Curious statement by Josephus

[Gladius Hispaniensis]

Ave

Going through Flavius Josephus Judaic Wars, one comes across a curious statement. The writer describes the horrific civil violence that was unleashed in the Holy Land and in Alexandria before Roman troops stepped in and portrays the two main communities involved, the Jews and the Greeks. He says that while the latter had an edge in numbers and wealth, the former had the advantage of greater physical strength and courage. I don't doubt the courage of the Jewish rebels, but given the Greek penchant for physical fitness and athleticism (which had no parallel among Palestinian Jews) I must take the "physical strength" part with a pinch of salt. I highly doubt the veracity of the statement and I wonder at why he would have said something like that. I'm curious to know what everyone else thinks.

[Ingsoc]

It's hard to answer without a reference to the exact location in Josephus writing this incident appear, however Jews in the Hellenistic era were known as soldiers and we know that they serve the Ptolemean and Seleucean armies and I suppose that in the Roman era they still preserve some military knowledge.

[Caesar CXXXVII]

Physical strength of the "Palestinian Jews" (you meant Judaean Jews ) is like saying "The beauty of the Macedonian Greeks" or "The wisdom of the Canadian French" . It's a generalization and one must be ware of that . Ben-Matithyahu was just useing rhetorica, he was good at that .

Edited April 5, 2009 by Caesar CXXXVII

[Aurelia]

Could it be that Josephus, being Jewish, was perhaps a little bit biased in relation to his own people?

[Gladius Hispaniensis]

Could it be that Josephus, being Jewish, was perhaps a little bit biased in relation to his own people?

That was my initial impression. Either way, the feats of physical strength and courage described in that book are quite incredible in some cases. That's why I find it so easy to laugh when I see these gang-bangers hanging out at street corners scaring old ladies with their Tupac shirts and low-slung pants.