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 Hasmonean …

Jan 1, 2026 · Flavius Josephus was a Jewish priest, scholar, and historian who wrote valuable works on the Jewish revolt of 66–70 and on earlier Jewish history. His major books are History …

Mar 25, 2024 · Born Yosef ben Matityahu in Jerusalem, in 37 C.E., Josephus lived through one of the most tumultuous periods in Jewish history. His life spanned the Roman occupation of …

Josephus is our only source of knowledge for much of the history of Judaism in the First Century CE. His books provide essential background for an understanding of both the beginning of …

One of our most important sources for all the history of this period is the Jewish historian, Josephus. Josephus himself grew up in and around Jerusalem; he claims to have been a part …

Josephus was born Joseph ben Mattathias in 37 C.E. in Jerusalem of a priestly and royal family. He excelled in his studies of Jewish law and studied with the Sadducees, Pharisees, and the …

Sep 1, 2025 · Drawing on his own experience and firsthand reports, Josephus wrote Jewish War in the late 70s. An earlier version of the tragic history, in Josephus’s native Aramaic, was sent …

Oct 8, 2021 · In the last decades of the 1st century CE, he wrote The Jewish War, the Antiquities of the Jews, Against Apion, and The Life of Flavius Josephus. His histories and eyewitness …

Because of the paucity of other sources, Josephus' works are the most thorough histories of the period that we have. So long as we retain some skepticism, his writings provide the greatest …

Josephus provides detailed descriptions of the major Jewish sects of his time: the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. His accounts help illuminate the religious and philosophical …