Article,
Flavius Josephus, Hieronymus Und Die Eroberung Roms 410 N. Chr.
Klio, 98 (2): 653--682 (2016)
DOI: 10.1515/klio-2016-0046
Abstract
When Jerome was made to leave Rome in 385 CE he apostrophised the city as a new Babylon. This paper argues that he did not make use of such apocalyptic language merely in the heat of the moment. Twenty five years later, when the city was taken by Alaric's troops in 410 CE, Jerome had once more the opportunity to write about Rome in a number of his texts. This time, however, he chose Josephus' description of the siege and sack of Jerusalem as his model. These texts illustrate the masterful command of the complex intertextual web of Biblical and classical allusions that Jerome was able to decipher and use for his own literary goals. In this way Jerome aligned the fall of Rome with the theological interpretation of the destruction of Jerusalem as divine retribution for the transgressions of its citizens and thus marked the city that would remain for him a place of damnation.
