Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome

by Edmondson, Jonathan; Mason, Steve; Rives, James

• ISBN13: 9780199262120
• ISBN10: 0199262128
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-08-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Flavian Rome has most often been studied without serious attention to its most prolific extant author, Titus Flavius Josephus. Josephus, in turn, has usually been studied for what he is writing about (mainly, events in Judaea) rather than for the context in which he wrote: Flavian Rome. Forthe first time, this book brings these two phenomena into critical engagement, so that Josephus may illuminate Flavian Rome, and Flavian Rome, Josephus. Who were his likely audiences or patrons in Rome? How did the context in which he wrote affect his writing? What do his narratives say or implyabout that context? This book brings together contributions from leading international scholars of Josephus and Flavian-Roman history and literature.

Author Biography

Jonathan Edmondson is Associate Professor, York University, Toronto. Steve Mason is Canada Research Professor in Greco-Roman Cultural Interaction, York University, Toronto. J. B. Rives is Associate Professor, York University, Toronto.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	xi
List of Illustrations	xiii
Abbreviations	xv
Introduction: Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome	1	(36)
JONATHAN EDMONDSON
PART I JOSEPHUS IN THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT OF FLAVIAN ROME
1. Josephus' Roman Audience: Josephus and the Roman Elites	37	(16)
HANNAH M. COTTON and WERNER ECK
2. Foreign Elites at Rome	53	(10)
G.W. BOWERSOCK
3. Herodians and Ioudaioi in Flavian Rome	63	(16)
DANIEL R. SCHWARTZ
4. Josephus in the Diaspora	79	(22)
TESSA RAJAK
PART II THE IMPACT OF THE JEWISH WAR IN FLAVIAN ROME
5. Last Year in Jerusalem: Monuments of the Jewish War in Rome	101	(28)
FERGUS MILLAR
6. The Sack of the Temple in Josephus and Tacitus	129	(16)
T.D. BARNES
7. Flavian Religious Policy and the Destruction of the Jerusalem Temple	145	(22)
JAMES RIVES
8. The Fiscus Iudaicus and Gentile Attitudes to Judaism in Flavian Rome	167	(14)
MARTIN GOODMAN
PART III JOSEPHUS: LITERATURE AND HISTORIOGRAPHY IN FLAVIAN ROME
9. From Exempla to Exemplar? Writing History around the Emperor in Imperial Rome	181	(20)
CHRISTINA SHUTTLEWORTH KRAUS
10. Josephus and Greek Literature in Flavian Rome	201	(8)
CHRISTOPHER P. JONES
11. Parallel Lives of Two Lawgivers: Josephus' Moses and Plutarch's Lycurgus	209	(34)
LOUIS H. FELDMAN
12. Figured Speech and Irony in T. Flavius Josephus	243	(46)
STEVE MASON
13. Spectacle in Josephus' Jewish War	289	(26)
HONORA HOWELL CHAPMAN
14. The Empire Writes Back: Josephan Rhetoric in Flavian Rome	315	(18)
JOHN M.G. BARCLAY
References	333	(28)
Index of Sources	361	(20)
General Index	381	(14)
Index of Modern Authors	395