Contents | Index

Jewish War

The Jewish War  [Books 1-6]

[in Loeb Classical Library: Josephus vol. 2-3].

The first of Josephus' works was originally written in Aramaic in the early 70's to warn Syrian Jews that it was futile to join the revolt against Rome. An expanded version was translated into Greek by professional scribes [75-79 CE]. Neither Aramaic edition survived. Historians generally regard the Greek translation as the best work of Josephus as a source for historical information about the Jewish revolt, since it was drafted before the end of the war, while details & eye-witness impressions were fresh in the author's mind, & is less apologetic than his other works.