In August of AD 70 the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by Roman forces after a six-month siege. This was the disastrous outcome of a Jewish revolt against Roman domination which began in AD 66 with some early success, but soon became mired in factional conflict. The war ended in the destruction of the famous Jewish Temple (rebuilt by Herod the Great a century before). The remarkable story of the war is narrated by an eye-witness and participant, Josephus. He was at first a rebel commander, then after his capture, supported Titus in the final assault on Jerusalem. Josephus spares no detail of a horrific conflict - atrocities on both sides, the reign of terror in Jerusalem, the appalling conditions of the siege, and the final mass suicide at Masada. His vivid narrative is our prime source for this period of history. It is a dramatic story, which resonates to the present day.

The Jewish War (Oxford World's Classics)

History

Hammond, Martin

Josephus

Ancient Civilizations

Oxford University Press

The Jewish War

Translated by William Whiston. The blood-drenched, firsthand account of the 66-70 AD war between Rome and the Jews, as told by a Jewish rebel fighter turncoat who ended up working for the Romans. Starting with an account of the occupation of Judea by the Macedonian Seleucids and the Jewish rebellion against those rulers, the author reveals how incessant internal chaos, infighting and instability finally led to the Jews asking for incorporation into the Roman Empire. Mark Antony and Julius Caesar then appointed their favourite Jew, Herod, as king of Judea, but this brought only a temporary peace. Widespread Jewish sedition caused further outbreaks of violence, and the Roman governor of the province of Syria, Varus, was ordered to march into Jerusalem to crush a rebellion which broke out after Herod's death in 4 AD. This marked the first major Roman incursion into Judea, and from then on, Josephus relates, the spiral of violence increased year upon year until open war between Rome and the Jews broke out in 66 AD. The incredible campaign waged by the Roman legions, first under Vespasian, and then under his son Titus, across Judea are recounted in detail, as are the atrocities committed by the Jewish nationalist terrorist organisation, the Sicarii, in Jerusalem and elsewhere. Included in this fast-moving drama are descriptions of the lengthy siege of Jerusalem by Roman forces; the shocking massacres committed by the Jews against Romans; the incredible extent of Jewish factionalism, infighting and mutual terrorism and plunder against their own people (which served to greatly aid the Roman military effort); the anti-Jewish uprisings which occurred in all the cities in which sizeable Jewish populations lived (Damascus, Scythopolis, Ascalon, Ptolemais, Alexandria and Tyre, among many others); the appearance of the fanatic Jewish faction known as the Zealots, which sparked off a renewed bout of internecine Jewish terror and massacres; and the capture of Jerusalem by Titus.

Military

Blurb

Translated by William Whiston. The blood-drenched, first-hand account of the 66-70 AD war between Rome and the Jews, as told by a Jewish rebel fighter turncoat who ended up working for the Romans. Starting with an account of the occupation of Judea by the Macedonian Seleucids and the Jewish rebellion against those rulers, the author reveals how incessant internal chaos, infighting and instability finally led to the Jews asking for incorporation into the Roman Empire. Mark Antony and Julius Caesar then appointed their favourite Jew, Herod, as king of Judea, but this brought only a temporary peace. Widespread Jewish sedition caused further outbreaks of violence, and the Roman governor of the province of Syria, Varus, was ordered to march into Jerusalem to crush a rebellion which broke out after Herod's death in 4 AD. This marked the first major Roman incursion into Judea, and from then on, Josephus relates, the spiral of violence increased year upon year until open war between Rome and the Jews broke out in 66 AD. The incredible campaign waged by the Roman legions, first under Vespasian, and then under his son Titus, across Judea are recounted in detail, as are the atrocities committed by the Jewish nationalist terrorist organisation, the Sicarii, in Jerusalem and elsewhere. Included in this fast-moving drama are descriptions of the lengthy siege of Jerusalem by Roman forces; the shocking massacres committed by the Jews against Romans; the incredible extent of Jewish factionalism, infighting and mutual terrorism and plunder against their own people (which served to greatly aid the Roman military effort); the anti-Jewish uprisings which occurred in all the cities in which sizeable Jewish populations lived (Damascus, Scythopolis, Ascalon, Ptolemais, Alexandria and Tyre, among many others); the appearance of the fanatic Jewish faction known as the Zealots, which sparked off a renewed bout of internecine Jewish terror and massacres; and the capture of Jerusalem by Titus.

Josephus, soldier, statesman, historian, was a Jew born at Jerusalem about 37 CE. A man of high descent, he early became learned in Jewish law and Greek literature and was a Pharisee. After pleading in Rome the cause of some Jewish priests he returned to Jerusalem and in 66 tried to prevent revolt against Rome, managing for the Jews the affairs of Galilee. In the troubles which followed he made his peace with Vespasian. Present at the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, he received favours from these two as emperors and from Domitian and assumed their family name Flavius. He died after 97.  As a historical source Josephus is invaluable. His major works are: History of the Jewish War, in seven books, from 170 BCE to his own time, first written in Aramaic but translated by himself into the Greek we now have; and Jewish Antiquities, in twenty books, from the creation of the world to 66 CE. The Loeb Classical Library edition of the works of Josephus also includes the autobiographical Life and his treatise Against Apion.

Jewish Antiquities

Arrow (A Division of Random House Group)

Josephus, soldier, statesman, historian, was a Jew born at Jerusalem about 37 CE. A man of high descent, he early became learned in Jewish law and Greek literature and was a Pharisee. After pleading in Rome the cause of some Jewish priests he returned to Jerusalem and in 66 tried to prevent revolt against Rome, managing for the Jews the affairs of Galilee. In the troubles which followed he made his peace with Vespasian. Present at the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, he received favours from these two as emperors and from Domitian and assumed their family name Flavius. He died after 97.
As a historical source Josephus is invaluable. His major works are: History of the Jewish War, in seven books, from 170 BCE to his own time, first written in Aramaic but translated by himself into the Greek we now have; and Jewish Antiquities, in twenty books, from the creation of the world to 66 CE. The Loeb Classical Library edition of the works of Josephus also includes the autobiographical Life and his treatise Against Apion.

The Life. Against Apion (Loeb Classical Library)

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Harvard University Press

Josephus: Jewish Antiquities: Books 9-11 (Loeb Classical Library No. 326) (Volume IV)

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

The works of the Jewish writer Flavius Josephus represent one of the most important records of Judaism and the Jews that survive from the ancient world. The Jewish Antiquities, his largest historical enterprise, is an account in twenty books of Jewish history from the creation to the outbreak of the Jewish revolt against Rome in AD 66. Here is all the drama of the Old Testament transformed into a historical narrative of Greco-Roman character; and more important, our only continuous account of Middle Eastern affairs in the two hundred years that led up to the revolt. William Whiston, successor to Isaac Newton as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, published his famous translation of Josephus' works in 1737. The modern system of chapter divisions has been added.

Josephus: Jewish Antiquities, Books Xv-XVII

Heinemann / Harvard

Josephus: Jewish Antiquities, Books 18-19 (Loeb Classical Library, No. 433) (Volume VIII)

Josephus, soldier, statesman, historian, was a Jew born at Jerusalem about 37 CE. A man of high descent, he early became learned in Jewish law and Greek literature and was a Pharisee. After pleading in Rome the cause of some Jewish priests he returned to Jerusalem and in 66 tried to prevent revolt against Rome, managing for the Jews the affairs of Galilee. In the troubles which followed he made his peace with Vespasian. Present at the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, he received favours from these two as emperors and from Domitian and assumed their family name Flavius. He died after 97.As a historical source Josephus is invaluable. His major works are: History of the Jewish War, in seven books, from 170 BCE to his own time, first written in Aramaic but translated by himself into the Greek we now have; and Jewish Antiquities, in twenty books, from the creation of the world to 66 CE. The Loeb Classical Library edition of the works of Josephus also includes the autobiographical Life and his treatise Against Apion.

Josephus: Jewish Antiquities, Book 20 (Loeb Classical Library No. 456) (Volume IX)

Josephus : The Jewish War Books III-IV (Loeb Classical Library No. 487) (Volume II)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Josephus. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Josephus

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Josephus. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Jewish War (Oxford World's Classics)

The Jewish War

The Jewish War

Jewish Antiquities

The Life. Against Apion (Loeb Classical Library)

Josephus: Jewish Antiquities: Books 9-11 (Loeb Classical Library No. 326) (Volume IV)

Josephus: Jewish Antiquities, Books Xv-XVII

Josephus: Jewish Antiquities, Books 18-19 (Loeb Classical Library, No. 433) (Volume VIII)

Josephus: Jewish Antiquities, Book 20 (Loeb Classical Library No. 456) (Volume IX)

Josephus : The Jewish War Books III-IV (Loeb Classical Library No. 487) (Volume II)