Family Lines

JOSEPHUS’ GENEALOGY*

(Within the Timeline of the Hasmonean and Herodian Lines)

		Mattathias ben Johanan  [? – 165 BCE]
	____	_________|_________	_______
	|	|	|
	Simon [ruled 142-134 BCE]	Judah Maccabee [ruled 160-142 BCE]	Jonathan Apphus [ruled 160-142 BCE]	Simon Psellus |
	|		|	|
	Johanan Hyrcanus [ruled 134-104 BCE]		(daughter) =	Matthias Ephlias |
	|___	_________		|
	|	|		|
	Aristobulus I (Judah) [ruled 104-103 BCE]	Alexander Jannai = (Jonathan) [ruled 103-76 BCE]	Salome Alexandra [ruled 76-67 BCE]	Matthias Curtus [134 – (?) BCE] |
		_________|	_______	|
		|	|	|
		Aristobulus II [67-63 (d. 49) BCE]	HyrcanusII [ruled 63-40 BCE]      (d. 30)	Joseph** |
	____	_________|	|	|
	|	|	|	|
	Antigonus [ruled 40-37 BCE]	Alexander = [ ? - 49 BCE]	Alexandra [ ? - 28 BCE]	Seth |
		_______|__	________	|
		|	|	|
Maltase = (Samaritan)	Herod the Great [ruled 38-1 BCE]	=     Mariamne [ ? - 29 BCE]	Aristobulul III [ ? - 35 BCE]	Annas |
|____	_/       \_	_________|		|
|		|		|
Archelaus*** [ruled 4 BCE- 6 CE] (d. 28)		Aristobulus IV [died 7 BCE]		Theophilus |
	____	_________|__________	________	|
	|	|	|	|
	Herodias [ ? - 43 CE]	Herod Agrippa I [ ruled 39-44 CE]	Herod of Chalcis [ ? - 48 CE]	Matthias |
	____	_________|		|
	|	|		|
	Salome	Herod Agrippa II [ruled 50-93 CE]		Joseph (“Flavius Josephus”) [ 37 - ca. 100 CE]
		__________	________________	___|
		|	|	|
		Hyrcanus [73 -? CE]	Justus [76 - ? CE]	Agrippa [79 - ? CE]

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*With apologies for the condition of my graph (it is the best I can do with what I have), my source for this chart is the “Into His Own Website” <HERE>. I have changed some dates in the chart to agree with what I understand concerning Herod’s death and Jesus’ birth. I have also retained the names as found in Josephus’ work, but I have also changed three names in Josephus’ lineage as listed in the chart on the “Into His Own” website to agree with how I read Josephus’ Life of Flavius Josephus, paragraph 1 & 2 and comparing it with Wars of the Jews; book v, chapter xiii, paragraph 1; & book vi, chapter ii, paragraph 2. The data there seems to show beyond doubt that Josephus’ father, Matthias, was the last high priest to have governed Judea before the Jewish war broke out. This being true, he was deposed by the rebels and imprisoned and probably killed. This Matthias was the son of Theophilus, who was the son of Annas. The same Annas who was so influential in the crucifixion of Jesus.

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**There seems to be at least one generation missing between Joseph and Matthias Curtus. Josephus names his “grandfather” as Joseph, but this could have been a great grandfather or a descendant even further back. However, he says Matthias Curtus was born in the first year of Johanan Hyrcanus. That year was 134 BCE. Then Josephus names Matthias’ son as “Joseph” and puts him in the ninth year of the reign of Alexandra. That year was 68 BCE making the time between the birth of Matthias and his “son” Joseph 65 or 66 years. What I have done is to make Joseph the Son of Matthias, just as Josephus claimed, but I put Seth, the father of Annas, in the block which would indicate a birth in the 9th year of Alexandra (68 BCE). This would allow every name in Josephus’ genealogy to have as son in his twenties or thirties. Since these priests often had many sons, most would have been fathering sons both in their twenties and thirties, and at times in their forties. In any case the names and ages all fit in the time frame of the other genealogies.

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***Archelaus began his reign in 1 BCE, but his reign is reckoned from the beginning of that of Antipater who began reigning with Herod the Great in either 4 or 5 BCE. It was the practice of monarchs to assume the time of the reign of their predecessor, if he was disgraced and his reign was expunged from the records. When Herod the Great learned that Antipater, his son and co-regent, had plotted to kill him, he had him tried in the presence of Quintilius Varus, the Roman governor of Syria [Antiquities of the Jews; book xvii, chapter v, paragraph 2 & 3; Wars of the Jews; book i, chapter xxxii, paragraphs 5 to 7], and received permission from Augustus Caesar to execute him [Wars of the Jews, book i, chapter xxxiii, paragraph 7]. In so doing, Antipater’s reign ended in disgrace and would have been reckoned as though it had not existed, and Archelaus, Antipas and Phillip, though inheriting the lands of their father Herod at his death in 1 BCE, would have reckon the beginning of their reigns from the beginning of Antipater’s co-regency with his father Herod the Great.

The 10th year of Archelaus is reckoned at 6 CE, and it is in this year that Josephus says his father, Matthias, was born. This would make Matthias, who was the son of Theophilus and grandson of Annas, 31 years old at the time of Josephus’ birth in 37 CE, which is reckoned as the 1st year of the reign of Caius Caesar.