The Incineration of Saul's and His Sons' Corpses according to Josephus

This article deals with Josephus's retelling of the Bible story of the incineration of the bones of Saul and his sons in 1 Samuel 31. In several places in the biblical text, researchers have found echoes of the practice of cremation, a practice borne out in archaeological excavations. The quest...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Avioz, Michael (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2009
In: Journal for the study of the pseudepigrapha
Year: 2009, Volume: 18, Issue: 4, Pages: 285-292
Further subjects:B burial practices
B Josephus
B Jewish Antiquities
B King Saul
B Cremation
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:This article deals with Josephus's retelling of the Bible story of the incineration of the bones of Saul and his sons in 1 Samuel 31. In several places in the biblical text, researchers have found echoes of the practice of cremation, a practice borne out in archaeological excavations. The question dealt with in the Bible is: How does Josephus treat the practice of cremation? This question is examined through comparison of earlier texts that retell the biblical accounts. It is argued that Josephus (Ant. 6.375-77) omits cremation from his account in order not to draw similarities between Israelite burial practices and pagan ones.
ISSN:1745-5286
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the pseudepigrapha
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0951820709106747