(37 - c. 100 CE)
Flavius Josephus (a.k.a. Joseph ben Matityahu in Hebrew) was a Jew who grew
up in Jerusalem at the beginning
of the Common Era. He was well educated, knowing both Jewish texts
and the Greek language (although his Greek grammar was faulty).
During the Great Revolt from
66-73 CE, Josephus served as a general of the Galilee. When the Roman
army overcame his forces, Josephus and 40 compatriots fled to a cave.
They agreed to commit suicide. Josephus fixed the lots so that his
name would come out last. After the others killed themselves,
Josephus convinced the remaining fighter to surrender with him.
As a prisoner of the Romans,
Josephus volunteered to write the history of the Great
Revolt. General (later Emperor) Vespasian agreed. In The Jewish War, Josephus thus
provided the Romans (and now us) with a first-hand account of the
fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. It must be emphasized that Josephus was
writing for Vespasian - he was also writing from Rome - so his work is definitely biased. He mentions
several times in his Greek writings that he created an Aramaic version of the events as well, but unfortunately, it is not extant.
Josephus' second major work, Jewish Antiquities,
described the entire history of the Jews. It included a great deal of
material from the time of Alexander the Great to the destruction of
the Second Temple. However,
because of Josephus' proclivity to depend on hearsay and legend,
scholars are never sure what to accept as fact.
The Greco-Roman period involved the
most changes in Judaism. It is also the most obscure to
historians. We don't know a great deal about Jewish history from the
time of Alexander the Great until the Bar
Kochba Revolt. Our sources are few. They include:
1. Brief incidents in the New
2. Brief references by the sages in
3. Obscure texts found at Qumran (the Dead Sea Scrolls)
4. Some brief mentions by Greek and
5. Flavius Josephus
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 insight into what happened to
the Jewish people during that five hundred year period.
to Jewish Heritage, Wikipedia