The Sicarii in Josephus's Judean war
Subtitle: rhetorical analysis and historical observations
By: by Mark Brighton.
Series: Early Judaism and its literature -- no. 27
Publisher: Society of Biblical Literature
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Atlanta
Language: eng
Number of pages: 184
ISBN-13: 9781589834064
Subjects: Zealots (Jewish party) -- History; Jews -- History -- 168 B.C.-135 A.D; Jews -- History -- Rebellion, 66-73; Jews -- Politics and government -- To 70 A.D
Description: This book offers a comprehensive study of the Sicarii in Josephus's Judean War. Detailed rhetorical analyses are provided not only for the Masada narrative, where Josephus tells how the Sicarii famously committed suicide, but also for all other places in War where their activities are described or must be inferred from the context. The study shows how Josephus adopted the Sicarii in his narrative to develop and bring to a resolution several major themes in War. In a departure from the classical proposal that the Sicarii were an armed and fanatical off-shoot of the Zealots, this work concludes that from a historical perspective, "Sicarii" was a somewhat fluid term used to describe Jews of the Judean revolt who were associated with acts of violence against their own people for religious/political ends.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Preface; title: The historical perspective; title: The literary perspective; title: The contexts of the Judean war; title: Literary background; title: Thematic elements; title: Date and unity; title: Audience; title: The Sicarii in war; title: Introductory comments; title: The activity of Judas in 6 C.E.; title: The Sicarii rise during the time of Felix; title: The capture of Masada; title: They Join the rebels; title: The rise and fall of Menahem; title: Joint activity with Simon ben Gioras; title: They raid Engaddi; title: Joint activity with Simon ben Gioras; title: Conclusions.