The account
Before Vespasian and other spectators, Josephus says, a man named Eleazar brought a ring containing a root to the nostrils of someone thought possessed. The patient fell, and Eleazar invoked Solomon while commanding the demon not to return. To persuade those watching that it had departed, he placed a basin of water nearby and ordered the departing spirit to overturn it. The invisible claim was given a visible object on which to leave its mark.
Following the trail
First-century reported performance; supernatural explanation and Solomonic authorship unverified
The passage is in Jewish Antiquities 8.45–49, part of Josephus's work completed in 93–94 CE. Unlike much later grimoires attributed to Solomon, this is a named ancient author's report that he witnessed a performance in his own era. It remains Josephus's account, without independent verification of supernatural causation. His claim that Solomon originated the incantations records an already existing attribution; it does not supply a surviving manuscript written by Solomon.
Why it stays with us
The basin makes this account especially memorable. The audience was offered something to observe beyond a sufferer's change in behavior. That makes the narrative an early example of a supernatural claim accompanied by a proposed demonstration. Its historical value survives even when the explanation remains unverified: it shows how one writer connected healing, authority and persuasive spectacle.
Follow the sources 2
- Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews, Book VIII ↗University of Chicago, LacusCurtius; William Whiston translation
- Historiography: Josephus passages ↗University of Pennsylvania