Table of Contents

1. On the destruction of Jerusalem: Christian, Classical, Biblical, Josephan; 2. Hebrew vs. Jew: identity and differentiation in De Excidio; 3. Abraham, ethnography, exemplarity, and oratory at De Excidio 5.41.2 and 5.53.1; 4. Exemplarity and national decline at De Excidio 5.2.1; 5. Jewish and Christian martyrdom at De Excidio 3.2 and 5.22; 6. King David as Christian-classical exemplum in Pseudo-Hegesippus; 7. Elisha, disaster, and extended exemplarity in De Excidio; 8. A classical world of Biblical Exempla: suicide and patriotism in De Excidio 3.16-17; 9. A Christian world of Hebrew Exempla: war and faith in De Excidio 5.15-16. 10. Conclusion.

Promotional Information

Introduces a little-known text and shows how Classical culture and Bible heroes helped Christians conceptualize Jewish history in late antiquity.

About the Author

Carson Bay is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Jewish Studies at the University of Bern, Switzerland.

Reviews

'This book offers an important new study of an important, but neglected text, the anonymous De Excidio Hierosolymitano … First, it presents the first monographic study in English of this text, and in so doing gives scholars of late antiquity, the history of Judaism, and of late ancient historiography a fine summary and interpretive introduction to the text. Second, it offers a detailed study of the text's use of exempla as a rhetorical-historiographic strategy … As a specialist in late ancient historiography, I felt like I was learning throughout my reading of the book.' Jeremy Schott, Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University

'Carson Bay's incisive and original study brings to light a little-known but critically important late fourth century Christian historian, Ps-Hegesippus. That author's rewriting of Josephus' Jewish War transformed the work into a centerpiece for Christian antisemitism and supersessionism. Bay's very careful dissection of the text shows it to be a remarkable blend of biblical stories, Jewish traditions, and classical historiography in advancing a Christian agenda in late antiquity. As Bay compellingly argues, the author employed the rhetorical techniques of Greek and Roman historians and exploited the authority of the Jewish intellectual Josephus to reinterpret the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple as divine punishment for the crucifixion of Jesus. This book brings new insights to scholars and students of the Hebrew Bible, Jewish studies, early Christianity, and classical literature alike.' Erich S. Gruen, Emeritus Gladys Rehard Wood Professor of History and Classics at the University of California, Berkeley