Demons in Flavius Josephus

Daemons, as they appear in Josephus s corpus, help situate Josephus qua first-century Roman-Jewish author between a Hellenistic culture informed by classical antiquity and a Jewish culture informed by Jewish Scripture and tradition. Whether as individual beings or as some impersonal force, the daemo...

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Bibliographic Details
Subtitles:Theme section / Sezione monografica: Angels, watchers, giants reimagined in early Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Main Author: Bay, Carson M. (Author)
Format: Print Article
Language:English
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Published: Ed. Morcelliana 2019
In: Henoch
Year: 2019, Volume: 41, Issue: 2, Pages: 204-225
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Josephus, Flavius 37-100, Werke / Demon / Hellenism / Old Testament
RelBib Classification:HD Early Judaism
NBE Anthropology
Description
Summary:Daemons, as they appear in Josephus s corpus, help situate Josephus qua first-century Roman-Jewish author between a Hellenistic culture informed by classical antiquity and a Jewish culture informed by Jewish Scripture and tradition. Whether as individual beings or as some impersonal force, the daemonic in Josephan literature comports far more with the daemons of the Classical and Hellenistic Greek milieu than with the Jewish literature from the Hebrew Bible to the New Testament. However, Josephus' daemons do betray the influence of that tradition as well. Thus, daemons help illustrate Josephus's works as the product of intercultural influence and exchange. This essay demonstrates this argument by providing a sequential and comprehensive assessment of Josephus s employment of daemons and the daemonic in his corpus and then proffering a comparative survey of related literature preceding and contemporary with Josephus. This survey analysis shows where Josephus's daemons are different from and similar to the ancient Hellenistic and Jewish traditions in their various cultural strains and literary permutations.
ISSN:0393-6805
Contains:Enthalten in: Henoch