Josephus and the Cannibalism of Mary ( BJ 6.199–219)

Bibliographic Data

ID23639726
AuthorsHonora Howell Chapman (corresponding author)
Year2007
Pages397-403
Publication date2007-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeOTHER
VenueA Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography (JOURNAL)
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/9781405185110.ch41
OpenAlexW2754614259
ISBN9781405185110
LanguageEN
Citations received3

When the Judean priest Josephus dipped into his inkpot to compose a history of the war that he had just survived, he chose to describe it in such a way that it would capture the imagination of readers acquainted with both Greco-Roman and Jewish literature. I would like to concentrate in this chapter on a particularly ghastly scene from Book 6 of the Judean War to which the early Christians gave special attention in their histories and sermons. They cited this episode of the mother Mary's cannibalism of her own infant (BJ 6.199–219) more often than any other from the War because it provided them with vivid evidence to corroborate passages in the scriptures concerning the two destructions of Jerusalem and to illuminate God's punishment of his people for sin. Josephus' Christian readers also remarked upon his use of tragic themes and diction in this scene of cannibalism. They chose, however, to ignore that his rhetorical purpose in this tragic passage is to encourage his readers to have compassion for the majority of Jews who suffered so terribly during the war with the Romans because of the actions of the minority who were rebels.

Art · Cannibalism · Chose · Josephus · Judaism · Literature · Punishment (psychology) · Rhetorical question · Theology · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classics · History · Law · Philosophy · Psychology

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