Customer Reviews

Flavius Josephus

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

perhaps three or four if you already have. This book is essentially a summary of Josephus's books (especially his Jewish War). If you have not read those works, this is an excellent guide to Josephus. If you have read Josephus, this book will add a little bit to your understanding, but obviously not as much. What Lebel does best is add emotion to Josephus's relatively dry account: that is, she tries to explain the passions that drove both Josephus and the Jewish rebels.

On the one hand, Josephus believed that the Jewish rebellion was suicidal, and that the destruction of the Second Temple may have even been Divine punishment for the rebels' murderous tactics. Lebel speculates that the rebels were driven not just by nationalism but by the hope of divine intervention. Even seemingly insane behavior (e.g. the rebels' destruction of food that Jerusalemites needed to survive the Roman siege) makes sense if the rebels believed that their bravery would be rewarded with a miracle. Indeed, some language in Josephus' own work supports this view: for example, Josephus quotes one rebel as stating: "Even had they wings, the Romans would never surmount the walls of Jerusalem."

As an in depth introduction to the times and life of Flavius Josephus, this book is very good. What prevents me from giving it a 4-star rating is not the text, but the (bluntly) inadequate appendices. The there are no family trees of the kings and high priests of the period (167 BCE to 95 CE). The maps are very incomplete (no indication of the locations of Sepphoris or Jotapata, for example!). There is no time line of Flavius Josephus's life. The "Dramatis Personae" does not list the dates of birth and death of each person. Many characters who briefly appear are not even listed. One minor quibble with the book is the Epilogues; though the author is French, I wish she had leaned a bit less on French evaluations over the centuries of Josephus's significance. The basic book, lest I be misunderstood, is excellent. I appreciated her liberal use of external sources, including but not limited to, the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmud, the Tosefta, Suetonius, Philo of Alexandria, Tacitus, Pliny, the Midrash Sifre, among many others. The horror of warfare during the revolt, and the heart-breaking destruction of the Second Temple and the destruction of Jerusalem -- they are here. Josephus's predicament, as he is caught between the super-power of his time and the insanity of his own people blindly bent on bringing destruction down on their people and land, is tragedy. The futile attempts of one man to stop history -- doomed to failure -- are caught in these pages. This book is worth reading (but bring a pen and paper to compensate for the sorry lack of summary information normally provided in a good set of appendices!)

I concur with the previous reviewer's disappointment over the lack of summarizing appendices. I found Professor Hadas-Lebel's
account quite adequate, even stimulating as an introductory text on the twin research controversies over Josephus and the revolt to which Josephus is virtually the sole eyewitness/contemporary account (unless one counts the tantalizing fragments of Tacitus). I wish that the author had included a bibliography or a discussion of the conflicting modern academic or religious studies. Nonetheless, this book is both a good summary of the debate and a solid introcution to Josephus, the events he desribes and his predicament in the context of a hostile world. Particularly valuable is Hadas-Lebel's review of Josephus' legacy in art, music, literature and judicial polemics -- mock courts-martial and the like. I am pleased to see this book available again in paperback. I ordered expecting that some of the above defects would have been remedied. I hope that English-speakers might soon find translations of some of the author's other more recent work on the Jewish Revolt.

Real nice analysis of the man named Joseph son of Mathias.
As the author concludes, for Josephus it was a matter of survival in a time of sure destruction.
Josephus was an intelligent individual, as well as, part of the elite class of Jewish society. He knew the war against the Romans was hopeless and therefore decided to go over to the Roman side.
Yes, he was a traitor to his people, but has left us an eye witness account, that would have been lost, of the war between Rome and Judea.
His ethics were unworthy of a man from such an honorable line of Jewish priests. However, he was also proud of the heritage of his people and being a Jew! Who knows how one would have behaved in his same situation ?
Great book!