Jephthah and Titus Manlius : two descriptions of the unspeakable as a sign of a (forgotten?) existential threat

english

2025

volume 7, issue 2

ancient Roman history   ancient Roman republic   Book of Judges   Deuteronomistic historiography   human sacrifice

Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

The focus of this paper is on two relatively well­known and high­profile texts (Judges11:30–40, and Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 8.6.15–8.8.1), which belong to different cultural circles and also to different time periods. They are linked by the problematic decision of a father to sacrifice a child, ostensibly for the benefit of the wider community. Although there are several features that (at times sharply) separate the two texts under discussion, it is nevertheless possible to find enough points of reference to draw parallels. The two narratives, that of the Hebrew judge Jephtah and his daughter, and that of the Roman politician Titus Manlius and his son, are set in a broader context in which two otherwise quite different communities are trying to reconstruct the period of their establishment, or rather their pioneering times. It can therefore be said that, despite similar starting points, the verdicts of the writers of the discussed texts are quite different. While the editor of the Book of Judges takes the death of Jephthah’s daughter primarily as a necessary step to avert a grave danger, even if he is somewhat uncomfortable, Livy, while mentioning “Manlius’ severity” as one of the models for the future, incorporates many elements of criticism of the consul’s actions. Perhaps this was also because Livy’s time and situation were nevertheless more remote from the existential hardships of early­Republic Rome than those of the final editor of the reports in the Book of Judges, who remembered very well the inglorious collapse of the monarchy under the Davidic dynasty.

20.10.2026