Language:
English
Year of publication:
2021
Titel der Quelle:
Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period
Angaben zur Quelle:
52,4-5 (2021) 522-556
Keywords:
Josephus, Flavius Criticism and interpretation
;
Josephus, Flavius.
;
Flavian family
;
Prophecy in post-biblical literature
;
Dreams in post-biblical literature
;
Yodfat (Israel) History
;
Eretz Israel Historiography
Abstract:
This article offers a literary analysis of the famous episode in Judean War 3.351–354, in which Josephus suddenly recalls his “nightly dreams.” It takes up the question of how Josephus characterizes himself in this episode in consideration of an elite audience located in Rome steeped in Greco-Roman learning. In explaining this episode, scholars have put special emphasis on parallels with discourses of Judean prophecy and biblical prophets, such as Jeremiah and Daniel. The hypothesis that Josephus consciously presents himself as a prophet has found widespread acceptance and grown to become almost undisputable since the 1970s. In addition to challenging the view that Josephus explicitly and deliberately presents himself as a biblical prophet, the present contribution develops an interpretation that considers the historiographical outlook of the whole War as a military-political composition imbued with classicizing features.
DOI:
10.1163/15700631-bja10034
URL:
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