Josephus as 'all there is to go by' is due to destruction of alternate histories.
As you intimate, history is written by the victor. Josephus as self-professed exception.
The history of archaeology is rife with fraud, so one has to use a grain of salt.
Or sometimes a pillar.
Salt here being a cross-referencing, whenever possible.
J.R.R. Tolkien, being a multi-lingual scholar of ancient languages and fan of histories, became part of a team to sort and parcel out these conflicting, shredded histories and compile them into a composite that might more accurately reflect 'true' history as they had a need to know and knew that what had been handed down was a patchwork of quilted 'tales' used as propaganda in its time.
The results of this 'Fellowship' stunned the team of translators/linguists and they made a pact that the last one living should tell the world, albeit in fantasy fiction form. Like the histories before them.
Tolkien is an interesting example of a historical something I've noticed, which is pantheon similarities. There are the Aesir, the Greco-Roman pantheon, the main gods of Hinduism and Daoism, the Tuatha de Dannan, the pantheon recycled under many names in the Middle East. They have a lot in common: number range of members, family relations with each other, one authoritarian figure who is usually a sky (weather) god, lower level classes of spiritual or superhuman beings, intercourse with mortals both social and physical, mostly neutral toward us with one or two very helpful, mostly adherent to a moral code but there is always one stinker who acts chaotically to upset things (Loki, Set). Tolkien's mythos is very similar. Illuvitar creates all things with song (the Word by which all things were made, the sacred sounds Aum and Hum of tantric Buddhism). He makes an elevated class including Morgoth who starts the whole epic of problems. It all reminds me a lot of the story of the Watchers who spoiled things, Loki who was responsible for Fenris and the Great Snake strangling the World Tree. I was actually a little bemused at why he would go to the immense effort of creating this cosmology and make it so familiar.
Yes, you've hit on a couple of very important points.
The Joker as Wild Card - Jeckyl, Jackle, Jack, Jester
Batman taking the place of Superman as a sort of 'dark side', and then the Joker gaining predominance in the Marvel pantheon is a huge tell of where things stand.
They fear and respect (through fear of) the Wild Card as it has great power in the game. So they dance in its skin, trying to control it with magic as the shaman.
Satire as satyr.....the joker's joke is a powerful instantaneous blow.
The Fool. Obliviously dancing on the edge of a cliff with lil Nipper at his heel. (dog comm)
"Fool me twice, shame on .....shame me....won't get fooled again." W. Bush
This is the Green Man of the Tarot, the Zero card.
it is much misunderstood.
It's mirror, is the Trump Card which is 'legit', not a created 'wild' card. It acts like the wild card when it shows up, taking the field if the wild card isn't played in perfect time/order when allowed in the dealer's deck.
The importance of mythos as descriptions of all thing, including mental and psychic processes, embodied in literal tales in order to subliminate in self analysis/recognition.
These truths were then believed literally by many and thereby became weaponized socially as a form of taxation and control.
Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell's works show example of how universal these concepts were and still are, even if not seen by most.
Jung considered 'the gods' to be symbolic archetypes of mental and psychic processes and a close perusal should prove that this was the intent of the system's authors from it's inception.
When seen in this fashion, comparative theology is possible and Light gained.
Josephus as 'all there is to go by' is due to destruction of alternate histories. As you intimate, history is written by the victor. Josephus as self-professed exception.
The history of archaeology is rife with fraud, so one has to use a grain of salt.
Or sometimes a pillar.
Salt here being a cross-referencing, whenever possible.
J.R.R. Tolkien, being a multi-lingual scholar of ancient languages and fan of histories, became part of a team to sort and parcel out these conflicting, shredded histories and compile them into a composite that might more accurately reflect 'true' history as they had a need to know and knew that what had been handed down was a patchwork of quilted 'tales' used as propaganda in its time.
The results of this 'Fellowship' stunned the team of translators/linguists and they made a pact that the last one living should tell the world, albeit in fantasy fiction form. Like the histories before them.
Tolkien is an interesting example of a historical something I've noticed, which is pantheon similarities. There are the Aesir, the Greco-Roman pantheon, the main gods of Hinduism and Daoism, the Tuatha de Dannan, the pantheon recycled under many names in the Middle East. They have a lot in common: number range of members, family relations with each other, one authoritarian figure who is usually a sky (weather) god, lower level classes of spiritual or superhuman beings, intercourse with mortals both social and physical, mostly neutral toward us with one or two very helpful, mostly adherent to a moral code but there is always one stinker who acts chaotically to upset things (Loki, Set). Tolkien's mythos is very similar. Illuvitar creates all things with song (the Word by which all things were made, the sacred sounds Aum and Hum of tantric Buddhism). He makes an elevated class including Morgoth who starts the whole epic of problems. It all reminds me a lot of the story of the Watchers who spoiled things, Loki who was responsible for Fenris and the Great Snake strangling the World Tree. I was actually a little bemused at why he would go to the immense effort of creating this cosmology and make it so familiar.
Yes, you've hit on a couple of very important points.
Batman taking the place of Superman as a sort of 'dark side', and then the Joker gaining predominance in the Marvel pantheon is a huge tell of where things stand.
They fear and respect (through fear of) the Wild Card as it has great power in the game. So they dance in its skin, trying to control it with magic as the shaman. Satire as satyr.....the joker's joke is a powerful instantaneous blow. The Fool. Obliviously dancing on the edge of a cliff with lil Nipper at his heel. (dog comm)
"Fool me twice, shame on .....shame me....won't get fooled again." W. Bush
This is the Green Man of the Tarot, the Zero card.
it is much misunderstood.
It's mirror, is the Trump Card which is 'legit', not a created 'wild' card. It acts like the wild card when it shows up, taking the field if the wild card isn't played in perfect time/order when allowed in the dealer's deck.
These truths were then believed literally by many and thereby became weaponized socially as a form of taxation and control.
Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell's works show example of how universal these concepts were and still are, even if not seen by most.
Jung considered 'the gods' to be symbolic archetypes of mental and psychic processes and a close perusal should prove that this was the intent of the system's authors from it's inception.
When seen in this fashion, comparative theology is possible and Light gained.
https://www.scribd.com/document/398575567/230403079-Jesus-Christ-Sun-of-God-Ancient-Cosmology-and-Early-Christian-Symbolism-by-David-R-Fideler-pdf