The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation

the war against Rome and that it was by virtue of this official position of his that he organized
this Roman war.
All the passages quoted here – as well as those where the concept of the Jewish War is
specifically mentioned (page 99 ff.) and also those in which it is tacitly assumed (page 100 ff.) –
belong to the added segments by means of which Josephus shaped his old administrative
report into the Life in its current version. It is evident that in these [passages] there is
absolutely no expression of the wish to cover up Josephus’ position as leader. Quite [103] to
the contrary, insertions such as those of 188 or 208 - 210 make it obvious that Josephus
actually wished at that time to underscore his leading position in the war
against Rome. So the error of the modern opinion that claimed to perceive a
subsequent cover-up by Josephus (cf. page 8) becomes evident here as well; in
truth the exact opposite is correct: the old report is silent about [Josephus’]
leadership position against Rome, which was later underscored.
The stance in which Josephus appears in the added segments now agrees fully with
the image that is portrayed in the parallel source, the War, and which has been adopted from
there into the modern literature. The main features are universally known from there:
Josephus does not have much confidence in the outcome of the war and therefore initially tries
to calm things down, together with the high priests. When this fails, he makes himself
available to the movement and is appointed as the governor of Galilee for the war. In this
position he organizes the rebellion, fortifies places and trains troops. He eliminates the
opposition that he encounters in so doing, [and is] pervaded by [a sense of] the magnitude of
his task. Josephus has set down this view in the War as well as in the added segments of the
Life; hence it unfolds that this view remained unchanged for him from the recording of the
War, i.e. in the middle of the 70s, up to the period of time after 100. It is all the more significant
that the core segments of the Life, i.e. the old report about Josephus’ deeds in Galilee, yield a
completely different picture, which at the same time makes it understandable to us how it
happens that Josephus is silent about his leadership position in the conflict against Rome in
this [writing].
In War 2.568, and correspondingly in the added segment Life 341, Josephus says that he
was appointed as the commander of Galilee for the Roman war by the community of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem; however, another view is found right at the beginning (cf. page 54) of
92