Among the many possible studies about atheism such the accomplished by the French historian Georges Minois in his Histoire de l’athéisme (A History of Atheism) of 1998, the most important in this writing will be the atheist characterization on Classical Antiquity (Athens 5TH-4TH Century BCE and Rome 1ST Century BCE-2ND Century CE), but inside of the atheism accusation to the Jewish people that was registered by Josephus in his Contra Apionem (1ST Century CE). To do it, we are going to investigate the work called Atheism in Pagan Antiquity (1922) of the Danish philologist Anders Drachmann (1860-1935) and to use Tacitus’ Histories, V, 1-13 as central documentation for the development of the arguments. This classical Drachmann’s work will help us to understand a few more about the reason for the Jews have been offended of atheists (by who? And why?), in accordance with Josephus’ Contra Apionem.
Ferreira de Lima Souza, J. (2023). Were the Jewish people atheists? The problem in Flavius Josephus and Tacitus (1st-2nd century CE). Cuadernos Judaicos, (40), pp. 27–45. https://doi.org/10.5354/0718-8749.2023.71647
