Flavius Josephus: Eyewitness to Rome's First-Century Conquest of Judea
New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Fine / Fine. Item #011874
Quarter green paper, tan paper boards. xvi, 269 pp. Fine. Flavius Josephus (born 37 CE) wrote the only remaining account of the utter destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in the year 70, and the heroic battle at Masada waged three years later. His position as a Jewish leader and then as the Roman court historian during the reign of Vespasian ensured that his historical works would be read and preserved by Jews and Romans alike. His narrative is not a mere chronicle; it is, in the best historiographical tradition, an attempt to make events intelligible. He does what no other historian, Greek or Latin, could have done: he examines the past in order to elucidate the underlying origins of the war.
Price: $36.00