The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation

with the War — in contrast, in 138 ff. the location is obviously such that Josephus had to cover
a greater distance in order to come before the crowd of people; he still managed to anticipate
the hoplites that were sent from the racetrack to his house [and evade them] by using another
route (139).
Hand in hand with this difference between War and Life comes another: In the Life the
hoplites are sent from the gathering to Josephus’ house while the crowd remains at the
racetrack, whereas the War lacks the medium of the hoplites. Both views are again consistently
integrated within the context of the two writings. If Josephus’ house is located near the
racetrack then the gathering meets in its immediate vicinity and the events that take place
before Josephus’ house are occurring at the same time at the racetrack; the involvement of the
hoplites is unnecessary. Compared to this view in the War, that in the Life is just as logically
consistent: Josephus’ house is located far away from the racetrack, at the very least it is
separated from it by streets with houses. Thus the hoplites become necessary in order to
connect the events at the racetrack to those in front of Josephus’ house. Or conversely: if the
hoplites were included then Josephus’ house had to be placed at a distance from the racetrack;
if the hoplites were missing then Josephus’ house had to be located near the racetrack where
the gathering met.
From a factual consideration in deciding between the two possibilities it can already be
easily shown that the presentation in the Life contains an error. That is to say, if Josephus’
location is such that he can leave his house by a secret route, then his plight is not so severe
that there is no longer any other escape for him other than to risk [appearing] before the
infuriated crowd in the guise of someone who has humbled himself. Strikingly as the view of
the Life is refuted by this consideration, an effective solution to the problem is made possible
only by an stratification [Zergliederung] of the text here as well. Already on page 58 we [65] had
to establish that the telltale phrase in Life 140 τὰ χρήματα τῷ βασιλεῖ τετηρηκέναι stood in
incompatible contradiction to the administrative report; in contrast to this, [the phrase]
corresponds absolutely to the War. So here exists a later insertion based on the War, just as in
[sections] 130 - 131. And the use of the word ἁρπαγή (139) in reference to the Dabarittans’
plunder (page 62) displays the same trend. Finally, when Josephus explains in 142 that he had
put aside the money to build the walls of Tarichea, then this is ludicrous in the face of the fact
that he had just previously declared with the same openness that the walls of Jerusalem were
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