Approaching Happiness through History: The Role of Virtues in Josephus’s Antiquitates Judaicae

In his Antiquitates Judaicae Josephus describes the Jews as people striving for happiness through their virtues in an uncertain world. His main concern is to rehabilitate Judaism externally and consolidate it internally—barely two decades after the disastrous war in its heartland. For this pursuit, he uses happiness pragmatically, namely as a motivation for outsiders to join and as a defense against anti-Jewish stereotypes. Thereby he points out how the values of the torah such as piety and the search for wisdom, which manifested in
figures like Moses and Abraham throughout Jewish history, are the way toward the good life. Accordingly, anyone adopting these values has the chance to participate in the happiness the creator intended for his chosen people. These observations on the matter in antiquity allow a reflection on the role virtues played in pursuits of happiness over time and show what we can learn from their ancient legacy for modern pedagogy.