Citation with stable link: Philip A. Harland, 'Germans: Josephos on the accuracy of German divination (late first century CE),' Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World, last modified June 14, 2025, https://philipharland.com/Blog/?p=22162.
Ancient author: Josephos, Judean Antiquities 18.195-202 and 19.343-350 (link).
Comments: On the one hand, elsewhere in Antiquities, Josephos offers an overall negative categorization of the German imperial bodyguard and “Germans” generally as savages who lack control over their strong emotions (link to a passage which is framed by our two current ones). On the other, here Josephos does not hesitate to relate (or create) an episode in which a German fellow-prisoner of Herod Agrippa I (imprisoned by emperor Tiberius) is pictured accurately divining the ultimate fate of the soon-to-be reinstated (by Caligula) Judean client king. In fact, Josephos presents this German as an admirable interpreter not only of the plans of the gods overall (German and Roman ancestral gods are expressly mentioned by the German himself in the episode), but of the specific designs of Josephos’ Judean god. In other words, this German ends up being a wise barbarian of sorts with access to special divine knowledge.
It may well be that Josephos is aware of circulating ethnographic speculations which suggested that certain Germanic or northern peoples were particularly experts in divination of the gods’ messages and plans. Tacitus’ work on the Germans, for instance, devotes a substantial section to German approaches to the gods and to divining their messages specifically, including the interpretation of the calls and flights of birds (Germania 9-10 – link), as in our current passage. However, Josephos likely writes a few years before Tacitus and both are drawing on a larger stream of Greek or Roman ethnographic “knowledge.” A Roman context makes more sense for this ethnographic impression about German customs since the category of “Germans” (pure people) itself is a Roman invention (e.g. link) and since Romans, more so than Greeks, also focussed on divining the flights of birds. So this would be of most interest to Romans looking for unexpected commonalities with Germans.
‗‗‗‗‗‗
[German prisoner of Tiberius makes a prediction about fellow-prisoner Herod Agrippa I]
(18.195-202) To return to Agrippa, there he stood in chains in front of the palace together with many other prisoners, and he had leaned against a tree in his despondency. Now a certain bird, which the Romans call a ” bubo” [i.e. an owl], perched on the tree against which Agrippa was leaning. When one of the prisoners, who was a German, saw Agrippa, that prisoner asked the soldier in charge of him who was the man dressed in crimson. Upon learning that his name was Agrippa, that he was a Judean by descent group (genos), and that he was one of the most important men of Judea, he asked the soldier to whom he was handcuffed to allow him to approach and converse with Agrippa. The German said he wanted ask some questions about Judean customs. After the German prisoner’s request was granted, he came and stood near Agrippa and said through an interpreter:
“Young man, you are in despair at your swift reversal of fortune, which has overwhelmed you at one stroke. You will hardly accept the statement that interprets the foreknowledge (pronoia) of the deity as designing your deliverance from your present problem [i.e. being arrested by Tiberius, though a relative of client kings]. Nevertheless, rest assured, for I swear by my ancestral gods and by those of this country who have ordained these iron chains for us [i.e. Romans’ ancestral gods], that I will tell you everything not for the pleasure of trivial talk nor with the intention of cheering you up by means of false hopes. In fact, prophecies on such matters, when the event falls short of the prediction, produce more grievous confusion than if a man had never heard such a statement at all. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the dangers to which I expose myself, it seemed to me right to present clearly what the gods foretell: You will certainly and imminently be released from these chains and be advanced to the highest point of honour and of power. You will be envied by all those who now pity your misfortunes and you will be blessed by children, to whom you will be leaving your wealth. But remember, when you see this bird again, your death will follow within five days. This will take place in the manner indicated by the god’s sending of this bird. I did not think it fair to deprive you of the understanding which comes through foreknowledge of these things, because I wanted you to know that you will enjoy future blessings in order that you might make light of your present distress. But remember, when you have this good fortune in your hands, to help me also to gain release from the misfortune in which we are now companions.”
The German who made these prophecies was as ridiculous in Agrippa’s eyes then as he later turned out to be deserving of admiration. . . [omitted major sections, including the story about the savage Germans of the imperial bodyguard].
[Fulfillment of the prediction of the German later on, when Agrippa is addressed as a god]
(19.343-350) After the completion of the third year of his Agrippa’s reign over the whole of Judea, he came to the city of Caesarea, which had previously been called Strato’s Tower. Here he celebrated spectacles in honour of Caesar, knowing that these had been instituted as a kind of festival on behalf of Caesar’s well-being. For this occasion there were gathered a large number of men who held office or had advanced to some rank in the kingdom. On the second day of the spectacles, clothed in a garment woven completely of silver so that its texture was indeed amazing, he entered the theatre at daybreak. There the silver, illumined by the touch of the first rays of the sun, was amazingly radiant and by its glitter inspired fear and awe in those who gazed intently at the garment. Immediately his fiatterers raised their voices from various directions – though hardly for his good – addressing him as a god. They added: “May you be propitious to us and if we have up till now feared you as a man, from now on we agree that you are more than mortal in your being.” The king did not rebuke them nor did he reject their flattery as impious.
But shortly after that he looked up and saw an owl perched on a rope over his head. Immediately recognizing this as a harbinger of terrible things just as it had once been of good news [i.e. earlier being released from prison], he felt a stab of pain in his heart. He was also gripped in his stomach by an ache that he felt everywhere at once and that was intense from the start. Leaping up, he said to his friends:
“I, a god in your eyes, am now called to lay down my life, because fate brings immediate refutation of the lying words lately addressed to me. I, who was called immortal by you, am now under sentence of death. But I must accept my lot as God wills it. In fact, I have lived in no ordinary fashion but in the grand style that is hailed as true happiness.”
Even as he was speaking these words, he was overcome by more intense pain. So they hurried to carry him to the palace. The news flashed around to everyone that he was on the verge of death. Immediately the populace, including the women and children, sat in sack-cloth in accordance with their ancestral custom and made requests to God on behalf of the king. The sound of wailing and mourning prevailed everywhere. The king, as he lay in his lofty bedchamber and looked down on the people as they fell prostrate, was not dry-eyed himself. Exhausted after five straight days by the pain in his abdomen, he departed this life in the fifty-fourth year of his life and the seventh of his reign.
‗‗‗‗‗‗
Source of the translation: Louis H. Feldman, Jewish Antiquities: Books XVIII-XIX (Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1965), adapted by Harland.