Bibliography
| Title: Josephus' Vita and the Encomium: A Native Model of Personality Secondary Title: JSJ Volume: 25 Pages: 177-206 Type: Journal Article Year: 1994 Abstract: IZGB 41 (1995/96), 268: "For two basic reasons, we conclude that Josephus' Vita is not just encomiastic in form but a formal encomium. First, it formally aims to praise and blame. Second, it describes the person of Josephus completely according to the conventional categories found in the rules for writing encomia and in the same order in which those categories are cited. Measured against the conventional description of a person in the encomia of the progymnasmata, Josephus' Vita contains all and only the material for describing a person mandated in that form. And its formal purpose is that of praise (of Josephus) and blame (of John and Justus)".
"In terms of discovering the constant and conventional categories for perceiving and describing ancient persons, the encomium stands as a valuable and accessible window. This study first examines the generalized instructions given for describing people as found in the rules for an encomium in the extant progymnasmata and then uses as a template for viewing the self-presentation of Josephus in his Vita. It concludes that Josephus' Vita is not just encomiastic in form but a formal encomium. First, it formally aims to praise and blame. Second, it describes the person of Josephus completely according to the conventional categories (i.e. origin and birth, education and nurture, accomplishments and deeds, and comparison) found in the rules for writing encomia and in the same order in which those categories are cited. The encomium offers the modern reader a native view of what the Greco-Roman world considered noteworthy and necessary information about a person". - C.R.M. Keywords: Vita |