The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation

the Antiquities, which shine with Jewish patriotism, than in the War, which is dependent upon
Nicolaus. But the main point is that here as well the dependence of the [192] Antiquities upon
the War could be proven straight from the reworkings [of the text].
The second discrepancy between the Antiquities and its source within our section is to
lead us to another area. A short report about Herod’s flight with his next of kin is given in War
263 - 264. Josephus took this as the basis for his Ant. 353 - 358, but it was significantly expanded
by an anecdote, which can already be recognized externally as an insertion by virtue of [the
fact] that in it a different situation is presumed in the return march than [is presumed] in the
War and in the surrounding pieces of the Antiquities, which have been extracted from the [War].
Namely, here Herod starts his female relatives upon the march and he himself with his
servants provides cover for their march. He is therefore not to be found with his female
relatives; rather he even defeats his opponents, who are pursuing [him], in several victorious
engagements (War 264 = Ant. 358b). It is different in the intervening segment of the Antiquities:
here Herod does not provide cover for the march of his [relatives] rather he flees together
with them. He even had tremendous fear when his mother’s mule slipped, the entire train
could be affected and halted and he therefore wants to kill himself (355 - 357). The insertion
presents us with a miserable hunted mass of fleeing women, children and a few men –
including Herod – the sight of which evokes the deepest pity from those who see them (354 ff.);
defenceless, he exposed himself to his pursuers, whereas the War and correspondingly the
bordering pieces 67 of the Antiquities, in contrast, reveal to us an orderly withdrawal during
which there were even numerous engagements, which were favourable to those withdrawing.
Therefore it is clearly demonstrated here as well that the War did not condense some common
source, as has always been thought, but rather the Antiquities were expanded by an extraneous
addition. It is still particularly significant that Josephus himself sensed what a contradiction
there was gaping between the two versions; for in his description of the subsequent strikes
that Herod dealt as he marched off [193] [Josephus] of his own accord adds to Ant. 360 that
Herod was victorious “not as one who is in the most dire straits, but rather just as if he had
prepared himself for the war most splendidly and with the greatest affluence.” This comment,
67 It is not difficult to determine the margins of the source to either side; the insertion from the
additional source [Nebenquelle] begins with ἐδίωκεν τὴν ἐπὶ Ἰδουμαίας (353b) and ends with
ποιούμενος τὴν πορείαν (358b). Both sources were immediately assimilated into each other
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