Agrippa’s First Letter in Context (Jos. Vita 365)

Josephus quotes a letter of Agrippa II at Vita 365 as proof of the superiority of his account of the Judean revolt as presented in the Bellum Judaicum to that of his rival, Justus of Tiberias. The article considers how Josephus has crafted the argument in preparation for this letter. Some have noted a similarity of language between Agrippa’s letter and Josephus’ preparatory text and raised the question of authenticity. There are, however, also dissimilarities, and this note argues that Josephus has crafted his argument leading to this letter in a way that might lead a reader to misread it as a criticism of Justus.