Josephus and the politics of historiography : Apologetic and impression management in the Bellum Judaicum

Although Josephus' debt to the traditions of Greco-Roman historiography is widely recognized, the classical elements in his "Bellum Judaicum" are still often dismissed as just formal ornatus. This study reconsiders Josephus' intellectual affiliation to his predecessors in the genre and argues that the work's classical complexion, and in particular its distinctive "color Thucydides", are integral to the intellectual and ideological design of "Bellum Judaicum". Deployed typically at crucial points