Flavius Josephus was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. 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 royal ancestry.

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Flavius Josephus was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. 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 royal ancestry.

Notable quotes

“And when the book of Daniel was showed him [Alexander the Great] wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that he himself was the person intended.”
— Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94 CE), Book 11.8.5, trans. William Whiston
“Their exercises are unbloody battles, and their battles bloody exercises.”
— Book 3.5.1, trans. William Whiston
“I protest openly that I do not go over to the Romans as a deserter of the Jews, but as a minister from thee.”
— Book 3.8.3, trans. William Whiston
“Antipater, now undisputed heir, had called down on his head the utter loathing of the nation, for everyone knew that all the slanders directed against his brothers had originated with him.”
— Chap. 5, opening, trans. G. A. Williamson
“Its literary merits must be left to the judgment of its readers; as to its truth, I should not hesitate to make the confident assertion that from the first word to the last I have aimed at nothing else.”
— Closing words, trans. G. A. Williamson