we know about thenomen“Flavius” from later writers, and it confirms the
expected three-part citizen’s name, derived from Titus Flavius Vespasianus
(shared by Vespasian and Titus). Other benefactions from the imperial fam-
ily, though not extravagant by contemporary standards, showed appropriate
treatment of their dependent: at least initial accommodation in the family’s
private residence on Rome’s Quirinal hill, some sort of maintenance money,
and a parcel of land in Judea’s coastal plains to replace the real estate in Jeru-
salem that had been spoiled by war and occupation.
As far as we know, Josephus lived the balance of his life in Rome. In the
tradition of the retired statesman-soldier (though only 34), he began a lit-
erary career that would produce three substantial works in thirty books:
the seven-volumeJewish War(mostly written by 79, completed by 81); the
twenty-volumeJewish Antiquitieswith its appendix (Lifeof Josephus),
completed in 93/94; and a sequel, the systematic treatment of Judean an-
tiquity in two volumes known asAgainst Apion.Josephus may have died at
any point from about 95/96 to the early second centuryc.e.A notice from
the ninth-century Patriarch Photius puts the death of King Agrippa II,
which Josephus mentions in hisLife,at 100c.e.Although the issue is still
debated, most scholars think that this notice should not be given decisive
weight, leaving Josephus free to have written his later works and to have
died before 100c.e.We have no way of determining his death date.TheVita
TheLife of Josephusprovides a clear example of the difficulty of moving
from story to history. In scholarship, this work has been thought to hold the
key to Josephus’s historical career for the following reason. AtLife40 and
again in an excursus at 336–67, Josephus reports that his adversary Justus, a
well-educated dignitary from Tiberias who later served on the staff of King
Agrippa II, had written his own account of at least part of the war, in which
Justus took issue with Josephus’sWa r,especially as it concerned Josephus’s
behavior in Galilee. Scholars moved from that observation to the proposal
that the entireLifemust be a response to Justus, whose claims obviously
stung Josephus. This appeared all the more likely because inLifeJosephus
often changes his story over againstWa r.Now he claims, for example, that
he was sent to Galilee with two others, to pacify the region, not as a sole
general; his rival John of Gischala had much more understandable motives
thanWa rhad allowed; and the delegation sent from Jerusalem to oust291JosephusEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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