Titus Flavius Josephus (37 – circa 100) was a 1st-century Roman-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War which resulted in the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. He has been credited by many as recording some of the earliest history of Jesus Christ outside of the gospels, this being an item of contention among historians.
Josephus was a law-observant Jew who believed in the compatibility of Judaism and Graeco-Roman thought, commonly referred to as Hellenistic Judaism. His most important works were The Jewish War (c. 75 AD) and Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94 AD). Josephus also wrote an autobiography of his life, which was so distinguished that the Romans awarded him citizenship.
The Jewish War, also referred to in English as The Wars of the Jews and The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem, is a description of Jewish history from the capture of Jerusalem by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 164 BC to the fall and destruction of Jerusalem in the First Jewish–Roman War in AD 70. The book was written around 75 A.D. It was later translated into Greek, probably under the supervision of Josephus himself. Josephus’ work remains one of the only accounts of the First Jewish-Roman War.
This edition of The Wars of the Jews is specially formatted with a Table of Contents.
