Riassunto
Trama e riassunto di Contro Apione
A chi è rivolto
For readers who love ancient history, Jewish and early Christian studies, or exploring the roots of prejudice and how people answered it. Josephus offers a defense of Jewish history, identity and faith through records and arguments.
Che cos’è questo libro
Imagine being told your people have no past worth telling. That is the sneer Flavius Josephus faces in Against Apion, a treatise written in Greek by a Jewish priest and historian living in Rome. So he writes to his patron Epaphroditus in two books. First he shows that Jewish records are older and better kept than most Greek ones. Then he answers the slanders of Apion, a scholar from Alexandria, and gives a clear portrait of Jewish law.
In questo riassunto
- 1Greek Historians Are Younger Than Jewish RecordsFree
- 2Priests Guarded the Jewish Scriptures With Care
- 3Foreign Writers Confirm the Jews Are Ancient
- 4Apion's Slanders Are Answered One by One
- 5The Jewish Law Shapes a Whole Way of Life
- 6Moses Outdoes the Greek Philosophers
Punto chiave 1 di 6
Greek Historians Are Younger Than Jewish Records
Josephus begins with the main complaint. Critics said no Greek historian mentioned the Jews, so they must be a recent people. He replies that this proves little, because the Greeks were late to writing and careful history.
He points out that Greek historians often disagree about the same wars, dates and founders. Some call their rivals liars. A people who cannot agree on their own past, he argues, are poor judges of anyone else's.
The older peoples of the East, such as the Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Phoenicians, kept written annals. So the silence of Greek books may reflect distance and late writing, but Josephus also blames envy and ill-will. It is also a lesson for today. Ask who wrote a claim, how close they stood, and what they stood to gain.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 42,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 45 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Contro Apione
What is Against Apion about?
It is a two part defense of the Jews by Josephus. He shows that Jewish history is ancient and well recorded, answers slanders by Apion and others, and describes Jewish law and belief as a sound way of life.
Who was Apion?
Apion was a scholar and teacher from Alexandria in Egypt who wrote against the Jews. He repeated stories that they were descended from lepers, worshipped an ass's head and kept hostile customs. Josephus answers him in the second book.
Why did Josephus write Against Apion?
He addressed it to a patron named Epaphroditus as a follow up to Jewish Antiquities.
Is Against Apion also called Contra Apionem?
Yes. Contra Apionem is the Latin title and means Against Apion. The work has also been known as On the Antiquity of the Jews, a title that points to its first aim of proving Jewish antiquity.
Is Against Apion hard to read?
It is fairly short and clear, with a plain, direct voice.