Titus Flavius Josephus

Jerusalem’s Traitor:

Josephus, Masada, and the
Fall of Judaea

This book about Josephus and the Romano-Jewish conflict is written by the British historian Desmond Seward, who is the author of several books, including The Monks of War (1995).

 

The text is divided into 25 chapters. At the end of the book there are notes with references, a bibliography and an index.

What about illustrations? There are five maps in the beginning of the book, and - in the middle of the book - eight pages with sixteen photos in black-and-white.

 

Titus Flavius Josephus is the Latin (or Roman) name of a man who was born into a prominent Jewish family in AD 37 or 38. The Jewish war (AD 66-70) was a turning point for him. In the beginning of the war he fought for the Jews (as a governor of Galilee). When he was captured (in 67), he managed to change sides. He predicted that the Roman commander Vespasian would become emperor (which he did two years later). Vespasian and his son (the future emperor) Titus accepted him, and from that time on he worked for the Romans.

 

Later he wrote a long and detailed account of the Jewish war which has been preserved until today. He is an important source, sometimes the only source, of many events in this war. But the question is: can we trust him? Seward addresses this question in the preface (on page xv) where he writes:

“Almost invariably he seems to exaggerate when stating the number of those who were killed or wounded, died of starvation, or were sent to the slave market. His motive appears to have been a desire to impress his readers.”

 

On the next page he adds:

 

“All we can say is that when he is talking about himself or about the Zealots, he is not always to be trusted, but that when writing about the war, he usually, if not invariably, seems to be telling the truth.”

 

One important fact emerges from Seward’s book: the Jews were not only fighting the Romans, they were also fighting each other. Different Jewish factions were fighting (and killing) each other, not only in Jerusalem, but all over the Holy Land, thus making it easier for the Roman forces to defeat them in the end.

 

[See pp. 125-127, 140-143, 159, and 170.]

 

Seward got some good reviews. On the Amazon UK website there are excerpts from several highly positive reviews. I understand, but I have some reservations. I have to mention a few things which bother me:

 

(1) There is some confusion regarding the spelling and the location of geographical names (ancient towns and provinces) in the Holy Land. Talking about the Romans and the southern part of the Holy Land, Seward says: “… they called it Judea.” In fact, the Romans called it Judaea.

This misspelled word is even used in the subtitle of the book!

 

In the text we hear about the town Gadara, and one map shows Gadara, but another map shows Gadera. In the text we hear about the province Perea, but the map shows Peraea. Seward says it is east of Galilee, i.e. in the north. But the map shows it is east of Judaea, i.e. in the south. Seward says Gadara is the capital of Peraea, but how can this be true, when Gadara is north of the province?

 

The towns Tiberias and Tarichaeae are located on the western shore of Lake Genesaaret. One map shows Tarichaeae on the western shore, while Tiberias is not shown. Another map shows Tiberias on the western shore, but now Tarichaeae has been moved away from the lake to a new place 10-15 km south west of Tiberias. In reality it is 5-6 km north of Tiberias!

 

In short: the maps do not match each other, and the maps do not match the text. How can this happen? This seems to be a clear case of sloppy editing.

 

(2) There is a chronological problem regarding Masada, the desert fortress located south of Jerusalem and west of the Dead Sea. When did it fall? The traditional date is AD 73, but some scholars prefer the following year, i.e. AD 74. For references to the modern debate see Maurice Sartre, The Middle East under Rome (2005) page 428 (note 204).

What does Seward say? At first he seems to prefer the traditional date, AD 73 (pp. xiii and 49). But in chapter 23 about the fall of Masada he seems to change his mind, because on page 249 he gives the date 74. Yet on page 251 he returns to the traditional date. On page 255 he mentions the suicide pact of April 15, but this time he does not mention the year. The traditional date appears again on page 257. In short: he gives two different dates for the same event, and he fails to mention (or refer to) the modern debate about the date of the fall.

 

(3) There is a linguistic problem with a Latin quotation in the text. On page 135 he mentions Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai. He says this man addressed Vespasian in Latin with these words: “Vive Dominus Imperator!” If Rabban Yohanan really said this, his Latin was not very good. If you address someone as master, you have to say Domine.

 

(4) There are several problems with an entry in the bibliography (on page 294). The author of an article is identified as Appelbaum. But the correct name is Applebaum. Seward claims this article appeared in the Journal for Roman Studies. But the correct name is Journal of Roman Studies. Seward gives the volume of the publication, but fails to give the year. Volume 61 appeared in 1971.

 

My conclusion: Seward has written an interesting account about Josephus and the Jewish war, but as you can see, there are some unfortunate flaws. Therefore I can only give it four out of five stars.

 

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Desmond Seward,

Jerusalem's Traitor:

Josephus, Masada, and the Fall of Judea,

hardcover 2009, paperback 2010, 314 pages

 

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For more information about this topic see my blogs:

 

Rome and Jerusalem

 

Herod's Lost Tomb

 

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