Verità e apologia nella Guerra giudaica di Flavio Giuseppe

Abstract

This paper investigates the notions of truth and apology in Flavius Josephus’
BJ. Far from any modern scientific conception of history, ἀλήθεια is, for the Jewish
historian, a Thucydidean ἀκρίβεια enriched by a deuteronomistic teaching: the certainty
that divinity punishes the wicked. But, since Josephus hates the rebels, considering
them the real culprits of the greatest disaster in Jewish history, his purpose
to provide a more impartial account of the conflict and to defend himself from the
accusation of treason is fraught with resentment, especially in the selection of speeches.
Furthermore, in spite of the Greek historians, accused of systematically lying, the
prophet Josephus also regards himself as the ideal pragmatic historian. He, therefore,
claims the absolute accuracy and truth of his works: forming a continuous narrative,
the AJ and the BJ aim to faithfully retrace the entire history of the Jews in their relations
with other peoples.