Josephus's Lands: Mining the Evolution In the Depiction of the Land of Israel in the Works of Josephus

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Abstract

This article notes the disparities between the way Josephus depicts the extent of the borders ofthe Land oflsrael in his different works, and shows the connection between the view of the borders he offers in each work to that work's nature, goals, and historical context, as well as to the author's personal life. When he wrote The Jewish Wars, Josephus sought to minimize Jewish territorial aspirations, but later, in Jewish Antiquities, Against Apion, and his autobiography, The Life, he expressed large-scale territorial hopes and visions. This article proposes that the different depictions of borders reflect changes, taking place over a lifetime, in the way Josephus viewed himself and his surroundings, as well as the political constellation under which he found himselfat the time he composed each work.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)275-304
Number of pages30
JournalJournal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha
Volume26
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jun 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2017.

Keywords

  • Borders
  • Flavius Josephus
  • Jewish Antiquities
  • Jewish War
  • Land of Israel
  • Mental map
  • Promised Land

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Religious studies

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