The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation

a result, contrary to his expectations, becomes the reason for a further increase in Antipater’s
power; thus reads War 195, which is based entirely upon the idea of elevating Antipater – Ant.
140 has logically discarded this idea; the accusation remains [intact], but its impact for
Antipater must be dropped since Hyrcanus is to be the main character.
5. When Antigonus had brought these serious accusations before Caesar, “Antipater
cast away his garment” – according to War 197 – “and showed the multitude of his wounds; he
had no need of many words in order to prove his goodwill toward Caesar; the condition of his
body has spoken loudly enough while he himself was silent.” The Antiquities, which had already
toned down the report about the wounds as much as possible [as noted] above under
[paragraph] 3, and above all had divested it of its impact on the future, is merely proceeding
consistently when it eliminates the emotional report described just above and replaces it
simply with: “he defended himself against each individual accusation” (141).
6. If Antipater is being forced [into the] back[ground] in this way, then it is just the
inevitable new conclusion when, rather than as in War 199 where Antipater receives
permission, “to rebuild the walls of his hometown”, the Antiquities [instead] allocates this
crucial task to Hyrcanus “who requested [the walls be rebuilt]” (144). This discrepancy must be
placed together with those touched upon above: Hyrcanus issues orders to Antipater (1), the
documents crucial for acquiring assistance stem from [Hyrcanus] (2); Antipater’s injuries lose
their significance (3, 5); for it is no longer “for [Antipater’s] own sake” that Hyrcanus acquires
the confirmation of his rank (3), there is no longer any mention of an increase in Antipater’s
position (4) and therefore the honour of fortifying the “hometown” is taken from Antipater
and transferred to Hyrcanus.
In summary, we observe that the War provided a [168] clear conception by deriving
the achievements of the Jews from Antipater’s success, which were due precisely to Antipater’s
effectiveness. Since the Antiquities now struck out Antipater’s success and nevertheless
retained the achievements of the Jews, the entire structure of the narrative must then fall
apart. The presentation of the Antiquities is therefore explainable only by the systematic
political reworking of the War. That this does not stem from anyone other than Josephus
himself follows from [the fact] that we are dealing here with the same shift in political trend as
we encountered in the additions to the War etc. Josephus himself has therefore changed, and
the consequences of this change are manifest in the new view of the Antiquities. So, what we
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