Flavius Josephus

Ashley Duff
HIST 329
12/3/03


Flavius Josephus


Flavius Josephus was born Joseph ben Mattithiah (or Matthias in Greek) in 37 C.E. in Jerusalem, while the land was under Roman rule. He is best known for the Jewish Antiquities, an extensive 20-volume history of the Jews, as well as The Jewish War, an “eyewitness account of the Jewish revolt against the Romans in Jerusalem (Abram 44).”
It is hard to put together the details of Josephus’ life, because the only known sources we have about him are scant details from his autobiography. Josephus “came of a noble and priestly family, and on his mother’s side was connected with the royal house of the Hasmoneans (Charlesworth 68).” He received the Hebrew education of “literature, history, and lore” that was expected of a Jewish upper class boy, and he was so intelligent that by the age of fourteen “he was consulted by the chief priests and city leaders” on legal points (Charlesworth 68, Bartlett 72...