Josephus's The Jewish War

The once-great Roman empire that held control over most of the ancient civilized world did not do so without imposing its values on those they conquered. A prime example of the Romans doing just this is recounted in Titus Flavius Josephus’s The Jewish War. Josephus was a Jewish historian who also held Roman citizenship. His unique position led to him focusing his writings on Jewish events, however, having a biased tone in favor of the Romans. Thus, I will examine his recount of the destruction of the second Jewish temple and how Roman hatred towards the Jews ignited a more widespread antisemitism behavior in the ancient world. Leading up to the events of Josephus's writings was the Roman attempt to imbue their religious and cultural ideal onto

The Romans wanted the Jewish population to compromise and identify their God with the same beliefs as the Romans as well as adopt their beliefs of being loyal to the Empire. However, due to the strong religious beliefs of the Jewish people they refused to abandon their cultural norms which led to the ongoing tension until the breaking point, the Jewish Revolt. Josephus describes the events of the second temple's destruction in a horrid and vivid manner. At first, it seemed like his writing was appealing to the Jewish population's favor when he described the harsh conditions that they had to face. He describes the Jewish soldiers, or rebels, marching through the streets past heaps of bodies knowing they have left a stain of sin on their lives while they go fight a war they know they will not win. Along with this, Josephus also describes the famine that took over Judea. During this time, he illustrates how they were like “mad dogs” eating anything they could get their hands on. I believe that Josephus starts his writing with this vivid writing about the Jewish population to set the foundation for when he shifts the view to favor the

With this, I think despite Josephus’s religious beliefs, he clearly took the side of the Romans in order to spare himself from the war. To add on, I think Josephus’s motivation to write against his own people came from an array of outside pressures. First of all, and most obvious, is the Romans. The Romans hit a breaking point with the Jewish people once they revolted against the Empire in Judea and it called for the empire to kill thousands of Jews accordingly. Along with this, as Roman hatred spread the Jewish population dwindled and went through the Jewish diaspora. Furthermore, this caused Josephus to feel even more unsafe as a Jew and choose to exercise syncretism with the Romans to maintain his life and whatever Jewish culture he had left. Lastly, while the Jewish religion was under attack, the Christian belief was rising. The Christians saw what was happening to their neighbors and contributed to the antisemitism. The gospel writers at this time even went on to write antisemitism views down to further separate themselves from the Jewish population in hopes of avoiding Roman