JOSEPHUS, FLAVIUS (c.37-c.100). Jewish historian. He was a native of Palestine of priestly descent who received a thorough education based on study of the Jewish Law. Having lived for three years in the desert as the disciple of the hermit Bannos, he became a Pharisee. In 64 he went to Rome to plead for the release of some of his fellow-Jews, and after enlisting the sympathies of the Emp. Nero’s wife, Poppea, returned to Palestine.

     In 66 he took a leading part in the Jewish war. In 67 he was besieged in Jotopata, but escaped death and was taken prisoner by Vespasian, whose favour he won by prophesying that he would become emperor. On the fulfilment of the prophecy in 69 Josephus was set at liberty and took the name of ‘Flavius’. During the siege of Jerusalem (70) he acted as interpreter to Titus, with whom he returned to Rome, as his surrender had earned him the hostility of the Jews.

     In Rome he was highly honoured by Vespasian as well as by his successors, Titus and Domitian, and received the Roman citizenship and a pension which enabled him to devote himself entirely to literary work. In 77–8 he published his ‘Jewish War’ (Περὶ τοῦ Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου), probably written originally in Aramaic. It opens with a historical summary of the events from the time of Antiochus Epiphanes to the outbreak of the war. The latter part is largely an eye-witness account, though supplemented by borrowings from other authors. Though the introduction promises an impartial treatment of the subject, the work is written from the standpoint of a Jew trying to gain the sympathy of the Roman public and therefore omits or minimizes all that might offend Roman susceptibilities, such as the activities of the Zealots and the importance of the Messianic hope.

     He brought out c.94 his second great work, the ‘Antiquities of the Jews’ (Ἰουδαϊκὴ Ἀρχαιολογία), the 20 books of which trace the history of the Jews from the creation of the world to the beginning of the Jewish war. Down to c.400 BC Josephus mainly reproduces the Bible narratives; later he uses many other sources, among them Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Nicolaus of Damascus, as well as apocryphal books.

     The famous reference to Christ in 18. 3. 3, calling Him ‘a wise man, if indeed one should call him a man’, is in its present form not authentic. The most generally accepted opinion is that Josephus mentioned the Lord, as he refers to Him later on in a passage on St James, but that the original ‘Testimonium Flavianum’ was recast by a Christian writer at an early date, certainly before the time of Eusebius, who already knew it in its present form (HE 1. 11. 7 f.).

     There are also two further works extant, an autobiography and ‘Contra Apionem’, in the latter of which he presents a skilfully planned, well written, and clever apology for Judaism.

The works of Josephus were highly appreciated by the Fathers, e.g. Jerome, whom they furnished with a wealth of material for their apologetics.

Editio princeps of the Gk. text of his works, with Lat. tr. [ed. A. P. Arlenius], Basle, 1544. Best crit. edn. is that of B. Niese (6 vols. and index, Berlin, 1887–95); also ed. S. A. Naber (Teub., 6 vols., 1888–96). Edn. based on Niese and Naber, with modern Eng. tr., by H. St J. Thackeray and others (Loeb, 9 vols., 1926–65). Older Eng. tr. by W. Whiston (2 vols., London, 1737) frequently repr. Eng. tr. of Jewish War by G. A. Williamson (Penguin Classics, 1959). N. Bentwich, Josephus (Philadelphia, 1914). R. Laqueur, Der jüdische Historiker Flavius Josephus (1920). H. St J. Thackeray, Josephus, the Man and the Historian (Hilda Stich Stroock Lectures; New York, 1929). R. J. H. Shutt, Studies in Josephus (1961). G. A. Williamson, The World of Josephus (1964). T. Rajak, Josephus: The Historian and his Society (1983; 2nd edn., 2002). M. Hadas-Lebel, Flavius Josèphe: Le Juif de Rome [1989]. S. Zeitlin, Josephus on Jesus (Philadelphia, 1931). A. Schlatter, Die Theologie des Judentums nach dem Bericht des Josephus (Beiträge zur Förderung christlicher Theologie, 2. Reihe, 26; 1932). E. Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, rev. Eng. tr. by G. Vermes and others, 1 (Edinburgh, 1973), pp. 43–63 and 428–41, with refs. to earlier discussions of the ‘Testimonium Flavianum’. Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, 2. 21, ed. W. Haase (pt. 2; 1984), pp. 763–1217. L. H. Feldman and G. Hata (eds.), Josephus, Judaism, and Christianity (Leiden, 1987). J. Carleton Paget, ‘Some Observations on Josephus and Christianity’, JTSNS 52 (2001), pp. 539–624. A Whealey, Josephus on Jesus: The Testimonium Flavianum Controversy from Late Antiquity to Modern Times (Studies in Biblical Literature, 36 [2003]). K. H. Rengstorf (ed.), A Complete Concordance to Flavius Josephus (4 vols. + Suppl., Leiden, 1968–83). L. H. Feldman, Josephus and Modern Scholarship (1937–1980) (Berlin and New York, 1984); id., Josephus: A Supplementary Bibliography (New York and London, 1986). H. St J. Thackeray in HDB, Extra Vol. (1904), pp. 461–73; L. H. Feldman in Anchor Bible Dictionary, 3 (1992), pp. 981–98, s.v.

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