Jewish historian, general in the revolt of 66 CE
Flavius Josephus
Life
37 CE to c. 100 CE
From a priestly and Hasmonean family, he fought Rome, surrendered at Yodefat and wrote in Rome the only extended narrative of the period. Indispensable and biased: pro-Flavian propaganda and a defense of submission to Rome.
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8 statements
For early Roman rule, no source weighs as much as Flavius Josephus. Born in 37 CE, of priestly and Hasmonean lineage, he commanded Jewish troops in the revolt of 66 CE and later went over to the Roman side.
In 67 CE, at Yodefat (Jotapata), Josephus and his soldiers were trapped in a cave. The men demanded a collective suicide; Josephus agreed and suggested drawing lots for the order of the killings. He ended up among the last two and, with the other survivor, gave himself up to the Romans. Josephus hints that God saved him; historians suspect he cheated in the draw.
During the siege of Jerusalem, Josephus worked for the Romans as interpreter and go-between. After 70 CE he settled in Rome and wrote the history of the revolt, the Jewish Antiquities (from biblical origins to shortly before the war), Against Apion and an autobiography. His latest texts seem to date from the 90s, hence the assumption that he died around 100 CE.
Josephus's standards were those of Greco-Roman historiography, not today's. He reproduced older sources without checking them, accepted explanations now seen as simplistic, and made up speeches and details to liven up the text or press a point.
Josephus's credibility also suffers from his interests. He needed to answer the charge of treason and to please Vespasian, Titus and Domitian, a dynasty whose standing rested on victory over the Jews; hence the name Flavius, taken from the imperial family, and the claim, perhaps inflated, that Titus approved his account. The result extols Rome and blames the rebels, not the emperors, for the loss of the Temple.
For the authors, Josephus's pro-Roman bias also teaches something: it shows one of the paths Jews took in the face of conquest, the voluntary submission of those who could not win and would not die. In his history of the war, Josephus lists peoples who had already bowed, such as the Athenians, and concludes that so invincible a power could only enjoy divine favor.
In part, Josephus has been confirmed by other evidence. What he reports about the Essenes matches the Dead Sea Scrolls sect on several points; digs at the southwest angle of the Temple Mount support part of his architectural description; and the finds at Masada have confirmed much of his account of the siege.
Whatever the truth, the episode touches a theme dear to Josephus: when it is right to choose death. Jews honored those who died rather than betray God or the Law, and Romans admired suicide that saved honor and spared the humiliation of defeat; Masada is exemplary in both senses. But Josephus also has reservations: in the cave at Yodefat he himself argued the opposite, and it is unclear whether he thought Masada's choice was right.