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Slavonic Josephus

February 21, 2023

The Slavonic Josephus is an Old East Slavic translation of Flavius Josephus' History of the Jewish War which contains numerous interpolations and omissions that set it apart from all other known versions of Josephus' History. The authenticity of the interpolations was a major subject of controversy in the 20th century, but the latest scholarship has rejected them.[1][2]

A 1640 edition of the Works of Josephus

Background

Josephus wrote all of his surviving works after his establishment in Rome (c. 71 AD) under the patronage of the Flavian Emperor Vespasian. As is common with ancient texts, however, there are no surviving extant manuscripts of Josephus' works that can be dated before the 11th century, and the oldest of these are all Greek minuscules, copied by Christian monks.[3] (Jews did not preserve the writings of Josephus because they considered him to be a traitor.[4]) Of the about 120 extant Greek manuscripts of Josephus, 33 predate the 14th century.[5]

The references to Jesus by Josephus found in Book 18 and Book 20 of the Antiquities of the Jews do not appear in any other versions of Josephus' The Jewish War except for a Slavonic version of the Testimonium Flavianum (at times called Testimonium Slavonium) which surfaced in the west at the beginning of the 20th century, after its discovery in Russia at the end of the 19th century.[6][7]

History of the text

The earliest surviving manuscript of the Slavonic Josephus dates to 1463. The translation itself, however, is at least a century older than that. Some scholars have associated it with the very first Slavic school of translators active in the ninth and tenth centuries. Others have associated it with the Jewish community of Lvov in the fourteenth century. Virtually any date between those two extremes is possible.[8]

The text is generally associated with Kievan Rus' on the grounds that it has proto-Russian features. It was widely copied and survives in some 33 manuscripts. In some it is interwoven with the chronicles of the Byzantine historians John Malalas and George Hamartolos to form a single universal history.[8]

Grigorije Vasilije was a Serbian Orthodox monk and scribe who translated The Jewish War from Old Church Slavonic to Serbian in the sixteenth century.[9] All predate the first English translation of Josephus's writings based on the Latin text made in 1602 by Thomas Lodge.

History of the controversy

The existence of the documents that led to the discovery of the Slavonic Josephus was first brought to light by A. N. Popov in Russia in 1866.[7] In 1879 Izmail Sreznevsky pointed out that the language used was not Bulgarian or Serbian, but comparable to the Russian chronicles.[10] At about the same time as Sreznevsky, the subject was also studied by E. Barsov and by the end of the 19th century knowledge of the existence of the documents was established in the west via its listing by Niese and Destinon in 1894.[7] The Estonian scholar Alexander Berendts published a German translation in 1906 and proposed the theory that the Slavonic version had been derived from the original Aramaic of Josephus.[7] However, Paul L. Maier states that the Slavonic Josephus "includes so many sensationalized accretions" that most modern scholars consider it as a highly colored translation and paraphrase, and do not consider it to be true to the original Aramaic.[11]

The Slavonic Josephus was defended in 1926 as authentic by Robert Eisler and was later supported by George Williamson.[12] Robert Van Voorst states that apart from Eisler's controversial book and Williamson statements, "no strong defense has been made" for the authenticity of the Slavonic Josephus.[12] Henry Leeming states that Eisler at times used insufficiently substantiated material which were then discredited, adding that Eisler's philological attempts to reverse translate from Old Russian to Greek were shown to be "extremely flimsy".[10] Van Voorst states that the contents of the passages in the Slavonic Josephus show that "they are Christian compositions and that they do not provide an authentic textual alternative to the main Testimonium Flavianum."[13]

In 1948 Solomon Zeitlin argued that the Slavonic Josephus was composed for the purpose of giving a Christian version of Josephus in Greek.[14]

Steven B. Bowman states that the consideration of the Slavonic Josephus should be removed from the scholarly discussions of the first century, for it only pertains to the Macedonian elements of the 10th and 11th centuries.[2] The Cambridge History of Judaism states that the Slavonic version includes statements which Josephus could have hardly written and that recent scholarly opinion dismisses the Slavonic Josephus as less than authentic, but the 11th-century creation as an ideological struggle against the Khazars.[15] Van Voorst states that the Slavonic Josephus at times focuses on blaming Pilate and the Jews, to the point of suggesting that the Jews and not the Romans crucified Jesus.[12]

Louis Feldman states that the question "is Josephus the author of the additions and modifications in the Slavonic version" has usually received a negative answer.[16] Craig A Evans states that although some scholars had in the past supported the Slavonic Josephus, "to my knowledge no one today believes that they contain anything of value for Jesus research".[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Chilton & Evans 1998, p. 451.
  2. ^ a b Bowman 1987, pp. 373–374.
  3. ^ Feldman & Hata 1989, p. 431.
  4. ^ Flavius Josephus et al. 2003, p. 26.
  5. ^ Baras 1987, p. 369.
  6. ^ Van Voorst 2000, p. 85.
  7. ^ a b c d Creed 1932.
  8. ^ a b Leeming 2016, p. 391–92.
  9. ^ Jakovljevic, Zivojin (2011). "Editing in a Sixteenth-century Serbian Manuscript (HM. SMS. 280): A Lexical Analysis with Comparison to the Russian Original".
  10. ^ a b Flavius Josephus et al. 2003, pp. 1–4.
  11. ^ Flavius Josephus, Whiston & Maier 1999, p. 11.
  12. ^ a b c Van Voorst 2000, p. 87.
  13. ^ Van Voorst 2000, pp. 87–88.
  14. ^ Zeitlin 1948.
  15. ^ Davies 2000, p. 918.
  16. ^ Baras 1987, p. 339.

Bibliography

  • Baras, Zvi (1987). "The Testimonium Flavianum and the Martyrdom of James". In Feldman, Louis H.; Hata, Gōhei (eds.). Josephus, Judaism and Christianity. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-08554-1.
  • Bowman, Steven B. (1987). "Josephus in Byzantium". In Feldman, Louis H.; Hata, Gōhei (eds.). Josephus, Judaism and Christianity. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-08554-1.
  • Chilton, Bruce; Evans, Craig A. (1998). Studying the Historical Jesus: Evaluations of the State of Current Research. ISBN 978-90-04-11142-4.
  • Creed, John Martin (Oct 1932). "The Slavonic Version of Josephus' History of the Jewish War". The Harvard Theological Review. 25 (4): 277–319. doi:10.1017/S0017816000021301. S2CID 162926700.
  • Davies, William David, ed. (2000). The Cambridge History of Judaism, Vol. 3: The Early Roman Period. ISBN 978-0-521-24377-3.
  • Feldman, Louis H.; Hata, Gōhei (1989). Josephus, the Bible, and history. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-08931-0.
  • Flavius Josephus; Leeming, Henry; Osinkina, Lyubov V.; Leeming, Katherine (2003). Josephus' Jewish War and Its Slavonic Version: A Synoptic Comparison of the English Translation by H. St. Thackeray with the Critical Edition by N.A. Meščerskij of the Slavonic Version in the Vilna Manuscript Translated into English by H. Leeming and L. Osinkina. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-11438-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Flavius Josephus; Whiston, William; Maier, Paul L. (1999). The New Complete Works of Josephus. Kregel Academic. ISBN 978-0-8254-2948-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Leeming, Kate (2016). "The Slavonic Version of Josephus's Jewish War". In Honora Howell Chapman; Zuleika Rodgers (eds.). A Companion to Josephus. Wiley Blackwell. pp. 390–401.
  • Van Voorst, Robert E. (2000). Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-8028-4368-5.
  • Wells, George Albert (1971). The Jesus of the early Christians. Pemberton Books. ISBN 978-0-301-71014-3.
  • Zeitlin, Solomon (October 1948). "The Hoax of the 'Slavonic Josephus'". The Jewish Quarterly Review. New Series. 39 (2): 172–177. doi:10.2307/1452821. JSTOR 1452821.

External links

  • The Slavic Version of the Jewish War by Joseph Flavius in the Context of the Archival Chronograph (Bulgarian language)

February 21, 2023
slavonic, josephus, east, slavic, translation, flavius, josephus, history, jewish, which, contains, numerous, interpolations, omissions, that, apart, from, other, known, versions, josephus, history, authenticity, interpolations, major, subject, controversy, 20. The Slavonic Josephus is an Old East Slavic translation of Flavius Josephus History of the Jewish War which contains numerous interpolations and omissions that set it apart from all other known versions of Josephus History The authenticity of the interpolations was a major subject of controversy in the 20th century but the latest scholarship has rejected them 1 2 A 1640 edition of the Works of Josephus Contents 1 Background 2 History of the text 3 History of the controversy 4 See also 5 References 6 Bibliography 7 External linksBackground EditJosephus wrote all of his surviving works after his establishment in Rome c 71 AD under the patronage of the Flavian Emperor Vespasian As is common with ancient texts however there are no surviving extant manuscripts of Josephus works that can be dated before the 11th century and the oldest of these are all Greek minuscules copied by Christian monks 3 Jews did not preserve the writings of Josephus because they considered him to be a traitor 4 Of the about 120 extant Greek manuscripts of Josephus 33 predate the 14th century 5 The references to Jesus by Josephus found in Book 18 and Book 20 of the Antiquities of the Jews do not appear in any other versions of Josephus The Jewish War except for a Slavonic version of the Testimonium Flavianum at times called Testimonium Slavonium which surfaced in the west at the beginning of the 20th century after its discovery in Russia at the end of the 19th century 6 7 History of the text EditThe earliest surviving manuscript of the Slavonic Josephus dates to 1463 The translation itself however is at least a century older than that Some scholars have associated it with the very first Slavic school of translators active in the ninth and tenth centuries Others have associated it with the Jewish community of Lvov in the fourteenth century Virtually any date between those two extremes is possible 8 The text is generally associated with Kievan Rus on the grounds that it has proto Russian features It was widely copied and survives in some 33 manuscripts In some it is interwoven with the chronicles of the Byzantine historians John Malalas and George Hamartolos to form a single universal history 8 Grigorije Vasilije was a Serbian Orthodox monk and scribe who translated The Jewish War from Old Church Slavonic to Serbian in the sixteenth century 9 All predate the first English translation of Josephus s writings based on the Latin text made in 1602 by Thomas Lodge History of the controversy EditThe existence of the documents that led to the discovery of the Slavonic Josephus was first brought to light by A N Popov in Russia in 1866 7 In 1879 Izmail Sreznevsky pointed out that the language used was not Bulgarian or Serbian but comparable to the Russian chronicles 10 At about the same time as Sreznevsky the subject was also studied by E Barsov and by the end of the 19th century knowledge of the existence of the documents was established in the west via its listing by Niese and Destinon in 1894 7 The Estonian scholar Alexander Berendts published a German translation in 1906 and proposed the theory that the Slavonic version had been derived from the original Aramaic of Josephus 7 However Paul L Maier states that the Slavonic Josephus includes so many sensationalized accretions that most modern scholars consider it as a highly colored translation and paraphrase and do not consider it to be true to the original Aramaic 11 The Slavonic Josephus was defended in 1926 as authentic by Robert Eisler and was later supported by George Williamson 12 Robert Van Voorst states that apart from Eisler s controversial book and Williamson statements no strong defense has been made for the authenticity of the Slavonic Josephus 12 Henry Leeming states that Eisler at times used insufficiently substantiated material which were then discredited adding that Eisler s philological attempts to reverse translate from Old Russian to Greek were shown to be extremely flimsy 10 Van Voorst states that the contents of the passages in the Slavonic Josephus show that they are Christian compositions and that they do not provide an authentic textual alternative to the main Testimonium Flavianum 13 In 1948 Solomon Zeitlin argued that the Slavonic Josephus was composed for the purpose of giving a Christian version of Josephus in Greek 14 Steven B Bowman states that the consideration of the Slavonic Josephus should be removed from the scholarly discussions of the first century for it only pertains to the Macedonian elements of the 10th and 11th centuries 2 The Cambridge History of Judaism states that the Slavonic version includes statements which Josephus could have hardly written and that recent scholarly opinion dismisses the Slavonic Josephus as less than authentic but the 11th century creation as an ideological struggle against the Khazars 15 Van Voorst states that the Slavonic Josephus at times focuses on blaming Pilate and the Jews to the point of suggesting that the Jews and not the Romans crucified Jesus 12 Louis Feldman states that the question is Josephus the author of the additions and modifications in the Slavonic version has usually received a negative answer 16 Craig A Evans states that although some scholars had in the past supported the Slavonic Josephus to my knowledge no one today believes that they contain anything of value for Jesus research 1 See also EditJosephus on Jesus Trilingual heresy Grigorije VasilijeReferences Edit a b Chilton amp Evans 1998 p 451 a b Bowman 1987 pp 373 374 Feldman amp Hata 1989 p 431 Flavius Josephus et al 2003 p 26 Baras 1987 p 369 Van Voorst 2000 p 85 a b c d Creed 1932 a b Leeming 2016 p 391 92 Jakovljevic Zivojin 2011 Editing in a Sixteenth century Serbian Manuscript HM SMS 280 A Lexical Analysis with Comparison to the Russian Original a b Flavius Josephus et al 2003 pp 1 4 Flavius Josephus Whiston amp Maier 1999 p 11 a b c Van Voorst 2000 p 87 Van Voorst 2000 pp 87 88 Zeitlin 1948 Davies 2000 p 918 Baras 1987 p 339 Bibliography EditBaras Zvi 1987 The Testimonium Flavianum and the Martyrdom of James In Feldman Louis H Hata Gōhei eds Josephus Judaism and Christianity Brill ISBN 978 90 04 08554 1 Bowman Steven B 1987 Josephus in Byzantium In Feldman Louis H Hata Gōhei eds Josephus Judaism and Christianity Brill ISBN 978 90 04 08554 1 Chilton Bruce Evans Craig A 1998 Studying the Historical Jesus Evaluations of the State of Current Research ISBN 978 90 04 11142 4 Creed John Martin Oct 1932 The Slavonic Version of Josephus History of the Jewish War The Harvard Theological Review 25 4 277 319 doi 10 1017 S0017816000021301 S2CID 162926700 Davies William David ed 2000 The Cambridge History of Judaism Vol 3 The Early Roman Period ISBN 978 0 521 24377 3 Feldman Louis H Hata Gōhei 1989 Josephus the Bible and history Brill ISBN 978 90 04 08931 0 Flavius Josephus Leeming Henry Osinkina Lyubov V Leeming Katherine 2003 Josephus Jewish War and Its Slavonic Version A Synoptic Comparison of the English Translation by H St Thackeray with the Critical Edition by N A Mescerskij of the Slavonic Version in the Vilna Manuscript Translated into English by H Leeming and L Osinkina Leiden Brill ISBN 978 90 04 11438 8 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint ref duplicates default link Flavius Josephus Whiston William Maier Paul L 1999 The New Complete Works of Josephus Kregel Academic ISBN 978 0 8254 2948 4 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Leeming Kate 2016 The Slavonic Version of Josephus s Jewish War In Honora Howell Chapman Zuleika Rodgers eds A Companion to Josephus Wiley Blackwell pp 390 401 Van Voorst Robert E 2000 Jesus Outside the New Testament An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence Wm B Eerdmans Publishing Co ISBN 978 0 8028 4368 5 Wells George Albert 1971 The Jesus of the early Christians Pemberton Books ISBN 978 0 301 71014 3 Zeitlin Solomon October 1948 The Hoax of the Slavonic Josephus The Jewish Quarterly Review New Series 39 2 172 177 doi 10 2307 1452821 JSTOR 1452821 External links EditThe Slavic Version of the Jewish War by Joseph Flavius in the Context of the Archival Chronograph Bulgarian language Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Slavonic Josephus amp oldid 1119386280, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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