Bibliography
| Title: 'Should Any Wish to Enquire Further' (Ant. 1.25): The Aim and Audience of Josephus's Judean Antiquities/Life Secondary Title: Understanding Josephus: Seven Perspectives Pages: 64-103 Type: Book Section Year: 1998 Abstract: Feldman Louis Harry in: OTA 22.1 (1999), 135-136: "M. concludes that Josephus' aim in Antiquities/Life is to provide a handbook of Judean law, history, and culture for a Gentile audience in Rome that is keenly interested in Jewish matters. In spite of its ramblings and changes in style, the book has a coherent and powerful message. It is not primarily a defensive work; it is not directed at Diaspora Jews; it does not target either the Yavnean rabbis or the "Roman government" on their behalf; it is not a vague "apologetic for Gentiles"; it is not even simply a work of theological history. Josephus has an immediate and serious purpose in mind, a need to meet, a question to answer. His audience desires a comprehensive but readable summary of the Judean constitution and philosophy: origins, history, laws, and culture. Although we cannot be nearly so confident about this, it seems plausible that Josephus' aim was realized with the consul Flavius Clemens and his wife Domitilla, perhaps also with Acilius Glabrio and Nero's former secretary Epaphroditus. Still less certain, but intriguing nonetheless, is the role of Domitian's wife, Domitia Longina, in his life".
Paget, James Carleton in: BJGS 25 (1999/2000), 20: "Steve Mason's essay is a provocative attempt to argue that the Antiquities/Life was written for a gentile audience well-disposed towards Judaism. The Antiquities provides such an audience with a kind of primer in Judean history and culture, and the Life constitutes an attempt to vindicate the credentials of the author Josephus. Mason tentatively suggests that such a work may well have had a proselyte character, a claim he has already made for the Contra Apionem". Keywords: Antiquities |