On Josephus’ Use of Nicolaus of Damascus: A Stylometric Analysis of BJ 1.225-273 and AJ 14.280-369

Abstract

In 1989/90 in this journal (SCI 10: 120-129), D. R. Schwartz offered a theory concerning Josephus’ use of Nicolaus of Damascus as a source for the parallel narratives, BJ 1.225-273 and AJ 14.280-369. Schwartz maintained that in the former passage Jose­phus deviates from Nicolaus but in the latter more or less faithfully reproduces Nicolaus. The present paper evaluates Schwartz’s theory, using stylometry—the numerical study of literary style. The stylometric evidence examined in this paper—analysis of marker words that characterize the differing styles of Josephus and Nicolaus--offers general support for Schwartz’s position: AJ 14.280-369 seems to stand closer to Nicolaus' style than does BJ1.225-273. There is no stylometric evidence, however, that AJ 14.280-369  was copied more or less directly from Nicolaus. Rather, given the evidence of the marker groups, extensive rewriting apparently took place to the level of skeletal sentence structure. This result coheres with previous evidence that Josephus’ practice was to rewrite or rework his sources, not to simply copy them.