Category:Capture of Josephus at Jotapata (event)
The Capture of Josephus at Jotapata refers to an event in the life of Josephus during the Jewish War--his capture by the Romans after the Siege of Jotapata.
Overview
Before moving toward Jerusalem, the Roman army led by Vespasian completed the reconquest of the rebel cities in Galilee. The defense of the region had been charged to Josephus (Joseph ben Mattatihu).
Once Vespasian was informed that Joseph ben Mattatihu was at Jotapata, the city was besieged; see Siege of Jotapata. The city fell and Josephus was captured alive. The circumstances of Josephus' capture are not clear. According to his own testimony, when the walls of the fortress were finally breached, he fled in an underground cave with 40 fellow defenders. However, the Romans soon discovered the hiding place of Josephus. As the Romans told Josephus that his life would be spared though the middle of a certain Nicanor, he wished to surrender, but the others refused. It seems that the vast majority of the defenders opted to die, than to fall in the hands of the Romans. At this point Josephus persuaded his companions to kill each other drawing lots, positioning himself to be the last. He then convinced the only surviving companion to surrender to the Romans. However Joseph ben Mattatihu survived this last ordeal quite ingloriously and surrendered to the Romans. As the defeated commander-in-chief of the insurgents in Galilee, he was destined to be spared for the triumph in Rome. Josephus however managed to survive. According to his writings (and to Roman sources as well), once he was in the hands of the Romans, he prophesied to Vespasian that he would soon become emperor. No matter what really happened, the Roman general spared the life of Joseph ben Mattatihu. From then onwards the former commander-in-chief of the rebellious forces in Galilee collaborated with the Roman army. By the end of the war, he was freed, given Roman citizenship with the name of Flavius Josephus.
The Capture of Josephus at Jotapata in ancient sources
Josephus, Bellum Iudaicum
"I am here to announce to you a brighter future .... You, Vespasian, will be Emperor and Caesar, you and your son …. You, Caesar, you are not only my Master, but also the owner of the land, the sea and all humankind "(Bel 3.400 -402).
Suetonius, Vita Vespasiani
"It was confirmed in all the Orient an old and constant belief: that by order of the Fates the one who at that time had come from Judea would obtain the universal lordship. The Jews referred to themselves the prediction that, as later events would show, concerned a Roman emperor in Judea .... When [Vespasian] consulted the oracle of God at Carmel, the fates were so reassuring to promise that he would have been anything (no matter how great) he thought and contemplated. One of the noble prisoners, Josephus, when he was put in chains, with great insistence asserted that he would soon be freed from [Vespasian] once he had become Emperor "(Vita Vespasiani 4).
External sources
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