Josephus's Lands: Mining the Evolution in the Depiction of the Land of Israel in the Works of Josephus

Abstract

This article notes the disparities between the way Josephus depicts the extent of the borders of the Land of Israel in his different works, and shows the connection between the view of the borders he offers in each work to that work's nature, goals, and historical context, as well as to the author's personal life. When he wrote The Jewish Wars, Josephus sought to minimize Jewish territorial aspirations, but later, in Jewish Antiquities, Against Apion, and his autobiography, The Life, he expressed large-scale territorial hopes and visions. This article proposes that the different depictions of borders reflect changes, taking place over a lifetime, in the way Josephus viewed himself and his surroundings, as well as the political constellation under which he found himself at the time he composed each work.