The Application of Josephus' Historical Text in Israeli Archaeological Excavations

Abstract

The Jewish nation has a long history. Archaeological discoveries are often used to prove the legitimacy of Israel, a newly established country in 1948, and to provide a bond and resource for national identity. The works of the Jewish historian Josephus was an indispensable source of information for the study of the Palestinian region in the 1st century AD and the wider Hellenistic and Roman world. This paper combines the excavations of the Masada site and the Jotapata site in the Galilee region to analyze how archaeologists are influenced by factors such as nationalism and political situation. This paper also examines the role of historical texts in different stages of Israeli archaeological development.