Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War, trans. G. A. Williamson, rev. E. Mary Smallwood (Penguin Classics, 1984).
Why I Assigned This
I assigned this in Fall 2021. Thucydides had not worked as well as I hoped, but I was convinced that the core idea was strong. Students are always fascinated by Roman history. It is what they look forward to in the first part of the survey. I had read Josephus’s account of the Jewish War in an undergraduate survey course, so I knew this would be a better fit. It is a problematic source that details one of the key moments in the expansion of the Roman Empire, and while he is at times an unreliable witness, he tells an amazing story.
How Students Responded
My students really liked Josephus, but it took quite a bit of work to get them to read it critically. Initially, they wanted to take everything at face value. We spent a lot of time discussing motivation and why this account might not be reliable. We also discussed how, even with these problems, it is one of the only sources we have for this campaign. It was a great teaching moment.
The Assignment
I asked them to write a 1,000- to 1,500-word essay based on the following questions:
- What can we learn about Judaism based on this account?
- What can we learn about Roman military practices or strategy from Josephus’s account?
- What can we learn about Roman politics, imperialism, and society from reading this account?
- Do you find Josephus’s account reliable? How might historians use documents such as this? What are your takeaways from reading this?
The Verdict
Josephus was much more successful than Thucydides. Students already had an interest in Roman history, so they were more willing to do the readings and discuss them. I would absolutely consider assigning this again. I try not to repeat readings, but I would make an exception with this book.
The essays were less successful. I tried to get them to do too much, and the essays were shallow as a result. I would create an entirely different type of assignment if I used this again.