The Jewish War
Josephus’s account in seven books of the Jewish revolt against Rome, AD 66–73, written within a decade by a man who fought in it and then watched the siege of Jerusalem from the Roman camp. It is the main source for the fall of the Temple in AD 70.
Read the text at lexundria.com ↗The same translation with Whiston’s chapter and paragraph numbers (University of Chicago) ↗Greek text, edited by B. Niese (Perseus) ↗
Josephus wrote the War at Rome in the 70s. He says in the preface that he first composed it in the language of his own country and then put it into Greek. The seven books begin with the seizure of Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century BC and end with the fall of Masada, but most of the work concerns the revolt that broke out in AD 66.
He took part in that war on both sides: as commander in Galilee until his surrender in 67, then in the Roman camp, where he was present at the siege of Jerusalem in 70. That makes him an eyewitness of much that he reports. It also shapes the report. He wrote under the patronage of Vespasian and Titus, he lays the blame for the disaster on the leaders of the Jewish rebel factions, and he says that Titus tried to save the Temple from the fire (6.254–266). His figures for armies and for the dead are widely thought to be too high.
Cited in
- about 2085 BC, traditional date
- 167 BC to 164 BC, estimated date
- about 150 BC to AD 68, estimated date
- 63 BC, firm date
- 40 BC to 37 BC, estimated date
- 20/19 BC, estimated date
- 4 BC, estimated date
- AD 6, firm date
- AD 30 or 33, estimated date
- about AD 43, estimated date
- about AD 57 to AD 59, estimated date
- AD 62, firm date
- AD 66 to AD 70, firm date
- AD 73 or 74, estimated date