Katana VentraIP

Josephus

Flavius Josephus[a] (/dʒoʊˈsiːfəs/;[8] Greek: Ἰώσηπος, Iṓsēpos; c. AD 37 – c. 100) was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing The Jewish War, he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry.

For other uses, see Josephus (disambiguation).

Flavius Josephus

He initially fought against the Roman Empire during the First Jewish–Roman War as general of the Jewish forces in Galilee, until surrendering in AD 67 to the Roman army led by military commander Vespasian after the six-week siege of Yodfat. Josephus claimed the Jewish messianic prophecies that initiated the First Jewish–Roman War made reference to Vespasian becoming Roman emperor. In response, Vespasian decided to keep him as a slave and presumably interpreter. After Vespasian became emperor in AD 69, he granted Josephus his freedom, at which time Josephus assumed the Emperor's family name of Flavius.[9]


Flavius Josephus fully defected to the Roman side and was granted Roman citizenship. He became an advisor and friend of Vespasian's son Titus, serving as his translator when Titus led the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Since the siege proved ineffective at stopping the Jewish revolt, the city's pillaging and the looting and destruction of Herod's Temple (the Second Temple) soon followed.


Josephus recorded the Great Jewish Revolt (AD 66–70), including the siege of Masada. His most important works were The Jewish War (c. 75) and Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94).[10] The Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation. Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an ostensibly Greek and Roman audience. These works provide valuable insight into first-century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity.[10] Josephus's works are the chief source next to the Bible for the history and antiquity of ancient Israel, and provide a significant and independent extra-Biblical account of such figures as Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, John the Baptist, James, brother of Jesus, and possibly Jesus of Nazareth.

(c. 75) War of the Jews, , Jewish Wars, or History of the Jewish War (commonly abbreviated JW, BJ or War)

The Jewish War

(c. 94) , Jewish Antiquities, or Antiquities of the Jews/Jewish Archeology (frequently abbreviated AJ, AotJ or Ant. or Antiq.)

Antiquities of the Jews

(c. 97) Flavius Josephus Against Apion, , Contra Apionem, or Against the Greeks, on the antiquity of the Jewish people (usually abbreviated CA)

Against Apion

(c. 99) , or Autobiography of Josephus (abbreviated Life or Vita)

Life of Josephus

Josephus on Jesus

– a mathematical problem named after Josephus

Josephus problem

Josippon

Pseudo-Philo

The Works of Josephus, Complete and Unabridged New Updated Edition. Translated by ; Peabody, A. M. (Hardcover ed.). M. A. Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. 1987. ISBN 0-913573-86-8. (Josephus, Flavius (1987). The Works of Josephus, Complete and Unabridged New Updated Edition (Paperback ed.). Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN 1-56563-167-6.)

Whiston, William

Bilde, Per. Flavius Josephus between Jerusalem and Rome: his life, his works and their importance. Sheffield: JSOT, 1988.

Chapman, Honora and Zuleika Rodgers: A Companion to Josephus, edited by (Oxford, 2016).

Cohen, Shaye J. D.: Josephus in Galilee and Rome: his vita and development as a historian. (Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition; 8). Leiden: Brill, 1979.

. "Flavius Josephus revisited: the man, his writings, and his significance". In: Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt 21.2 (1984).

Feldman, Louis

Feldman, Louis H. and Gohei Hata: Josephus, the Bible, and History, edited by (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1988).

Hadas-lebel, Mireille: Flavius Josephus Eyewitness to Rome's first-century conquest of Judea, Macmillan 1993, Simon and Schuster 2001

den Hollander, William: Josephus, the Emperors, and the City of Rome: From Hostage to Historian (Boston: Brill, 2014).

Hillar, Marian (2005). "Flavius Josephus and His Testimony Concerning the Historical Jesus". . 13. Washington, DC: American Humanist Association: 66–103.

Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism

Kókai-Nagy, Viktor; Vér, Ádám (2023). Peace and war in Josephus. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter.  9783111146034.

ISBN

(1993). "The 2000 Year Old Middle East Policy Expert". Give War A Chance. Vintage. ISBN 978-0-679-74201-2.

O'Rourke, P. J.

Pastor, Jack; Stern, Pnina; Mor, Menahem, eds. (2011). Flavius Josephus: Interpretation and History. Leiden: . ISBN 978-90-04-19126-6. ISSN 1384-2161.

Brill

Mason, Steve: Flavius Josephus on the Pharisees: a composition-critical study. Leiden: Brill, 1991.

Mason, Steve: Josephus and the New Testament: Second Edition, Hendrickson Publishers, 2003.

Rajak, Tessa: Josephus: the Historian and His Society. 2nd ed. London: 2002. (Oxford D.Phil. thesis, 2 vols. 1974.)

Raphael, Frederic: A Jew Among Romans: The Life and Legacy of Flavius Josephus (New York: Pantheon Books, 2013).

Rodgers, Zuleika: Making History: Josephus and Historical Method (Boston: Brill, 2007).

St. John Thackeray, H.: Josephus: The Man and the Historian, by (New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1967).

Archived 16 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine Josephus: text and resources in the Project on Ancient Cultural Engagement at York University, edited by Steve Mason.

PACE

at Perseus digital library – Greek (Niese) and English (Whiston) 1895 editions

Works by Flavius Josephus

at Project Gutenberg

Works by Josephus

at Internet Archive

Works by or about Josephus

at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Works by Josephus

at Christian Classics Ethereal Library (Whiston, lacks Loeb numbers)

The Works of Flavius Josephus

digitized codex (1475) at Somni

De bello judaico

Lecture, on YouTube, June 2020.

Dr. Henry Abramson (historian): Josephus: First-Person Accounts of Jewish History