Justus of Tiberias

Justus of Tiberias was an ancient Jewish historian.

Justus lived in the second half of the 1st century and came from Tiberias at Capernaum, a company founded in the year 20 and named after the Emperor Tiberius place in Galilee. His father's name was Pistos and came from a respected family. Otherwise, only a few facts are preserved; they come from the partially very polemical information from the Autobiography of Flavius ​​Josephus and are sometimes quite contradictory. It is certain that Justus was formed Hellenistic and later King Herod Agrippa II was pretty close.

Politically, Justus came in opposition to Josephus, when he appeared at the beginning of the Jewish uprising in Galilee, and there wanted to extend the control of the insurgents. Whether Justus was minded romans hostile, but it is at least doubtful. Because the information in the Life of Josephus, according to which Justus was a supporter of the insurgency, are not necessarily trustworthy. Josephus took his claims to Tiberias arrests, Justus but finally came free. He fled from Galilee, so that he did not live there, the fighting itself, and was private secretary to King Agrippa.

Justus was also literary activities. Of his works, nothing is received, they are only mentioned by Josephus and later authors, so that hardly any details are known. He therefore wrote a history of the Jewish War, which he came to Josephus in competition. Justus published his history not appear until some time after Josephus. The quite biased statements of Josephus Justus ' works were probably used by later authors, which did not exist at the original Justus, probably by Josephus ' presentation was ousted. The statement of the Byzantine scholar Photius, according to Justus has also written a chronicle of the Jewish kings from Moses to Agrippa II. It was considered that the chronicle was the actual historical work of Justus, in which the Jewish war has been treated so that Justus had only written a work. In research, but is now generally accepted that it has traded at a separate plant.

See also No. 734 in the fragments of the Greek historian ( edited by Felix Jacoby ) or Brill 's New Jacoby (text, English translation, commentary and biographical sketch by René Bloch ).