(March 1, 2015 at 3:32 pm)watchamadoodle Wrote: In the quote from Josephus, his source was probably King Herod Agrippa II, because the wikipedia article says that Josephus used Agrippa as a source. Agrippa was the person who replaced the high priest over the unjustified stoning of James. Probably there was a formal government investigation of some kind. It was hearsay, but it was probably good quality hearsay.
I can't see why Josephus would need to use Agrippa as a source for this. Josephus was 25 and in Jerusalem at the time, having just returned from his first visit to Rome on an embassy to the Senate. The deposition of Hanan ben Hanan would have been the talk of the city, especially amongst priestly family's like that of Josephus. And the circumstances that led to his despotion - including the execution of James - would also be well known. The idea that events like this in a city of c. 80,000 people at the heart of Josephus' own caste would not be known to him and that he would need a later literary source to tell him about it makes very little sense.
Josephus is relating events known to him. Which makes the constant misuse of the word "hearsay" in relation to this evidence completely wrong. This is about as close to first hand evidence as we are likely to get in an ancient source.
