Józef Flawiusz – pośrednik między kulturami? O roli postaci historyka w trylogii Wojna żydowska Liona Feuchtwangera

The paper is devoted to Josephus Flavius, a Jewish-Roman historian and a mediator between Jewish and Roman culture, as he appears in Lion Feuchtwanger’s “Josephus Trilogy” (1932–1942). The intercultural role of the ancient writer is discussed on two planes: with regard to his official contacts with Roman emperors, and with regard to his private life, especially his relationship to his son Paul whose mother was of Greek- Egyptian origins. Although Flavius’ attempts failed, a cultural analysis of his life can shed a new light on Feuchtwanger himself (now forgotten but once one of the most popular German writers in the world) and his work. The whole trilogy can still be read as an interesting diagnosis of multi-culture society and its problems since it seems to well illustrate cultural systems as Niklas Luhmann describes them.