Josephus’ Adaptation of the Athaliah Narratives

Cat Quine,Joseph Scales

doi:10.1163/15685330-bja10041

Abstract

Abstract Athaliah in Josephus is rarely studied. This paper thus seeks to build on Christopher Begg’s text-critical work by discussing the literary effect of Josephus’ embellishments to the Athaliah narratives. Athaliah in Josephus is shown to be more explicitly foreign and illegitimate than in the biblical texts, but also a more dynamic, rounded character.

Highlights

In the HB, the northern Israelite princess Athaliah married into the southern kingdom of Judah as part of an alliance between the two kingdoms (2 Kgs 8:18).[1]
In Preliminaries we demonstrate that his additions render Athaliah more foreign and explicitly illegitimate than she is in the biblical texts, while in Jehoiada’s Measures they dramatise the story and increase the tensions for the audience
In Athaliah’s End, we show that Josephus expands Athaliah’s entrance to the temple, associates her with a force of soldiers and has Jehoiada order her destruction at the Wadi Kidron

Summary

Introduction

In the HB, the northern Israelite princess Athaliah married into the southern kingdom of Judah as part of an alliance between the two kingdoms (2 Kgs 8:18).[1] Following her husband, king Joram’s death (2 Kgs 8:23–24) and that of her son, king Ahaziah (2 Kgs 9:27–29), she apparently went on a murderous spree, killing “all the royal seed” of Judah and installing herself as queen (2 Kgs 11:1)

Quine and Scales

Athaliah in Josephus