Herodes der Große als Antiochus redivivus in apokrypher und josephischer Deutung

Josephus′s Herod narratives contain stylizations of the king′s opponents as martyrs, which lead the interpretation of Herod′s reign into a certain direction: Herod is depicted as a foreign ruler, as Antiochus redivivus. The models for this depiction are not to be found in specific texts such as 2 Maccabees or the Assumption of Moses; nevertheless, two different layers of interpretation may be discriminated: On the one hand the interpretation of Herod as an “endtyrant”, detectable in apocryphal writings, which is already modelled after a specific memorial culture concerning Antiochus IV, on the other hand Josephus′s interpretation, which adopts the reminiscences to the religious persecution of Antiochus and adds classical topoi for modelling a tyrant. Thus the eschatological content is dropped, Herod becomes a tyrant in the light of greek and jewish criteria. Possibilities for future research were seen in an analysis of the strategies of legitimation and delegitimation of Herod′s reign, which stand side by side especially in the “Antiquities”. Since in most cases it is impossible to decide whether certain interpretations are to be attributed to Josephus or to his unknown sources, a different approach seems necessary. The task must be to analyze how the strategies work – and to explain the josephan image of Herod on this level.