{"id":87687,"date":"2025-09-01T06:00:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T10:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/?p=87687"},"modified":"2025-08-29T15:29:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T19:29:07","slug":"the-histories-of-flavius-josephus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/people-cultures-in-the-bible\/people-in-the-bible\/the-histories-of-flavius-josephus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Histories of Flavius Josephus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Imagined portrait of Flavius Josephus. Scan by NYPL, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Flavius Josephus was a first-century Jewish historian personally involved in the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome<\/a>. A former political leader and priest, he is our most important witness to Jewish life and history at the close of the biblical period (first century CE).<\/p>\n

Josephus was born Yosef ben Mattityahu in 37 or 38 CE. He came from an aristocratic, priestly family in Jerusalem, receiving a largely Pharisaic education in Jewish law and the Bible. Following his official visit to Rome in 64, Josephus played a controversial role in the Jewish resistance movement and the ensuing war. He first was a commander of Judean forces in the Galilee, then surrendered to the Romans during their siege of Yodfat, and finally advised the Romans while trying to convince Jerusalem\u2019s defenders of the impracticality of resistance. After the fall of Jerusalem in 70, he moved to Rome, where he was granted citizenship and the emperor\u2019s former residence, taking the imperial family name Flavius. He died sometime after 100.<\/p>\n

During his new life under imperial patronage, Josephus wrote extensively about his firsthand experience of the Great Revolt and on the history and culture of the Jews. Four of his works survive: Jewish War<\/em>, Jewish Antiquities<\/em>, Life<\/em>, and Against Apion<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Drawing on his own experience and firsthand reports, Josephus wrote Jewish War<\/em> in the late 70s. An earlier version of the tragic history, in Josephus\u2019s native Aramaic, was sent to the Jews of Mesopotamia to dissuade them from revolting against Rome, but only the Greek version survives. In seven volumes, it first recounts the Maccabean Revolt (167\u2013160 BCE) and Judean history up to the Great Revolt (66\u201370 CE), which Josephus then chronicles in detail, ending with the Masada story and a Jewish revolt in North Africa. Josephus generally blames Jewish fanatics (Zealots and Sicarii) for the war and its tragic consequences, even suggesting that Israel\u2019s God Yahweh was on Rome\u2019s side.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

FREE eBook: Life in the Ancient World<\/strong>. Craft centers in Jerusalem, family structure across Israel and ancient practices\u2014from dining to makeup\u2014through the Mediterranean world.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t