Moses among the Greek lawgivers: reading Josephus' antiquities through Plutarch's lives
Josephus' Antiquities invites his audience to compare the Jewish lawgiver, Moses, with the famous legislators of Greece and Rome. This book responds to the invitation, using Plutarch's Lives to uncover a series of appeals and challenges embedded in Josephus' narrative.
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subito Delivery Service: | Order now. |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
Boston
BRILL
2023
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| In: |
Journal for the study of Judaism (volume 210)
Year: 2023 |
| Reviews: | [Rezension von: Westwood, Ursula, Moses among the Greek lawgivers : reading Josephus' antiquities through Plutarch's lives] (2025) (Grojnowski, Davina)
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| Edition: | 1st ed. |
| Series/Journal: | Journal for the study of Judaism Supplements to the Journal for the study of Judaism
volume 210 |
| Further subjects: | B
Josephus, Flavius Antiquitates Judaicae
B Plutarch Lives B Bible. Old Testament Criticism, interpretation, etc., Jewish B Law, Greek History B Jewish Law History B Thesis B Jewish Law B Judaism Apologetic works History and criticism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Josephus' Antiquities invites his audience to compare the Jewish lawgiver, Moses, with the famous legislators of Greece and Rome. This book responds to the invitation, using Plutarch's Lives to uncover a series of appeals and challenges embedded in Josephus' narrative. Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Chapter 1 Introduction -- 1 Studies of Josephus' Moses -- 1.1 Previous Studies -- 1.2 The Current Project -- 2 Josephus' Audience for the Antiquities -- 2.1 Josephus' Explicit Claims about His Audience -- 2.2 Josephus in Flavian Rome: Implicit Evidence for His Audience -- 3 Josephus' Purposes in the Antiquities -- 3.1 Josephus' Stated Purposes -- 3.2 Implicit Purposes -- 4 Josephus and the Greeks -- 5 Greek Literature in the Flavian Period -- 6 Plutarch -- 7 Methodology and Outline -- Chapter 2 Legends of Lawgivers -- 1 Lawgivers and Laws -- 2 Divine Law through Human Dialogue: Plato's Laws -- 2.1 Divine Law -- 2.2 Persuasion and Preambles -- 3 Degeneration and Exemplarity -- 3.1 The Lawgiver's Virtue, the Law's Degeneration -- 3.2 The Gods: Adjustment and Scepticism -- 4 Roman Legislators: Cicero's Theories -- 5 Dionysius on the Roman νομοθέται -- 6 Conclusions -- Chapter 3 Introducing Moses the Lawgiver -- 1 The Jewish Lawgiver in the Prologue to the Antiquities -- 1.1 History as Law -- 1.2 The Other Lawgivers and Myth -- 2 Preparing the Lawgiver in Antiquities II -- 2.1 Education -- 2.1.1 Education and Plutarch's (Self-Taught?) Lawgivers -- 2.1.2 Absence of Education for Josephus' Moses -- 2.2 Exile and Calling -- 2.2.1 The Exile of Lycurgus -- 2.2.2 Moses' Calling and Return -- 2.2.3 The Burning Bush -- 2.2.4 Reluctance? -- 2.3 Conclusions -- Chapter 4 Giving the Law -- 1 Divine Law -- 1.1 Divine Law(s) in Plutarch -- 1.1.1 Lycurgus -- 1.1.2 Numa -- 1.1.3 Lawgivers and the Gods in Plutarch -- 1.2 Divine Law in Josephus' Antiquities -- 1.2.1 Authorial (?) Statements -- 1.2.2 The Sinai Narrative -- 1.2.3 Moses' Agency over the Laws -- 1.2.4 The ἅτερος λόγος in Antiquities IV -- 1.3 Conclusions -- 2 Temple and Priest -- 2.1 Temples and Symbolism -- 2.1.1 Temples in the Numa. "Josephus' Antiquities introduces Moses as the Jewish lawgiver, adapting the biblical account for a new audience. But who was that audience, and what did they understand by the term lawgiver ? This book uses Plutarch's Lives as an proxy for an imagined audience, providing a historically grounded but flexible model of a lawgiver, against which some of the otherwise invisible forces shaping Josephus' choices are thrown into sharp relief. This method reveals patterns of appeal and challenge in Josephus' intriguing and lively account of Moses' legislative activities"-- |
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| Item Description: | Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (280 pages) |
| ISBN: | 978-90-04-68193-4 |