From hostage to historian: Josephus, the emperors, and the city of Rome

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorEdmondson, Jonathan
dc.contributor.advisorMason, Steve
dc.creatorDen Hollander, William
dc.date.accessioned2016-08-03T16:51:51Z
dc.date.available2016-08-03T16:51:51Z
dc.date.copyright2012-08
dc.degree.disciplineHistory
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractThe voluminous works of the Judaean historian Flavius Josephus have been and continue to be of tremendous importance for our understanding of the worlds in which he lived. For centuries his works have been thoroughly investigated by scholars in diverse fields. Until more recently, however, the Roman context in which Josephus lived as he wrote was rarely explored at length, despite the fact that it is indispensable for our knowledge and understanding of the man and the historian. Recent scholarship has, however, taken up the exploration of his interactions with his environment with enthusiasm, undermining longstanding conceptions regarding his relationship with the Roman world in the process. The present study builds on these current trends and considers particularly the social circumstances in which Josephus lived in Rome during the latter part of his life. By exploring the relationship between Josephus and each of the Flavian emperors-Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian-individually, this study seeks to explore the nature of these relationships more comprehensively than has been done in the past. This aim of comprehensiveness is achieved in part by beginning not with Josephus' arrival in Rome in AD 71, but with his first voyage to the imperial capital during the reign of Nero, and by considering also the contact between Josephus and the future Roman emperors within the Roman army camp in Judaea during the course of the 1st Judaean War. In the examination of these relationships, this study supports the increasing recognition in Josephan scholarship that the Judaean historian cannot justifiably be characterized as a 'Flavian lackey' or propagandist, a view that has not yet been fully accepted by non-Josephan scholars. Having established the possible parameters of his relationships with the imperial family, the study also explores the contact between Josephus and other inhabitants of Rome, including the Herodian princes and the patron of his final works, the freedman Epaphroditus, in an attempt to determine as clearly as possible the social circles in which he functioned as he lived out the final years of his life in the city of Rome.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/31709
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subject.keywordsFlavius Josephus
dc.subject.keywordshistorian
dc.subject.keywordshistory
dc.subject.keywordsRoman Empire
dc.subject.keywordsRome
dc.titleFrom hostage to historian: Josephus, the emperors, and the city of Rome
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
DenHollander_William_2012_PhD.pdf
Size:
23 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.83 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
YorkU_ETDlicense.txt
Size:
3.37 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download

Collections

History

All items in the YorkSpace institutional repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved except where explicitly noted.