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Volume 1b in "Brill's Josephus Project" contains "Book 2 of Josephus' Judean War" (translation and commentary). This book deals with a period of enormous consequence: from King Herod's death (4 BCE) to the first phase of the war against Rome (66 CE). It covers: the succession struggle, the governments of Herod's sons, Judea's incorporation as a Roman province, some notable governors (including Pilate), Kings Agrippa I and II, the Judean philosophical schools (featuring the Essenes), various rebel movements and the sicarii, tensions between Judeans and their neighbours, events leading up to the revolt, the failed intervention of the Syrian legate Cestius Gallus, and preparations for war in Judea and Galilee. The commentary aims at a balance between historical and literary issues. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

learned, flawed contribution
This volume is a substantial contribution to learning, but significantly flawed. History research libraries will want to have it. (For the price, though it is a complex text, one could have expected more thorough copy-editing.) The fresh translation and extensive, learned commentary will interest any serious student of Josephus. Here my focus (disproportionately, perhaps) is on Mason's distorted presentation of Josephus on Essenes. Mason argues that one should read Josephus in his own context before mining him for history research; so far so good. But Mason appears to presume that such has never happened before, at least for War book 2; that he has now done it; that his views constitute the evidence as now understood; that Essenes as described by Josephus and interpreted by Mason are practically the opposite type humans as the Qumran sectarians. Nonsense. To arrive at that skewed view, Mason's tendentious presentation, for example, quotes Qumran mss when he supposes he can show a difference between Josephus Essenes and Qumran sectarians, but not when there are shared characteristics, such as the rigorous initiation process culminating in full participation in the purity regulations, preserving secret books including names of angels, and giving all property to the community. Mason slights Pliny as understood in current research and as understood by many scholars before the Qumran scroll discoveries as locating Essenes in exactly the north-west Dead Sea shore area including Kh. Qumran and Kh. Feshkha (e.g. CD Ginsberg 1862, Proceedings of the Liverpool Literary & Philosophical Society p. 202; Christian Friedrich Lebrecht Strack, "Südlich von ihnen lag sonst dei Stadt Engadda..." in Cajus Plinius Secundus Naturgeschichte (ed. Max Strack;; Bremen: Johan Georg Hense, 1853; MEG Rey 1861 p.219f and others). Mason downplays the multiply-attested presentation of Essenes as peaceful, perhaps to enhance his comparison of Essenes to Spartans--a comparison never made explicitly by Josephus. Mason underestimates the relevance of sources for Josephus. Mason's presentation on the name "Essenes" is wrong. He could have acknowledged that Hebrew 'osey hatorah, performers of torah, appears several times in Qumran sectarian texts, texts known as Essene on other grounds, and is the source of the name "Essenes," as accepted by a growing number of contemporary scholars and as in effect predicted by scholars before the Qumran finds as early as Philip Melanchthon in 1532 and in every century since. In other words, some scrolls evidently tell us they are Essene. Mason does note my 1984 article on this, though one with additional evidence is better: Goranson, Stephen. "Others and Intra-Jewish Polemic as Reflected in Qumran Texts." In The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment, ed. Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam, 2:534-551. Leiden: Brill, 1999. For more on Essene history see www.duke.edu/~goranson "Jannaeus, His Brother Absalom, and Judah the Essene" ... Read more

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This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1888 edition by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Infomation for sure.
Its full of information. A lot of it is kinda boring.Too many pages to read thru.Very fine print.Put your glasses on.You probably shoud read thru the whole thing to get the full scope of thing.That will only take you, say, 5 years......... ... Read more

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THIS 7 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Antiquity Unveiled: Ancient Voices from the Spirit Realms Proving Christianity to be of Heathen Origin, by J. M. Roberts. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 1564597717. ... Read more

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Indispensable for understanding t he hoax of Christianity
Until the recent work of Robert Eisenman this classic by Robert Eisler was the only book really to take a fresh look at the legends of Christianity and the real facts.

Eisler asks a unique question:what if the paucity of non-biblical information about Jesus of Nazareth is not the result of his obscurity but the result of Christian bookburning and censorship?Taking the classic of Josephus, The Jewish War, and discussing its many versions, including the Slavonic version, Eisler shows how the comments of Josephus have been edited, revised, destroyed, and reinterpreted by Christians to make Jesus out to be what he was not and John the Baptist to be what he was not.Both were heavily involved in rebellious movements against Roman rule and Jewish priestly collaboration.The Christian Church after 70AD and particularly after Constantine could not allow this to be known; they worked instead to make Jesus a non-political god rather than a real Jewish apocalyptic and Zealot.

Here for the first time we have an anti-Christian history, recovered from the censorship of the Christians.We come to see how the real Jesus has been concealed from us.Only Robert Eisenman today has taken up this theme in his works on James of Jerusalem, sharing with Eisler not the particular view of Josephus so much as the conviction that the real Jesus had nothing to do with Paul of Tarsus' imaginary Jesus.

In all fairness I should also mention S.G.F. Brandon's Jesus and the Zealots as a work in this general school of trying to get behind the romance and distortion of the Gospels and the Book of Acts. ... Read more

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The Life of Flavius Josephus- Against Apion ... Read more

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Volume: 1Publisher: Philadelphia, J. GriggPublication date: 1829Subjects: Jews -- History 586 B.C.-70 A.DJews -- AntiquitiesNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

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Explores the use of the words pistis and pisteuein as faithterminology by Josephus. This is the first major study of the pist- wordgroup in the writings of Josephus.The first part of the book examines the development of a religiousunderstanding of the Greek word group. Special emphasis is given to thereligious use of the pist- words in Classical and Hellenistic Greek, inthe Septuagint, in Sirach and in Philo.The second and main part of the book deals specifically with the use of theword group - both secular and religious - by Josephus. His use of this faithterminology is compared with that of the New Testament. This section includesa critical look at the thesis that 'faith' in the New Testament is primarily aHellenistic concept. ... Read more

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Josephus, a Palestinian Jew, authored "Bellum Judaicum", which chronicled the Jewish revolt against Rome begun in 66 AD in Jerusalem, and roughly 20 years later wrote "Antiquitates Judaicae", a study of Jewish history from the creation to 66 AD. In both "Bellum Judaicum" and the "Vita", an appendix to "Antiquitates Judaicae", Josephus deals with his own rule in the war. Although both works have apologetic aims, Josephus changes his story from one work to the next. By viewing these two works in the greater context of Josephus's life and not in isolation from one another, Shaye J.D. Cohen traces Josephus's development as a historian, as an apologist, and as a Jew. Cohen bases historical reconstruction of Josephus's participation in the war on a delineation of specific contradictions between the two works, a survey of the scholarship on the subject, a discussion of the literary relationship between the two documents, an investigation of how Josephus treated his sources, and a detailed analysis of both the "Bellum Judaicum" and the "Vita". ... Read more

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Flavian Rome has most often been studied without serious attention to its most prolific extant author, Titus Flavius Josephus. Josephus, in turn, has usually been studied for what he is writing about (mainly, events in Judaea) rather than for the context in which he wrote: Flavian Rome. For the first time, this book brings these two phenomena into critical engagement, so that Josephus may illuminate Flavian Rome, and Flavian Rome, Josephus. Who were his likely audiences or patrons in Rome? How did the context in which he wrote affect his writing? What do his narratives say or imply about that context? This book brings together contributions from leading international scholars of Josephus and Flavian-Roman history and literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Feldman!
Great chapter by Professor Louis Feldman of Yeshiva University comparing Plutarch's Lycurgus and Josephus' Moses! ... Read more

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But John made use of this festival as a cloak for his treacherous designs, and armed the most inconsiderable of his own party, the greater part of whom were not purified, with weapons concealed under their garments, and sent them with great zeal into the temple, in order to seize upon it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The essence of jewishness
To my mind it is the best book by Lion Feuchtwanger. If anybody wants to know what the essence of Jewish identity is, he/she should definitely read it. By painting the controversial (for Jews) historical character of Josephus Flavius, the author actually disputes about modern Jewish identity. It is easy to read, it involves, inspires, makes you think and strive for more knowledge.

Incredible that this trilogy should be out of print!
The epoch chronicled by Joseph ben Matthias, former priest of the High Temple in Jerusalem, military commander (of sorts) in Galilee against the opening Roman onslaught and historian of that war, is an extremely significant crossroads of civilization and religion.

Josephus was a champion of his maligned people in the waning years of his life. His life and works were shunned by his beloved Jews as he was considered an arch-traitor who became a Roman lackey. That his works were preserved was only due to
the dligence of certain Christian prelates in the early Church, who (after tampering with some revered passages) found in Josephus a witness to the life and resurrection of Christ outside the Gospels. What a marvelous subject for a novel. Lion Feuchtwanger rose to the occasion. His characters are not the antiseptic saints or the demons of Lew Wallace's Ben Hur, but
conflicted, vacillating and at times just plain goofy people who almost accidentally were placed center stage in one of history's most crucial turning points.

Is F's history a little fudged? Well certainly, but his own essay on the historical novel makes it clear that he is
a "political message" writer who takes liberties here and there to make his tale relevant. When he wrote, Jews throughtout the diaspora wrestled with the notion of Zionism... reestablishment of a Jewish polity on ancient ground. The countervailing movement was that Jews had to become "world citizens", contributing to civilization in the countries of their birth, even as rising fascism and antiSemitism closed in upon them.

So Josephus' famed Antiquities is given a bit of a spin to conform with Feuchtwanger's Germany and the Palestine under the British Mandate. To the purist, distortions such as having
the aristocratic priest Josephus be an early advocate of a Zealot faction called the Makkabees might be a bit jarring.
Was Queen Berenice a Jewish patriot in her own way? Well it's possible, and the real Josephus may have wanted to mute this
characterization, as the Jews in Rome were under suspicion and censure under Domitian. Did Nero's consort, Poppaea Sabina
flirt coquettishly with Josephus while testing his knowledge of Jewish aspirations in Judaea and the world? Why not? We know she showered Josephus with gifts and that she was sympathetic
to the Jews's situation....though not a very saintly person in her personal affairs to put it mildly.

Reading these works, one can only wonder why they were never brought to the screen, let alone allowed to go out of print.

A MUST READ FOR ANY CULTURED PERSON
Feuchtwanger is probably the best historical novelist in the world - truly superb in erudition and majestic in his literary style. While this German Jewish writer is famous for his Josephus trilogy detailing the scenes of the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans, he has also written breathtaking historical novels on Goya the artist, J.J.Rousseau the philosopher, and last but not least, on Benjamin Franklin ("Arms for America"). "Jew Suss" (another masterpiece) is about medieval Europe and the Jewish presence there, sometimes a very visible presense, sometimes kabbalistically hidden. All of these books are a tour-de-force of the highest caliber.

A truly magnificent book
A must read for every Historical Fiction lover. It displays a fascinating view of the Great Uprising at 70 C.E., and a truly unique study of the human nature and its drives. Josephus is a book with fully fleshed, multy-faceted personalities, well built background and wondrous plotline. Plenty of material for thought.

One of the traits I most appreciate in Feuchtwanger is that he does not attempt to idolize his characters, but presents them as the humans they were, with all the complications and wonders of the concept.

Aside from a few errors in Jewish religious terminology, and questionable historical moments (without which Historical Fiction is impossible) his portrait of the time is accurate, vivid and irresistable.

The book is bound to sweep every reader immediately, and never let go.

One of his greatest books
In this real masterpiece Lion Feuchtwanger has incredibly successfully showed the very nature of jews and their religion. Through the book the reader can not only understand what this people feel and why they live how they do. He starts to love them, to see their tragedy, destiny, future. It's absolutely impossible to stay indifferent. The next two parts of the trilogy ("The sons" and "The day will come") accomplish the history of life of a profound historian Josephus Flavius, but personally I admire this book the most. ... Read more

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An exquistite reproduction of a circa-1850 large, single-volume collection of Flavius Josephus' complete literary works. A priest, scholar, and warrior, this Jewish historian was born just a few years after the death of Jesus Christ. Best known for his works The Antiquities of the Jews and The Jewish Wars, Josephus is an oft-cited source for students of biblical chronology and history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Incomplete
I wrongly assumed by the title of this book that all of the information would be there.Unfortunately, I found missing chapters and paragraphs in the Jewish Wars section.Although beautifully done this book will be returned.I'd rather have a truthful complete work written on recycled cardboard than an incomplete immitation gold edged dust collector.

Josephus for Myself
For decades I've heard pastors or Bible teachers reference the Jewish historian, Josephus. But he was as legendary and unknowable as characters in the Bible. Now this book gives me my OWN insight into Josephus and history of the first-century Christian church. Not an easy read, but a tome every Christian should have in his or her library. Beautifully presented by Attic Books.
... Read more

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'THE BIBLE BETRAYED'By James Rappai'The Bible Betrayed' presents an astonishing new hypothesis-discovery that conclusively proves the following: 1.The Bible stories are true.2.Ancient Egypt was in the Turkey-Syria region. 3.Ancient Israel was in Syria. 4.It pinpoints the ruins of the real Jerusalem in the mountains of Syria. 5.Finally, it suggests that scholars may be involved in an elaborate cover-up exercise. The Bible Betrayed proves that the Bible stories are true. The book goes on to reveal a mind-numbing archaeological reconstruction error in the volatile Middle Eastern arena. Modern-day scholars have misidentified and misplaced ancient Egypt on the reconstructed map of the Levant (core biblical arena). Since Egypt was the sheet anchor for this reconstruction, this fundamental flaw spawned multiple errors in the map, including the Bible anomaly of missing archaeological evidence. The Bible anomaly is probably being used as a smokescreen to cover up this grave error.The author, James Rappai's fascinating conclusions are based on his newly reconstructed map of the core biblical arena that emerged from a 10-year long study. It all began with the author's suspicion that 'Ethiopia of the secular Greek scholars' and 'Canaan of the Bible' were one and not two different kingdoms as modern-day scholars currently assume. This proved true. A search for the root cause of this inadvertent duplication led to the Egypt error.The new map is based on geographical pointers that are rigorously corroborated by both the Bible as well as secular ancient world historians such as Strabo and Herodotus. It firmly places Egypt as well as Canaan (of which ancient Israel was a part) in the Middle Eastern arena. When 'test run' to find Jerusalem, the new map delivers an astonishing find! It triangulates a fort-temple ruin situated on a high mountain ridge, hidden deep in the mountains of modern-day Syria. From the description given of Jerusalem by the Jewish historian Josephus, this fort-temple ruin is a hand-in-glove fit and instantly recognizable as the Fort Antonia cum Temple complex of the Jerusalem acropolis upon the Moriah Ridge that was rebuilt by King Herod. It is surprisingly intact... almost exactly as Titus left it in 70 AD! 'The Bible Betrayed' is soon to be followed by three new books that will highlight various other mysteries that are revealed and resolved by this hypothesis-discovery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

LOL!
LOL! What a silly book! Wow, ....wow. This book is so un historical it isn't even funny. I want my money back!

AMAZING ABSOLUTELY ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!
I GIVE THIS GUY THE 4As!! The scope of this book is immense. The author, James Rappai has managed to do what a hundred nay a thousand scholars before him tried and failed to accomplish!

Okay, histrionics aside, what Mr. Rappai has done is single-handedly resolve the Bible anomaly of missing archaeological evidence. In the process, he blithely dismantles the 'sacred' Egypt reconstruction and ships it lock-stock and barrel to the Near Eastern arena.

Is one allowed to do this? Do I find it believable? Frankly, I am a little bewildered, but if you ask me, does it make sense, I have to say... sure. Why the hell not.

The Egypt reconstruction is not all robust as it seems. True, there are the ruins, but the story that goes with it, is not all 'kosher.' The fit is a sham. There is a lot that has been quietly swept under the carpet. It is entirely possible that we have clothed one set of ruins with the garment of another, as Rappai suggests.

The inexplicable presence of Egypt in Syria has always vexed Egyptologists. Indeed, to accommodate this powerful magnetic pull, this region has been considered an annexe of Egypt.

A must read for every student of Egyptology and biblical studies. A must read for all the armchair explorers out there who want to sink their teeth into areal live-wire history mystery, one that take on a hundred thousands scholars head-on.

Facinating hypothesis
The Bible Betrayed attempts to resolve the enigma of missing archaeological evidence for the Bible. It suggestions that the reconstructed map of the Levant (including the Holy Land), suffers from an error and is indeed the root cause for the Bible's archaeological no-show. While this is indeed the standard position of the biblical maximalists, the author suggests that the map suffers from a fundamental or fatal error reconstruction error.

What is this fatal error?

Ancient Egypt was misidentified and misplaced. Ancient Egyptians were poor builders, and textual sources reveal them to have been a sophisticate populace much along the lines of ancient Greece. What we have now is exactly the opposite and clearly a case of mistaken identity.

The Egypt error skews the whole map. It caused Ethiopia of the Greek scholars and Canaan of the Bible to be separately reconstructed when in reality they are merely two different perspectives of the same city-state. This fact is elaborately established by tallying similarities between the two. History, topographical and political similarities are painstakingly tallied. The author cleverly uses corroborating ancient world textual sources such as Strabo, Josephus and Herodotus, to establish it in an irrefutable and transparent manner.

Incidentally, tracing the root cause of the Ethiopia-Canaan duplication is what that leads to Egypt error. Once again, using the corroborative approach, the author establishes that ancient Egypt too is erroneous.
Real Egypt was located in the Middle East where Syria is situated. With incredible easy the author eases Egypt into an altogether different landscape. The Nile and its delta are identified, and indeed, the whole reconstruction is expertly put into place in the most believable manner. The fit too is hand-in glove and everything makes much more sense. Frankly, the entire presentation is very unnerving.

As if this weren't enough, the new map is tested; it is used to locate Jerusalem. Here, a key extract from Strabo comes in handy. Jerusalem which was located in the mountains, was visible from the coast, it states. Using this clue, a fort-temple ruin set on a mountain ridge is triangulated. Closer examination reveals it to be a perfect match. The acropolis is exactly as described by Josephus and Strabo. One look at the photograph (use `customer image' link beneath the title image to reach) is enough to trigger cardiac arrhythmia amongst seasoned bible archaeologist. The resemblance is so uncanny!

The book is well written and written for the lay audience. All the arguments are structured well and the complex unraveling of this Gordian knot is indeed expertly done.

The whole ideology is new from end to end. Thus, petty scholars, especially short-order Wikipedia scholars empowered with stars and bottle-cap medallions to save the world, will undoubtedly bay for blood, and try their utmost to berate this discovery-hypothesis, make a mockery of the presentation. Senior scholars are however well advised to take a close look. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Best book on The Jewish Wars
This translation of Josephus is written in modern easy-to-understand English.The book is profusely illustrated with photos and maps that illustrate the areas Josephus is writing about.And, best of all, the book contains commentary by modern archaeolgists on their discoveries that bear on what Josephus is describing.

I learned a lot from this book.I will never part with it.
... Read more