulation of Texts in the Ancient World." Classical Quarterly, new series 37: 213–223. 10.1017/S0009838800031797 Web of Science®Google Scholar Thackeray, Henry St. J. 1929. Josephus: The Man and the Historian. New York: Jewish Institute of Religion. Google Scholar Timpe, Dieter. [2008] 2011. " Memoria and Historiography Rome," trans. Mark Beck. In Greek and Roman Historiography, edited by John Marincola, 151–174. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar Turner, Eric G. 1954. "Tiberius Iulius Alexander." Journal of Roman Studies 44: 54–64. 10.2307/297556 Google Scholar Van Groningen, B. 1963. "EKΔOΣIΣ." Mnemosyne series 4, 16: 1–17. 10.1163/156852563X00793 Google Scholar Villalba i Varneda, Pere. 1986. The Historical Method of Flavius Josephus [Arbeiten zur Literatur und Geschichte des hellenistischen Judentums 19]. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar Wardman, Alan. 2002. Rome's Debt to Greece. Bristol: Bristol Classical. Google Scholar Weaver, Paul R. C. 1994. "Epaphroditus, Josephus, and Epictetus." Classical Quarterly 44: 468–479. 10.1017/S0009838800043925 Web of Science®Google Scholar Weber, Wilhelm. 1921. Josephus und Vespasian: Untersuchungen zu dem Jüdischen Krieg des Flavius Josephus. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer. Google Scholar Kathryn Welch, and Anton Powell, eds. 1998. Julius Caesar as Artful Reporter: The War Commentaries as Political Instruments. London: Duckworth. Google Scholar White, P. 1973. "Notes on Two Statian ΠPOΣΩΠA." Classical Philology 68: 279–284. 10.1086/366006 Google Scholar White, Peter. 1975. "The Friends of Martial, Statius, and Pliny, and the Dispersal of Patronage." Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 79: 265–300. 10.2307/311139 Google Scholar White, Peter. 1978. " Amicitia and the Profession of Poetry in Early Imperial Rome." Journal of Roman Studies 68: 74–92. 10.2307/299627 Web of Science®Google Scholar Timothy P. Wiseman, ed. 1985. Roman Political Life: 90 B.C.–A.D. 69. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. Google Scholar Wiseman, Timothy P. 1998. " The Publication of De Bello Gallico ." In Julius Caesar as Artful Reporter: The War Commentaries as Political Instruments, edited by Kathryn Welch and Anton Powell, 1–7. London: Duckworth. Google Scholar Woodman, A. J. 1988. Rhetoric in Classical Historiography: Four Studies. London: Croom Helm. Google Scholar John Yardley and Waldemar Heckel, eds. 2001. Quintus Curtius Rufus: The History of Alexander, revised edition. London: Penguin Books. Google Scholar Further Reading Students should begin their research on Josephus as a Roman historian with the following scholarship: Google Scholar Ahl, Frederick. 1984 "The Art of Safe Criticism in Greece and Rome." American Journal of Philology 105: 174–208. 10.2307/294874 Web of Science®Google Scholar Bartsch, Shadi. 1994. Actors in the Audience: Theatricality and Doublespeak from Nero to Hadrian. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 10.4159/harvard.9780674280991 Google Scholar Michael Bentley, ed. 1997. Companion to Historiography. London: Routledge. Google Scholar Anthony J. Boyle and William Dominik, eds. 2003. Flavian Rome: Culture, Image, Texts. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar Collingwood, Robin G. 1993. The Idea of History, revised edition, edited by W. J. van der Dussen. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar Comber, Michael. 1997. " Re-reading the Roman Historians." In Companion to Historiography, edited by Michael Bentley, 43–56. London: Routledge. Google Scholar William Dominik, John Garthwaite, and Paul A. Roche, eds. 2009. Writing Politics in Imperial Rome. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar Jonathan Edmondson, Steve Mason and James Rives, eds. 2005. Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262120.001.0001 Google Scholar Fantham, Elaine. 1996. Roman Literary Culture: From Cicero to Apuleius. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. Google Scholar Hans-Joachim Gehrke and Astrid Möller, eds. 1996. Vergangenheit und Lebenswelt: soziale Kommunikation, Traditionsbildung und historisches Bewusstsein. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. Google Scholar Klaus Haacker, Otto Betz, Otto Michel, and Martin Hengel, eds. 1974. Josephus-Studien: Untersuchungen zu Josephus, dem antiken Judentum and dem Neuen Testament. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. Google Scholar Johnson, William A. 2010. Readers and Reading Culture in the High Roman Empire: A Study of Elite Communities. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176407.001.0001 Google Scholar Kraus, Christina S. and Anthony J. Woodman. 1997. Latin Historians. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar Lindner, Helgo. 1974. " Eine offene Frage zur Auslegung des Bellum-Proömiums." In Josephus-Studien: Untersuchungen zu Josephus, dem antiken Judentum and dem Neuen Testament, edited by Klaus Haacker, Otto Betz, Otto Michel, and Martin Hengel, 254–259. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. Google Scholar John Marincola, ed. 2011. Greek and Roman Historiography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar Mason, Steve. 2005a. " Of Audience and Meaning: Reading Josephus' Bellum Iudaicum in the Context of a Flavian Audience." In Josephus and Jewish History in Flavian Rome and Beyond, edited by Joseph Sievers and Gaia Lembi, 70–100. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar Mason, Steve. 2005b. " Figured Speech and Irony in the Works of T. Flavius Josephus." In Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome, edited by Jonathan Edmondson, Steve Mason, and James Rives, 243–288. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262120.003.0013 Google Scholar Mason, Steve. 2009. " Of Despots, Diadems, and Diadochoi: Josephus and Flavian Politics." In Writing Politics in Imperial Rome, edited by William Dominik, John Garthwaite, and Paul A. Roche, 323–349. Leiden: Brill. 10.1163/9789004217133_015 Google Scholar Mellor, Ronald. 1999. The Roman Historians. London: Routledge. 10.4324/9780203294420 Google Scholar Potter, David. 1999. Literary Texts and the Roman Historian. London: Routledge. Google Scholar Salles, Catherine and René Martin. 1992b. Lire à Rome. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. Google Scholar Joseph Sievers, and Gaia Lembi, eds. 2005. Josephus and Jewish History in Flavian Rome and Beyond. Leiden: Brill. 10.1163/9789047415527 Google Scholar Starr, Raymond J. 1987. "The Circulation of Texts in the Ancient World." Classical Quarterly, new series, 37: 213–223. 10.1017/S0009838800031797 Web of Science®Google Scholar Van Groningen, B. 1963. "EKΔOΣIΣ." Mnemosyne series 4, 16: 1–17. 10.1163/156852563X00793 Google Scholar Wiseman, Timothy P. 1998. " The Publication of De Bello Gallico ." In Julius Caesar as Artful Reporter: The War Commentaries as Political Instruments, edited by Kathryn Welch and Anton Powell, 1–7. London: Duckworth. Google Scholar Woodman, Anthony J. 1988. Rhetoric in Classical Historiography: Four Studies. London: Croom Helm. Google Scholar Citing Literature A Companion to Josephus ReferencesRelatedInformation