The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation

expression [98] ὁ Ἰουδαϊκὸς πόλεμος, which 33 is also common to him elsewhere when he
mentions events of this time, e.g. Life 412: τὰ πεπραγμένα μοι κατὰ τὸν Ἰουδαϊκὸν πόλεμον καὶ
τὴν Ἱεροσολύμων πολιορκίαν. Naturally this expression originates from Roman circles; indeed
Ἰουδαϊκὸς πόλεμος does not mean “the war of the Jews” but rather “ the war against the Jews”.
Therefore a Jew could not, from his standpoint, coin the expression “the Jewish War”, and it is
completely wrong when Niese applies ἱστορία Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου πρὸς Ῥωμαίους as a heading
for the War; for here the opponent would be indicated by the expression Ἰουδαϊκὸς πόλεμος as
well as by πρὸς Ῥωμαίους. In fact, Josephus uses the phrase πρὸς Ῥωμαίους only where he
wishes to accentuate the Jewish standpoint, e.g. Ant. 1.4: τὸν μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τοὺς Ῥωμαίους
πόλεμον ἡμῖν τοῖς Ἰουδαίους γενόμενον; Life ῞῾῎· λαβόντος ἀρχὴν Ἰουδαίοις τοῦ πρὸς
Ῥωμαίους πολέμου; Life 182: ὡς στρατηγοίη τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐπὶ τὸν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους
πόλεμον; War 1.1 τὸν Ἰουδαίων πρὸς Ῥωμαίους πόλεμον. Here again, the adjective
Ἰουδαϊκός must be absent – commensurate with the addition of πρὸς Ῥωμαίους by which the
opponent is expressed. Our formula is present in abbreviated [form] in Contra Apionem 1.46:
περὶ τοῦ γενομένου νῦν ἡμῖν πολέμου ορ θυιτε σιμπλψ· ὁ πόλεμος (Life 358; 362; Contra Apionem
55 and elsewhere). ”The War", for Josephus, is quite simply the one in which Jerusalem was
destroyed.
The starting point of this war is established by War 2.409, according to which we are to
recognize the beginning of “the War” in the refusal of sacrifices for non-Jews, whereas in Life
24 ff. it is Cestius’ defeat that destroyed the last hopes for peace. In any case, there is no doubt
that according to both sources Josephus was sent to his province of Galilee after the outbreak
of “the War”; because both the War and the Life report that he was sent out only [99] later;
indeed the War states explicitly that he was among those who were sent off as στρατηγοὶ τοῦ
πολέμου into the provinces (2.562), and correspondingly, Contra Apionem 1.47/48 designates
Josephus’ activity as that of a strategos of the Galileans during “the War”.
Under such circumstances it goes without saying that every reader of the Life expects a
substantial presentation of everything that Josephus accomplished in preparing for and
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Ant. 1.203 ὥς μοι καὶ πρότερον λέλεκται τὸν Ἰουδαϊκὸν ἀναγράφοντι πόλεμον; 20.258
ταῖς ὑπ’ ἐμοῦ περὶ τοῦ Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου βίβλοις γεγραμμέναις; Life 27 and 412; ἐν ταῖς
περὶ τοῦ Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου βίβλοις δεληλώκαμεν or ἀπήγγελκα; Ant. 18.11: ἐν τῇ
δευτέρᾳ βίβλῳ τοῦ Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου. Abbreviated in Life 413: ὅσα μὴ κατὰ τὸν
᾿Ἰουδαϊκὸν πόλεμον ἀνέγραψα.
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