The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation

[174] Furthermore, in War 211 Sextus Caesar very categorically demands of Hyrcanus that
Herod be released – and quite justifiably; because Hyrcanus is Herod’s enemy, therefore
[Sextus’] message has both purpose and sense. In the Antiquities, however, Hyrcanus is neither
free in any way to decide what to do with Herod, who had been summoned before the council –
indeed he frees him only by means of a trick (177) – nor did he require any encouragement
from Sextus, since [Hyrcanus] loved Herod so deeply himself. In fact, Sextus’ message does not
then play any role either in the widely extensive continuing presentation of the Antiquities; but
the account of this [message] has been carried along further as a remnant from the old
narrative and has been incorporated into the new view only in a makeshift manner.
And finally. In the War Hyrcanus was inherently distrustful of Herod, the members of
his court aggravated his suspicion and to this end they pointed out that Herod had arrogated
to himself rights, to which Hyrcanus was entitled, by conducting executions without his
command. In the Antiquities the Hyrcanus-Herod opposition was eliminated (page 172 ff.) and
replaced by the confrontation between Herod and the principal men of the Jews; therefore
these see Herod’s crime in that he had killed the robbers without awaiting the sentencing by
the Sanhedrin. This revision is absolutely logical. In Ant. 167, however, both theories are
shuffled into each other; because in the one phrase it is implied that only the Sanhedrin may
lawfully impose the death penalty, while the final phrase indicates that Herod’s crime
consisted in his having conducted the executions without Hyrcanus’ permission as if his assent
were sufficient for a lawful sentencing. This contradiction, which had already been identified
but not explained by Juster (Les juifs dans l'empire romain, vol.2, 1914, page 128), is the result [of
the fact] that Josephus still retained the external framework of the narrative from the War
for his new view; thus the progress of the plot remained tied to Hyrcanus’ intervention against
Herod; this had to be explained and so a piece of the old [version] remained here, which comes
across as a strange intrusion in the new surrounding, and as a result betrays once again that
the War is the source of the Antiquities.
4. According to War 210, Herod surrendered himself up to Hyrcanus [175] “upon the
advice of his father and since the situation encouraged him to do so”; it was upon his own
initiative that he then surrounded himself with protective forces [Deckungsmannschaften] for
the purpose of his security. In Antiquities 169 it is different: Herod surrenders himself upon
command; by contrast, he implements the security measures “upon the advice of his father,”
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