The Christian Reception of Josephus in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Abstract

One of the most important purposes Flavius Josephus's works served in medieval Christian learned and popular traditions was to offer an independent and ostensibly detached storyline that worked out any historical difficulties with supersession. For his contemporary Jewish readers, Flavius Josephus highlighted correlations between the Roman assault and the predictions of Hebrew prophets. In his exegetical and chronographical works, the English historian Bede used Josephus on a much larger scale than had any author since Jerome, and established or re-established patterns for applying Josephan material that would remain influential throughout the later Middle Ages. Carolingians produced multi-layered biblical commentaries and histories, compilations that reflect the era's concern for preserving patristic and early medieval works. Josephus is well-represented in the writings of Carolingian scholars.

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