A Jewish lawgiver in a Greek world: Moses in Josephus' Antiquities in light of Plutarch's Lives
In the preface to the Antiquities, Josephus introduces Moses, the lawgiver, as the central figure in Jewish history. Moses is presented in terms which are familiar from the traditions about lawgivers in the Greek world, but Josephus also adapts the category of lawgiver itself to fit Moses in particu...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2020
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| _version_ | 1797097446757629952 |
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| author | Westwood, U |
| author2 | Goodman, M |
| author_facet | Goodman, M Westwood, U |
| author_sort | Westwood, U |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | In the preface to the Antiquities, Josephus introduces Moses, the lawgiver, as the central figure in Jewish history. Moses is presented in terms which are familiar from the traditions about lawgivers in the Greek world, but Josephus also adapts the category of lawgiver itself to fit Moses in particular. This pattern of appeal and adaptation persists in the account of Moses’ life which appears in Antiquities II to IV. In order to formulate a historically grounded picture of what a Greek audience would expect, this thesis uses Plutarch’s Lives, particularly of Lycurgus, Numa, and Solon. The core chapters of the thesis analyse the narrative of Moses’ life in the Antiquities through this lens, finding that on the levels both of narrative motifs and theoretical assumptions about the process of legislation Josephus imagines an audience with expectations similar to those presupposed in Plutarch’s Lives. Narrative motifs added to the stories of Moses’ birth, exile, and death reveal Josephus’ attempt to conform to Greek models of founding and legislating. When we consider Moses’ actions as lawgiver, comparison with Plutarch uncovers unexpected ambivalence about the ultimate source of the Jewish law, while also laying bare some core differences in emphasis in relation to the medium through which law is transmitted, and the categories of life managed by a “constitution”. Even where there are differences, however, the investigation finds a consistent concern on Josephus’ part to ensure his text appeals to readers who expected an approach like that in Plutarch’s Lives. The few exceptions expose core issues about which Josephus may have wished to provoke his audience: the place of communal worship in a nation’s “constitution”, the legislator’s need to be a part of the community for which he legislates, and the limited power of persuasion to deal with existential threats. The thesis argues that in his portrait of Moses as Jewish lawgiver, Josephus uses and challenges Greek models. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T04:55:37Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:d6835068-4c84-460d-81cb-ec140775308e |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T04:55:37Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:d6835068-4c84-460d-81cb-ec140775308e2022-03-27T08:34:04ZA Jewish lawgiver in a Greek world: Moses in Josephus' Antiquities in light of Plutarch's LivesThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:d6835068-4c84-460d-81cb-ec140775308ePlutarch, biographerMoses (biblical leader) - in post-biblcal literatureJosephus, Flavius, Antiquitates JudaicaeGreek prose literature, HellenisticEnglishHyrax Deposit2020Westwood, UGoodman, MIn the preface to the Antiquities, Josephus introduces Moses, the lawgiver, as the central figure in Jewish history. Moses is presented in terms which are familiar from the traditions about lawgivers in the Greek world, but Josephus also adapts the category of lawgiver itself to fit Moses in particular. This pattern of appeal and adaptation persists in the account of Moses’ life which appears in Antiquities II to IV. In order to formulate a historically grounded picture of what a Greek audience would expect, this thesis uses Plutarch’s Lives, particularly of Lycurgus, Numa, and Solon. The core chapters of the thesis analyse the narrative of Moses’ life in the Antiquities through this lens, finding that on the levels both of narrative motifs and theoretical assumptions about the process of legislation Josephus imagines an audience with expectations similar to those presupposed in Plutarch’s Lives. Narrative motifs added to the stories of Moses’ birth, exile, and death reveal Josephus’ attempt to conform to Greek models of founding and legislating. When we consider Moses’ actions as lawgiver, comparison with Plutarch uncovers unexpected ambivalence about the ultimate source of the Jewish law, while also laying bare some core differences in emphasis in relation to the medium through which law is transmitted, and the categories of life managed by a “constitution”. Even where there are differences, however, the investigation finds a consistent concern on Josephus’ part to ensure his text appeals to readers who expected an approach like that in Plutarch’s Lives. The few exceptions expose core issues about which Josephus may have wished to provoke his audience: the place of communal worship in a nation’s “constitution”, the legislator’s need to be a part of the community for which he legislates, and the limited power of persuasion to deal with existential threats. The thesis argues that in his portrait of Moses as Jewish lawgiver, Josephus uses and challenges Greek models. |
| spellingShingle | Plutarch, biographer Moses (biblical leader) - in post-biblcal literature Josephus, Flavius, Antiquitates Judaicae Greek prose literature, Hellenistic Westwood, U A Jewish lawgiver in a Greek world: Moses in Josephus' Antiquities in light of Plutarch's Lives |
| title | A Jewish lawgiver in a Greek world: Moses in Josephus' Antiquities in light of Plutarch's Lives |
| title_full | A Jewish lawgiver in a Greek world: Moses in Josephus' Antiquities in light of Plutarch's Lives |
| title_fullStr | A Jewish lawgiver in a Greek world: Moses in Josephus' Antiquities in light of Plutarch's Lives |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Jewish lawgiver in a Greek world: Moses in Josephus' Antiquities in light of Plutarch's Lives |
| title_short | A Jewish lawgiver in a Greek world: Moses in Josephus' Antiquities in light of Plutarch's Lives |
| title_sort | jewish lawgiver in a greek world moses in josephus antiquities in light of plutarch s lives |
| topic | Plutarch, biographer Moses (biblical leader) - in post-biblcal literature Josephus, Flavius, Antiquitates Judaicae Greek prose literature, Hellenistic |
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