Part 3
Next Atwill compares the accounts of Paulina and Fulvia, noting that they have the same underlying plots, and both upstanding women have husbands with the same name, that of Saturninus, and whom both happen to know the emperor. and the emperor banishes persons in both stories, among other 'executive' punishments. BTW, 'Saturn', of course, is an important aspect for the Romans, with such as the Saturnalia, so perhaps this is a clue in and of itself. Both pious women are duped by wicked priests, one for sex and the other for wealth (to be sent to Jerusalem Temple no less).
And, before going any further, one wonders what in the world these two post-TF accounts are doing in the middle of the narration about Pilate, other than this business of wealth including royal 'purple' goodies to the Temple. Together, and taken with the TF, we are to be drawn to the incongruities, as Atwill asserts, as it all being a puzzle to be solved, not as such as commonly taken as an interpolation for the TF, at least.
Much is made by those arguing the claimed interpolation position of the TF based upon Josephus use of the word 'disorder', but Atwill separately shows that Josephus refers to the two additional stories 'out of order', i.e 'disorder'. This is separate from the issue of the TF itself.
Josephus also provided other statements to help the reader recognize that the two stories are to be understood as parallel and therefore interchangeable. First, he reverses the order in which he states that he will describe them.
About the same time also another sad calamity put the Jews into disorder, and certain shameful practices happened about the temple of Isis that was at Rome.
I will now first take notice of the wicked attempt about the temple of Isis, and will then give an account of the Jewish affairs.
Further, at the beginning of the third story Josephus claims to be returning to an episode about the Jews "at Rome" as he had "formerly" stated.
I now return to the relation of what happened about this time to the Jews at Rome, as I formerly told you I would.
However, it was the "shameful practices at the temple of Isis' that Josephus previously claimed to have occurred "at Rome," not the episode regarding the Jews. Josephus does not mention where the "sad calamity [that] put the Jews into disorder" occurred. He last mentioned the Jews in a story regarding their persecution by Pontius Pilate in Judea. Josephus appears to be treating the two stories as though they are interchangeable. In doing so he continues the strange "logic" that exists between them, since their only significant differences are in the names of some of the elements in them. (Caesar's Messiah, First Edition, pg. 235)
Atwill goes on to discuss that Paulina, an apparent Roman rents her garments, a deep Jewish practice, upon finding out her disgrace. This while Fulvia, whose story connects to the Jewish Temple, at least, does not do so. As Atwill asserts, Josephus is inviting the reader to see that elements such as names can be interchanged to find out the encrypted reality.
So with the story of Fulvia, we are told that a wicked man in Rome ostensibly to teach men the wisdom of the Laws of Moses, and three like-minded compatriots, dupe Fulvia into sending 'purple' and 'gold' to the Jerusalem Temple. And when it gets there they put it to their own use instead of for the Temple. This sounds remarkably like what some accused the Apostle Paul of doing and he protested much. But, Paul and Paulina? This is a sex-change transformation, and role reversal in other terms, and perhaps then another lampoon.
Here is a good point to come back and remember that Decius Mundus revealed to Paulina, on the third day, that he was the entity appearing as Anubis, and thus was NOT a god. This the inverse of Jesus, who on the third day rose, proving that he was divine.
And so Atwill offers his interpretation of what Josephus is really telling us:
While this new story is still a satire, it is one whose meaning can easily be grasped. The translation that I offer is as follows:
Rome desires Judea but cannot tempt it with wealth because of the staunch religious convictions of its people. Therefore, a Roman fools the Jewish Zealots into believing that he is the Christ. He pays wicked priests to help him carry out the plot. The authors of Christianity "enjoy" the experience of pretending to be the Messiah. (Caesar's Messiah, First Edition, pg. 240)
Through one viewing angle, figuratively, with the prism I support this interpretation. Through another contextual view, more literal, I say that the Zealots, and 'Nazarenes' would have necessarily needed to actual rally around a figure, with credentials, like "the Egyptian", a member of the Edessan royal family. They just don't realize that they are being played, the equivalent of the modern era's fake populists ... and Julius Caesar himself.
