The Jewish War

The Jewish War

Hebrew–Latin edition of The Jewish War (Basle, 1559)
Author	Josephus
Original title	Flavius Josephus's Books of the History of the Jewish War against the Romans
Country	Roman Empire
Language	Aramaic (lost), Greek
Genre	History
Publication date	c. 75 AD
Followed by	Antiquities of the Jews

The Jewish War or Judean War^[1][2][3] (in full Flavius Josephus's Books of the History of the Jewish War against the Romans, Greek: Φλαυίου Ἰωσήπου ἱστορία Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου πρὸς Ῥωμαίους βιβλία, Phlauiou Iōsēpou historia Ioudaikou polemou pros Rōmaious biblia), also referred to in English as The Wars of the Jews, is a book written by Josephus, a Roman-Jewish historian of the 1st century.

Divided into seven books, it opens with a summary of Jewish history from the capture of Jerusalem by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 164 BC to the first stages of the First Jewish–Roman War (Book I and II). The next five books detail the unfolding of the war, under Roman generals Vespasian and Titus, to the death of the last Sicarii. The book was written about 75 AD, originally in Josephus's "paternal tongue" - either Aramaic or Hebrew^[4]- though this version has not survived. It was later translated into Greek, probably under the supervision of Josephus himself. However, "the current Greek edition does not appear to be a translation, but must be considered a new edition, a complete re-working of the first writing and likely a considerable expansion."^[5]

The sources of knowledge of the First Jewish–Roman War are: this account of Josephus, the Talmud (Gittin 57b), Midrash Eichah, and the Hebrew inscriptions on the Jewish coins minted, and Book V of Tacitus' Histories.^[6]

The text also survives in an Old Slavonic version, as well as Hebrew which contains material not found in the Greek version, and which is lacking other material found in the Greek version.^[7]

References

1. ↑ Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary. Judean war, Flavius Josephus, Steve Mason, Honora Chapman. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-07-20. 
2. ↑ The Sicarii in Josephus's Judean War, Mark Andrew Brighton. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-07-20. 
3. ↑ Palestine in the Time of Jesus: Social Structures and Social Conflicts, K. C. Hanson, Douglas E. Oakman. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-07-20. 
4. ↑ Randall Buth and Chad Pierce "EBRAISTI in Ancient Texts, Does ἑβραιστί ever Mean 'Aramaic'?" in Buth and Notley eds., Language Environment of First Century Judaea, Brill,2014:88-89, and footnote 64
5. ↑ Buth and Pierce, op. cit., p89, footnote 64
6. ↑ "See". Classics.mit.edu. Retrieved 2013-07-20. 
7. ↑ Christopher M. Weimer. "The Slavonic Josephus' Account Of The Baptist And Jesus". Gnosis.org. Retrieved 2013-07-20. 

Literature

• The Jewish War: Revised Edition. ISBN 0-14-044420-3.
• H. Leeming and K. Leeming: Josephus' "Jewish War" and Its Slavonic Version: A Synoptic Comparison. Ancient Judaism & Early Christianity, Brill (1999). ISBN 90-04-11438-6.

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article: The War of the Jews

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jewish War.

• Resources > Second Temple and Talmudic Era > Flavius Josephus The Jewish History Resource Center - Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• The Wars of the Jews at Project Gutenberg
• The Wars of The Jews public domain audiobook
• The Wars of the Jews at the Perseus Project.
  • Original Greek edition.
• Notes on the Old Slavonic Josephus
• Hear a discussion and analysis of this monograph, on an episode of the radio series Invitation to Learning.
• Loeb Classical Library Josephus Volume 2 The Jewish War Books 1-3
• Loeb Classical Library Josephus Volume 3 The Jewish War Books 4-7