The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation

author inserts the reason for which he was particularly qualified to compose the Antiquities;
because he has translated the Holy Scriptures (Ant. 20.261), γεγονὼς ἱερεὺς ἐκ γένους (Life 1 -
6), καὶ μετεσχηκὼς τῆς φιλοσοφίας τῆς ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς γράμμασι (Ant. 20.263 - 265; Life 7 - 12).
Now, since the opponent under attack in Contra Apionem is Justus (cf. page 17), it follows that
the parallel presentation, i.e. Ant. 20.262 ff. and Life 1 - 12 is also directed against Justus. No
matter whether one wishes to accept along with most researchers that Justus composed two
separate works, a chronicle from Moses to Agrippa and a history of the war , or whether the
latter was a part of the former as I would rather suppose, 24 it is certain that Josephus was
affected most deeply by Justus’ writings in conjunction with his personal attacks, which were
published after Agrippa’s death, and that he consequently felt compelled to provide evidence
for his personal qualification in both areas in which Justus’ competition threatened to defeat
him.
Now then, if reasons for [writing] the Life are provided in Ant. 20.262 and at the same
time the attack against Justus is prepared there, and if it is the function of the Life to prove
Josephus’ factual qualification for writing in the face of Justus’ attacks, then the Life and the
combat against Justus originated at the same time, and there was never a self-portrayal of
Josephus which would not have included the parts directed against Justus. But now if on the
other hand it were to be proven by us that all the passages dealing with Justus [53] are later
insertions into a foreign context, that a text thus originally existed without these insertions,
then it now follows that this older form of the text also did not contain those passages by
which the Life becomes the Life; because without the [section] 1 - 12 directed against Justus the
Life is actually no longer the Life. In other words: behind the self-portrayal which
Josephus composed in response to Justus’ attacks, there stands an older
writing that the author later formulated and expanded into the self-portrayal
that we now have.
24 The fact that both the chronicle and the presentation of the war appeared after Agrippa’s
death and that Josephus’ polemics against Justus as author of the chronicle are so deeply
entwined with his combat of Justus’ war presentation appear significant to me for deciding
this question. Justus appears to have turned against Josephus in a purely uniform attack as
well. The only factual objection to the equation of both works — the conciseness of chronicle
(Photius) compared to the thoroughness of the history of the war — does not deter anyone
knows that chronicles in antiquity become more expansive as they approach the author’s era.
Compare what Dionysius 1.6 says about Fabius and Cincius.
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