The De Excidio of “Hegesippus” and the Reception of Josephus in the Early Middle Ages

Abstract

The ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus is well known today, and was also very popular in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Medieval Christians read Josephus’s works in Latin translations made in the fourth to sixth centuries, and Josephus was recommended by none other than Jerome and Cassiodorus. There has, however, been relatively little study of the Latin text of Josephus, or of Josephus’s medieval reception and influence. Previous work has only hinted that the latter was vast, and that Josephus enjoyed a high reputation. This article carefully traces the reception of one Latin adaptation of Josephus’s Jewish War (the so-called “Hegesippus”) in the early Middle Ages. This heavily Christianized reworking of Josephus was read all over Europe, from Italy to England to Iberia. More importantly, because this text was invariably attributed to Josephus up to the ninth century, it becomes clear that some of Josephus’s considerable reputation in the Middle Ages was due - ironically - to a heavily Christianized perversion of his Jewish War.