Eleazar in Josephus's exorcism report

In Antiquities 8.46–49, Josephus describes a man of his people called Eleazar. He says he saw Eleazar hold a ring containing a root near an afflicted person's nose, recite formulas attributed to Solomon, and command the departing spirit to overturn a vessel of water, before Vespasian and others. ^[1]

This Eleazar appears in a first-century CE report; Josephus does not identify him as the ancient priest Eleazar son of Aaron. The passage is Josephus's literary testimony about an event he says he witnessed, not an independent record establishing every ritualRitualAn organised or distinguished practice meaningful to a community; it may leave traces, but its form alone does not reveal an associated doctrine.Glossary · Click to read the explanation detail. ^[1]