Re: Historical Events Database
I'm happy to announce that I finished reading
Wars of the Jews a couple of days ago and that I’m planning to start with
Antiquities of the Jews shortly. In the meantime I seem to have got stuck upon a few issues about which I really would like some guidance.
My problem is that up until now, I only harvested just a handful of entries for the database from this whole work, mainly because I didn't pay due consideration yet to the event type category of
Society with some of its given specifications, like: Massacre, (Slave) Rebellion, Assassination, War, Mass Death, Famine, Sack or Destruction of City, and Mass Migration. Obviously, a work about a war has plenty of those types of events in it, but most of the ones Josephus succeeds in mentioning either seem of minor importance in the grander scheme of things or/and lack the necessary specifics to fill in the data entry forms properly.
The main thing I need to know now is, what level of detail should I be striving for and how many of all these numerous raids, skirmishes, minor battles, fleeting alliances, palace intrigues, outright murders and so on, would really qualify for entrance? The majority of them is strictly related to, and embedded in the narrative about the Jewish rebellion and the military crushing of it, and they have no bearing whatsoever on the main focus of the database as I understand it – but I could be wrong with that assumption.
To give others an inkling on my difficulties, I now submit the very last chapter of the whole work as an illustration of what I mean exactly (Wars of the Jews, Book VII, Chapter XI, §§ 1-5; Loeb 7, 437-455). In all its shortness, it shows all the hallmarks as to why this work of Josephus is so problematical as a historical source:
437 1. And now did the madness of the Sicarii, like a disease, reach as far as the cities of Cyrene; 438 for one Jonathan, a vile person, and by trade a weaver, came thither and prevailed with no small number of the poorer sort to give ear to him; he also led them into the desert, upon promising them that he would show them signs and apparitions. 439 And as for the other Jews of Cyrene, he concealed his knavery from them, and put tricks upon them; but those of the greatest dignity among them informed Catullus, the governor of the Libyan Pentapolis, of his march into the desert, and of the preparations he had made for it. 440 So he sent out after him both horsemen and footmen, and easily overcame them, because they were unarmed men; of these many were slain in the fight, but some were taken alive, and brought to Catullus. 441 As for Jonathan, the head of this plot, he fled away at that time; but upon a great and very diligent search, which was made all the country over for him, he was at last taken. And when he was brought to Catullus, he devised a way whereby he both escaped punishment himself, and afforded an occasion to Catullus of doing much mischief; 442 for he falsely accused the richest men among the Jews, and said that they had put him upon what he did.
443 2. Now Catullus easily admitted of these his calumnies, and aggravated matters greatly, and made tragical exclamations, that he might also be supposed to have had a hand in the finishing of the Jewish war. 444 But what was still harder, he did not only give a too easy belief to his stories, but he taught the Sicarii to accuse men falsely. 445 He bid this Jonathan, therefore, to name one Alexander, a Jew (with whom he had formerly had a quarrel, and openly professed that he hated him); he also got him to name his wife Bernice, as concerned with him. These two Catullus ordered to be slain in the first place; nay, after them he caused all the rich and wealthy Jews to be slain, being no fewer in all than three thousand. 446 This he thought he might do safely, because he confiscated their effects, and added them to Caesar’s revenues.
447 3. Nay, indeed, lest any Jews that lived elsewhere should convict him of his villainy, he extended his false accusations further, and persuaded Jonathan, and certain others that were caught with him, to bring an accusation of attempts for innovation against the Jews that were of the best character both at Alexandria and at Rome. 448 One of these, against whom this treacherous accusation was laid, was Josephus, the writer of these books. 449 However, this plot, thus contrived by Catullus, did not succeed according to his hopes; for though he came himself to Rome, and brought Jonathan and his companions along with him in bonds, and thought he should have had no further inquisition made as to those lies that were forged under his government, or by his means; 450 yet did Vespasian suspect the matter, and made an inquiry how far it was true. And when he understood that the accusation laid against the Jews was an unjust one, he cleared them of the crimes charged upon them, and this on account of Titus’s concern about the matter, and brought a deserved punishment upon Jonathan; for he was first tormented, and then burnt alive.
451 4. But as to Catullus, the emperors were so gentle to him, that he underwent no severe condemnation at this time; yet was it not long before he fell into a complicated and almost incurable distemper, and died miserably. He was not only afflicted in body, but the distemper in his mind was more heavy upon him than the other; 452 for he was terribly disturbed, and continually cried out that he saw the ghosts of those whom he had slain standing before him. Whereupon he was not able to contain himself, but leaped out of his bed, as if both torments and fire were brought to him. 453 This his distemper grew still a great deal worse and worse continually, and his very entrails were so corroded, that they fell out of his body, and in that condition he died. Thus he became as great an instance of Divine Providence as ever was, and demonstrated that God punishes wicked men.
454 5. And here we shall put an end to this our history; wherein we formerly promised to deliver the same with all accuracy, to such as should be desirous of understanding after what manner this war of the Romans with the Jews was managed. 455 Of which history, how good the style is, must be left to the determination of the readers; but as for its agreement with the facts, I shall not scruple to say, and that boldly, that truth hath been what I have alone aimed at through its entire composition.
The first problem that arises here, is about the date of these events which Josephus doesn't give us outright. The placement of this chapter at the very end of his narrative suggests that they happened after the mass suicide in, and the fall of Masada as described in previous chapters of Book VII, which have been dated (by other sources, mind you) in the second half of 73 AD or the first quarter of 74 AD. There's no unanimity among scholars about that date.
However, such a date would be rather problematical for the reason that the
governor Catullus mentioned here seems to have been
Lucius Valerius Catullus Messallinus. That person is the only one I could find anywhere who roughly answers to this description, and moreover the single source is in French wikipedia (which I can read). According to that wiki entry, this Catullus was consul in Rome during 73 AD together with Vespasian's son Domitian and
this list confirms that consulship. The identity of the Catullus mentioned by Josephus as the one who was consul is by no means certain though, because I’ve also found some google results which seem to contest this equation, like for instance
in here somewhere. So basically we draw a blank on the dating for the time being.
Jonathan the Weaver appears to have been just one instance of
a long list of so-called
Messianic Claimants. The Libyan Pentopolis aka
Cyrenaica comprises of the eastern part of modern day Libya. After the fall and destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (70 AD), some of the surviving rebels were thought to have dispersed as fugitives throughout the surrounding regions and beyond and this Jonathan might have been one of them, although Josephus doesn’t offer any proved details about his religious affiliation nor any specifics about his short lived exploits which may have happened from 71 AD onward, or thereabout. How many persons took part therein and how much of those were killed remains uncertain, whilst not specified.
The main thing relevant for the database would be the ensuing pogrom initiated by governor Catullus among the rich Jews in Cyrene, of whom about 3000 were killed and dispossessed.
Nevertheless, one gets the strong impression that this whole story was compiled only after the facts had happened (Josephus resided in Rome while they came about) and that these wouldn’t have made it into his narrative anyway, were it not for the simple fact that Josephus himself was somehow implicated by this treacherous plotting, pogrom loving and self enriching governor Catullus.
In doing so, he gave Josephus a welcome opportunity to insinuate himself into the ranks of “…the Jews that were of the best character…”, to shine some favorable light upon an apparently careful, suspicious and justice loving Vespasian, and in passing to also mention Titus appreciatively who had no discernible part in any of it.
He then ends this short story with stating that Jonathan got what he deserved from the emperor, but that Catullus succumbed to Divine Providence in a protracted, life consuming and exemplary miserable manner. As such maybe the latter could enter the database under the heading of a human prodigy of sorts. What he doesn’t tell is, that Catullus probably only died somewhere in the nineties AD which is about twenty years later.
Except maybe for some clear cut cases that form the backbone and the main stations of his long winded narrative, all the other events Josephus tells us about in his
Wars of the Jews are similarly vague in composition with comparable flaws in their elaboration. It’s a bit of a riddle to me why he seems to have such a high standing as a historian especially in circles of biblical scholars. Anyway, I sincerely doubt whether all these events deserve to be mentioned as separate entries in the database, but that’s precisely what I need guidance on.
Sorry for the length of this post and thanks for reading.
