Bibliography
| Title: The Parthians in Josephus Secondary Title: Das Partherreich und seine Zeugnisse Pages: 309-324 Type: Book Section Year: 1998 Abstract: 309-- Josephus incorporates Parthian material into the AJ, and he also has personal and ideological links with subjects of Parthia. Large Jewish communities there. -- linguistic links: Josephus' native language, Aramaic, was spoken in Parthia. 310 -- his ability to deal with source material in Eastern Aramaic (as seems likely) was a rare phenomenon among Greek writers in the Roman empire -- no evidence of others, even a Lucian of Samosata, who might have been expected to do so. -- his knowledge of Palestinian Aramaic (a branch of middle Aramaic) permitted him to write to subjects of the Parthian empire in a shared language. 310 -- Addressees of the Aramaic Version of the Jewish War -- "If the Aramaic War (sic) was a relatively brief account of how and why the Temple fell, in the nature, perhaps of a report for those who had no contact with the events, then it will not have carried remotely the same interest to ethnic Parthians or Babylonians as it will have had for the Jewish inhabitants of that world." [see her 1983, p. 176] -- "However that may be, Josephus' statement is in itself significant. It is remarkable that an author patronized by the Flavians freely admits involvement with the Parthian world in a work in which Roman activities and Roman concerns are consistently highlighted. This openness has been connected by some scholars with the rapprochement between Rome and Parthia during the reign of Vespasian: Vologaeses offered 70,000 Parthian horse to assist the Romans in the Jewish War (sic) (Tacitus, Histories 2.82; 4.51) and later sent Titus a golden crown to mark the Judaean victory. In 75, Vologaeses, notoriously, requested Roman help against the Alan invasion of Media (Jewish War 7.244-51; Suetonius, Domitian 2.2; Dio Epitome 66.11.3). That was a passing phase." 311 -- "Yet the Roman conception of Parthia and the Parthians remained largely negative and, rather than promoting Flavian policy, it would seem, on the contrary, that our historian was taking a risk. The suspicions incurred by the author's treatment of Parthia as an insider 'among Roman readers who would perceive him as sympathizing with aliens' stood a good chance of discrediting him. We should therefore look to Josephus' Jewish stance as the more decisive factor in determining the character of the Parthian passages in his work." 311 -- many links between Parthian world and Judeans of Roman world -- therefore the expectation of help from Parthia among some Jews. Cf. the Parthian involvement in Judea just before Herod's rule -- a nice summary here. John Hyrcanus fought with Antiochus VII Sidetes against Parthians, but later Antigonus was installed by Parthian Pacorus and Hyrcanus II was carried off to Parthia, treated with respect, and eventually allowed to return a decade later. 312 -- it is unclear whether cooperation between Jews and Parthians extended to average people, rather than rulers. There is some evidence that many people in the area hated the Judeans because of their contrary laws: AJ 18.371. 312 - 323: the Parthian material in Josephus, in particular the stories of Anilaeus and Asinaeus and the conversion of the Adiabenian royal family. In both cases, Josephus shows himself acquainted with considerable detail, and he shows a senstivity to the material, e.g., in its ethnic dimensions (316) -- even if he also makes some mistakes (e.g., misdates Izates' conversion to 44-46 [Fadus, under Claudius], when it must be earlier because Izates' aid to Artabanus was in the mid-30s, and that was a few years into I's reign). 319-- has a good general grasp of Parthian affairs in this period, though he omits a couple of salient points [Izates' association with Gotarzes; contrast Tac., Ann. 13.1; 14.1, and a brief earlier tenure of the throne by Gotarzes (Ann. 11.6-10)]. |