In the year 37, when Guy Caligula recently ascended the throne in Rome, Josephus was born in Judea. This name is the Roman version, which he adopted much later. At birth, the baby was called Yosef bin Matityahu.
Origin
He belonged to a noble family. His father was a famous priest, and his mother had the blood of the royal Jewish Maccabee dynasty. It should be noted here that, according to the tradition of this people, titles were transferred along the male line, and belonging to the family - along the female line. Therefore, some sources, on the contrary, did not consider Josephus to be of royal blood.
Nevertheless, he still led the life of a noble young man. Just look at the education of Flavius. He knew Greek, in which in the future he would write his famous works.
Education and career
In those years, numerous sects and religious teachings were popular in Judea. For example, Christianity is enough. Joseph Flavius at the age of 16 at first joined the Essenes and spent three years in seclusion.
At the end of the second decade, the young man became a member of the religious and social movement of the Pharisees, who had a great influence on the inner life of the Roman province.
Joseph Flavius, thanks to his origin and ingenuity, secured many influential ties. When he visited Rome in 64, he managed to free several Jews convicted on false charges. He did this thanks to his acquaintance with Poppea - the wife of Emperor Nero, who soon died most likely from poisoning.
Jewish war
However, the peaceful life in the Empire ended. National contradictions finally quarreled Jews and the mother country. Emperor Nero appointed the governor Hessius Flora in the province. He was a greedy man who oppressed the local population.
The country of Israel could not stand such an attitude and rebelled. The driving force behind this phenomenon was the Zealot fraction. This was a socio-political movement among the Jews, which wanted to rid the homeland from the influence of the Roman Empire and Hellenistic culture.
Warlord
Now each resident had to decide which side he was on. First, Josephus joined those who wanted to resolve the conflict peacefully. But in 66, the Roman governor in Syria, Cestius Gallus, had already attacked Israel. Therefore, Joseph had no choice but to defend himself. Due to his fame and origin, he began to lead the defense of the northern half of the country - Galilee.
The young commander managed to gather 10 thousand well-armed soldiers and strengthen the cities in this province. However, success was temporary, and it ended when Vespasian’s troops entered the country. Fortified fortresses surrendered without a fight, one after another, until only one city of Iotopati remained. There Joseph Flavius led. The Jewish war took a nasty turn, and it was decided not to surrender the fortification to the enemy.
Going to the side of the Romans
The city lasted 47 days. The entering Roman troops killed 40 thousand Jews. Joseph managed to escape with a small detachment in a cave, the entrance to which was blocked. Vespasian suggested the unit surrender, which was refused. At the same time, Joseph advised the comrades to accept the proposal. Finally, he managed to persuade the audience to kill one person once a day, since the exit is still blocked. To do this, draw lots. In the end, only two survived - the military leader himself and another Jew.
The two surrendered to the winner, and Joseph adopted the name Flavius in honor of Vespasian. When a Jew was brought to the Roman camp, he predicted the imperial title to the suppressor of the uprising. At first, Vespasian decided that Joseph was simply deceiving him and trying to earn confidence by craftyness. However, news soon came from the capital that Nero was dead, and that there was a tense feud among the applicants.
Vespasian decided not to lose time and immediately went to Europe, where he actually won the throne. Leaving Judea, he appointed his son Titus there as a successor, and left Joseph at court as an interpreter and parliamentarian.
The war was not over yet, and the Romans set off for Jerusalem. When the siege began, Joseph tried to convince his fellow tribesmen to surrender to the Romans, which he always refused. In the end, the city fell and was looted. Joseph managed to persuade Titus to release two hundred people who were locked in the holy Temple. In addition, he was given numerous books stored there.
Literary activity
With the advent of peace, Joseph began to live at the imperial court. Already being a middle-aged man, he took up literature and wrote many works. These were works that reflected not only artistic, but also military experience, which Josephus possessed. The Jewish War is his most famous book. It consists of several volumes. The story covers the period of the war in which Joseph himself participated. The story ends with the fall of Jerusalem. This description is preceded by a story about the premises and previous events in this province.
The book of Josephus "The Jewish War" is often combined with the "Jewish Antiquities" - a large-scale study of Jewish history from the time of biblical stories. The work was written as evidence that this people has a huge heritage. Today this seems obvious, but in ancient and Roman times, foreigners often believed that the Jews came from Egypt and did not have their roots.
Another important book is Autobiography. The writer tried to answer a question about himself, who is Josephus Flavius. In it, he gives an analysis of all his actions during the Judean War, when the writer sided with the Romans.
Another work “Against Apion” was written in the spirit of dispute and addressed to the famous grammar. He was an Alexandrian scholar who had previously written a work on the Jews and often criticized them. Josephus, using the example of Moses and his laws, argued that Apion was wrong.
All of the above books by the author have reached us safely, what is their main value. The writings of many ancient writers perished and were forgotten during the Dark Ages. During the Renaissance in the XVI century, the publication of books in Greek appeared, which was written by Josephus. A photo of his bust is decorated with many textbooks.
Relations with Christianity
Since the historian lived in the second half of the 1st century, he was able to document numerous events described in the gospels. In particular, he talks about Jesus and his death on the cross, the death of John the Baptist, etc.
However, in modern historiography, numerous disputes are being waged on this subject. Some experts believe that these stories were deliberately inserted into the works after the death of the author. Various facts point to this, for example, that Jesus is called Christ in books, although the chronicler was not a Christian. But no matter how Josephus Flavius wrote, the biography of this man continues to arouse the interest of specialists.