The Works of Flavius Josephus (1850s)

S$85.00

The Works of Flavius Josephus (1850s)

S$85.00

Title: The Works of Flavius Josephus

Author: Flavius Josephus, William Whiston (trans)

Publisher: William P. Nimmo, London and Edinburgh. No date, most likely 1850s.

Condition: Hardcover, cloth with leatherette boards. Good. Some rubbing and slight staining to cover. Gilt to top edge. Some tanning and foxing to book. Engraved frontispiece. Text clean, binding tight. Very small print. 684pp., app 9.5Xx6″.

A tremendously important work of history – the only detailed, first-hand source on the history of early Christianity outside of the Bible.

Titus Flavius Josephus (37AD – c. 100AD), born Joseph ben Matityahu (Hebrew: יוסף בן מתתיהו, Yosef ben Matityahu), was a first-century Romano-Jewish scholar, historian and hagiographer, who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry.

He initially fought against the Romans during the First Jewish–Roman War as head of Jewish forces in Galilee, until surrendering in 67AD to Roman forces led by Vespasian after the six-week siege of Jotapata. Josephus claims the Jewish Messianic prophecies that initiated the First Roman-Jewish War made reference to Vespasian becoming Emperor of Rome. In response Vespasian decided to keep Josephus as a hostage and interpreter. After Vespasian did become Emperor in 69AD, he granted Josephus his freedom, at which time Josephus assumed the emperor’s family name of Flavius.

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, which resulted—when the Jewish revolt did not surrender—in the city’s destruction and the looting and destruction of Herod’s Temple (Second Temple).

Josephus recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the first century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War.

His most important works were The Jewish War (c. 75AD) and Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94AD). The Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation (66–70 AD). Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an ostensibly Roman audience. These works provide valuable insight into first century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity.