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The Jewish War
	Hebrew–Latin edition of The Jewish War (Basle, 1559)
Author	Josephus
Original title	Flavius Josephus's Books of the History of the Jewish War Against the Romans
Language	Aramaic (lost), Greek
Genre	History
Publication date	c. AD 75
Publication place	Roman Empire
Followed by	Antiquities of the Jews

The Jewish War^[a]^[b] is a work of Jewish history written by Josephus, a first-century Roman-Jewish historian.^[1]^[2]^[3] It has been described by the historian Steve Mason as "perhaps the most influential non-biblical text of Western history".^[4]

Content

Divided into seven books, it opens with a summary of Jewish history from the capture of Jerusalem by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 168 BC to the first stages of the First Jewish–Roman War (Books I and II). The next five books detail the unfolding of the war, under Roman generals Vespasian and Titus, to the death of the last Sicarii. The book was written about 75 AD, originally in Josephus' "paternal tongue" – either Aramaic or Hebrew^[5] – though this version has not survived. It was later translated into Greek, probably under the supervision of Josephus himself. Buth and Pierce wrote "the current Greek edition does not appear to be a translation, but must be considered a new edition, a complete re-working of the first writing and likely a considerable expansion."^[6]

The sources of the First Jewish–Roman War are: this account of Josephus, the Talmud (Gittin 57b), Midrash Eichah, the Hebrew inscriptions on the Jewish coins minted, and Book V of Tacitus' Histories.^[7]

The text also survives in an Old Slavonic version, as well as Hebrew which contains material not found in the Greek version, and which is lacking other material found in the Greek version.^[8]

The Jewish War, 1493 Italian translation
1581 German translation of Josephi’s The Jewish War in the collection of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland.

Influence

Josephus was a popular writer among Christians in the fourth century and beyond as an independent historian to the events before, during, and after the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Josephus was always accessible in the Greek-reading Eastern Mediterranean. The Jewish War was translated into Latin (Bellum Judaicum) in the fourth century by Pseudo-Hegesippus in abbreviated form as well as by an unknown other in full, and both versions were widely distributed throughout the Western Roman Empire and its successor states. Christian interest in The Jewish War was largely out of interest in the downfall of the Jews and the Second Temple, which was one of the sources for the antisemitic trope of divine punishment for the crime of killing Jesus. Improvements in printing technology (the Gutenberg Press) led to the work receiving a number of new translations into the vernacular languages of Europe; the original Greek text was also published in Basel in 1544. In English, the most influential translations were Thomas Lodge's 1602 translation (The Tragic History of the Jews), followed by William Whiston's 1760s translation (The Wars of the Jews).^[9]

On the Jewish side, Josephus was far more obscure, as he was perceived as a traitor. Rabbinical writings for a millennium after his death (e.g. the Mishnah) almost never call out Josephus by name, although they sometimes tell parallel tales of the same events that Josephus narrated. An Italian Jew writing in the 10th century indirectly brought Josephus back to prominence among Jews: he authored the Yosippon, which paraphrases Pseudo-Hegesippus's Latin version of The Jewish War (among other works), and included additional historical snippets at times. Jews generally distrusted Christian translations of Josephus until the 19th century, when sufficiently "neutral" vernacular language translations were made. Kalman Schulman finally created a translation of the Greek text of Josephus into Hebrew in 1863, although many rabbis continued to prefer the Yosippon version. By the 20th century, Jewish attitudes toward Josephus had softened, as Jews found parts of The Jewish War inspiring and favorable to the Jews. The last stand at Masada was seen as inspirational rather than tragic, for example. A 1938 / 1941 play, Jerusalem and Rome, was loosely based on The Jewish War, and various novels were written.^[10] These 20th century interpretations inevitably reflected the concerns of the era, unsurprisingly, such as the persecution of Jews in Russia and Nazi-era Europe, the nascent Zionist movement, and the situation of Jewish settlers in the British Mandate of Palestine.^[9]

For scholars, Josephus is and remains an invaluable resource for study of the Jewish-Roman war. While he is clearly deferential toward his Flavian dynasty Roman patrons, he is generally considered a relatively neutral source.^[9]

Explanatory notes

^ Also known as The Judean War, The Wars of the Jews, and Bellum Judaicum (in Latin).
^ In full: History of the Jewish War Against the Romans; Greek: Ἱστορία Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου πρὸς Ῥωμαίους, Ηistoria Ioudaikou polemou pros Rōmaious.

Citations

^ Josèphe, Flavius (2008). Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary. Judean war, Flavius Josephus, Steve Mason, Honora Chapman. BRILL. ISBN 978-9004169340. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
^ Brighton, Mark Andrew (2009). The Sicarii in Josephus's Judean War, Mark Andrew Brighton. Society of Biblical Lit. ISBN 9781589834064. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
^ Hanson, Kenneth C.; Oakman, Douglas E. (15 July 2008). Palestine in the Time of Jesus: Social Structures and Social Conflicts, K. C. Hanson, Douglas E. Oakman. Fortress Press. ISBN 9781451407136. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
^ Mason, Steve (19 January 2016). "Josephus's Judean War". In Honora Howell Chapman and Zuleika Rodgers (ed.). A Companion to Josephus. John Wiley & Sons. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-4443-3533-0.
^ Buth & Pierce 2014, pp. 88–89, and footnote 64.
^ Buth & Pierce 2014, p. 89, footnote 64.
^ Tacitus. "Book V". The Histories. Translated by Church, Alfred John; Brodribb, William Jackson. The Internet Classics Archive. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
^ Christopher M. Weimer. "The Slavonic Josephus' Account of the Baptist and Jesus". Gnosis.org. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
^ ^a ^b ^c Josephus, Flavius (2017) [c. 75]. "Introduction". The Jewish War. Introduction by Martin Goodman. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. xxix–xxxv.
^ Bistritzky’s Play 'Jerusalem and Rome' (1938/1941)

General and cited references

Buth, Randall; Pierce, Chad (2014). "Hebraisti in Ancient Texts: Does ἑβραιστί Ever Mean 'Aramaic'?". In Buth, Randall; Notley, R. Steven (eds.). The Language Environment of First Century Judaea: Jerusalem Studies in the Synoptic Gospels. Jewish and Christian perspectives series no. 26. Vol. 2. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. pp. 66–109. ISBN 9789004263406. OCLC 865493517. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
The Jewish War: Revised Edition. ISBN 0-14-044420-3.
H. Leeming and K. Leeming: "Josephus' 'Jewish War' and Its Slavonic Version: A Synoptic Comparison". Ancient Judaism & Early Christianity, Brill (1999). ISBN 90-04-11438-6.
Pothou, Vassiliki (2023). Thukydides second-hand bei Flavius Josephus: zur Rezeption thukydideischer Motive im Bellum Judaicum. Leiden; Boston: Brill. ISBN 9789004545861.