
Representing the Dynasty in Flavian Rome
The Case of Josephus' Jewish War
Jonathan Davies(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 18. August 2023
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-19-888299-2 (ISBN)
Description
Representing the Dynasty in Flavian Rome investigates the problem of contemporary historiography and regime representation in Flavian Rome through a close study of a text not usually read for such purposes but which has obvious promise for a study of this theme, the Jewish War of Flavius Josephus. Having surveyed the evolution of our conception of Josephus' relationship to Flavian power, taken a broad account of issues of political expression and regime representation in Flavian Rome outside Josephus and examined questions relating to the structure and date of the work, Davies provides a series of thematically-focused readings of the three senior members of the Flavian family, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, as represented by their contemporary and client Josephus. Key topics explored include the level of independence of Josephus' vision, his work's relationship to how the regime is depicted in other contemporary sources, how Josephus makes the Flavians serve his own agenda (which is distinct from the heavy focus of much previous scholarship on how Josephus served their agenda), and the viability and usefulness of certain types of reading practices relating to figured critique which have recently become influential in Josephan scholarship. The book offers a new approach to Josephus' relationship to the Flavian Dynasty and sheds new light on contemporary historiography and political expression in the Early Principate.
Reviews / Votes
This book offers an excellent, detailed analysis of all the references to the three Flavian emperors in Josephus's Jewish War. Davies consistently pays attention to Roman and Jewish perspectives and reads Josephus in line with postcolonial theory as a historian who is in between two worlds. His conclusions are well-argued and careful. * Jan Willem van Henten, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
542 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-888299-2 (9780198882992)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
08/2023
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€68.49
Available for download

E-Book
07/2023
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€68.49
Available for download
Person
Jonathan Davies completed his D.Phil at Oxford in 2017, as holder of the Littman-Vermes scholarship at Wolfson College. Since then, he has taught classics, ancient history, classical languages, and Jewish studies at Birkbeck College London, Oxford, Maynooth University, and Newcastle University.
Author
Lecturer in Ancient HistoryLecturer in Ancient History, Newcastle University
Content
Acknowledgements Text and abbreviations 1: Introduction 2: Political Expression in Flavian Rome 3: The Jewish War: Audience, Structure and Date 4: The Flavians in Jewish War 1-6 5: The Flavians in Jewish War 7 6: Conclusions Bibliography