The Sicarii in Josephus's Judean War (2009 Brighton), book

The Sicarii in Josephus's Judean War: Rhetorical Analysis and Historical Observations is a book by Mark Andrew Brighton.

Abstract

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. (from back cover)

Editions and translations

Published in the United States of America (Early Judaism and Its Literature, 27; Atlanta, Ga.: Society of Biblical Literature, 2009). ISBN: 978-1-58983-406-4

Reviews

A review of this book in English (written by Jason von Ehrenkrook) will be published in the Journal of the American Oriental Society.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments p. ix
• Abbreviations p. xi
• Preface p. xiii
• 1. Scholarly Studies Concerning the Sicarii in The Judean War p. 1
• 2. The Contexts of The Judean War p. 23
• 3. The Sicarii in War 1-6 p. 49
• 4. The Sicarii in War 7 p. 93
• 5. Conclusions p. 141
• Appendix (Sicarii passages in Greek and English) p. 141
• Bibliography p. 163
• Index of Modern Authors p. 175
• Index of Ancient Authors and Texts p. 177
• Index of Subjects p. 183