The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation

the Life contains the earlier view.
2. In the War (620) Josephus fears that he would “futilely consume” the town of Tiberias
by a civil war. It remains entirely unclear why serious damage to Tiberias is the result of John’s
private uprising in which the Tiberians were indeed not involved. In contrast, we understand
the words exclusively as a reverberation from Life 99 where the town of Tiberias is very heavily
involved in the uprising; therefore the version of the Life is the older one.
3. Josephus’ flight is necessary in the Life; he has been deserted by all since the
Tiberians have rebelled against him and he has only a few guards around him. On the other
hand, in the War Josephus’ flight is a puzzle; the Tiberians are on Josephus’ side, and moreover,
the soldiers who were in full control of the town (620), stood at his disposal, and his opponents
are [but] “a few [men]”. Thus the case here also is that a theme existing in the War without
explanation is illuminated exclusively by [the fact] that we see within it an influence
[Nachwirking] of the presentation of the Life, which is therefore older. Naturally Josephus
himself, when composing the War, felt the ungroundedness [Grundlosigkeit] of the flight and
therefore portrayed the danger that he was facing as particularly calamitous by other means.
That is to say, while the Life mentions only the assault that has been planned against Josephus
(95), the War enhances the narrative to a description of the deed itself: Josephus sees the
drawn sword right in front of himself (619).
4. In the Life, Josephus’ speech before the Tiberians is the outcome of their defection; he
means to reprimand them and win them back. This reason for the speech does not apply in the
War, where the Tiberians had not undertaken anything at all against Josephus; but the author
requires this external setting in order to continue the narrative; thus a dull and silly περὶ τῶν
ἐπεσταλμένων in 618 provides a substitute for something that truly fits only into the context
of the Life; therefore [the Life] is the source.
5. In the Life the Galileans rise up at the instigation of the rebellious Taricheans. Since
these have been deleted from the War and [86] replaced by Josephus’ soldiers, then the
soldiers also must have taken over the needling of the Galileans; but of course this did not
work out because the soldiers act only on the orders of their commander. Thus here as well,
the author has no recourse other than the utterly colourless and unmotivated formula: οἱ δ’
ἀνὰ τὴν πέριξ χώραν πυθόμενοι τήν ἐμιβουλὴν καὶ τὸν συσκευάσαντα συνηθροίζοντο κατὰ
Ἰωάννου (621). But what reason exists for this, where Josephus had already been master of the
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