Bibliography
| Title: Suicide in the Sanctuary: Traditions on Priestly Martyrdom Secondary Title: JJS Volume: 46 Pages: 10-29 Type: Journal Article Year: 1995 Abstract: Levison, John Robert in: OTA 20.3 (1997), 514: "G. analyzes several Jewish texts which coalesce around the theme of the suicide of priestly figures. He begins with the texts themselves: Josephus' accounts of the events in 63 B.C.E. (War 1.148,150; Ant 14.66-70); accounts of the conquest of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 C.E. (Josephus, War 6.280; Cassius Dio, Historia Romana 66.6.2-3); and rabbinic traditions about priestly suicides during the destruction of the First or Second Temple (b.Ta'an 29a; Abot de Rabbi Nathan [version B]; Pesiqta Rabbati 26; Targum Sheni to Ester 1:3; Lev. Rab. 19:6; and y. Seqal. 6:3 [50a]. G. assesses whether the happenings spoken of were active or passive suicides and likewise asks whether the suicides are priestly even where there is no explicit reference to priests. In the second half of his article, G. contends that these texts reflect a priestly ideology espoused in priestly circles. He observes first that classical sources do not provide parallels which would explain the origins of such a tradition. Second, positive treatments of Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-6), as found in Philo's On Flight and Finding 59 or On Dreams 2.67, and some positive rabbinic assessments, suggest influence of the ideology of priestly martyrdom. This sort of ideology may also be evident in Josephus' portrayal of Eleazar's final speech at Masada (e.g. War 6.343, 387) despite its veneer of Greco-Roman rhetoric". |