The Antiquities of the Jews

A must for anybody involves in 1st century history. Full of essential facts not found anywhere else . A must have.

Easy read. Takes u to the time. Recommended.

I'm finding it very helpful in my studies. It will take me 2 years to read it all. It lacks page numbers but it's good value at the price.

excellant

This review is of the Kindle edition. This was machine read and auto-spell-checked, I think with no human proof reading. Names like Antiochus are spelled differently each time they appear, and given that many of the characters have similar names anyway, it can make a rather puzzling read.As a book, it is less exciting and immediate than Josephus' The Jewish Wars. The first half is a retelling of the history of the Jewish people, very much like the Old Testament, though it is interesting to see the differences, and some of the stories have a freshness that the traditional translations of The Bible lack. This is followed by a retelling of the stories in the apocryphal books of The Maccabbees, running through into the first century AD.There is interesting writing about John the Baptist, which feels genuine to me. There is one paragraph about Jesus, which even in translation is obviously not in the same style as the rest of the book, and which rabbits off some early Christian points of creed in a way that is most un-Josephus-like. Biblical scholars argue about how much of the Jesus paragraph is genuine, but even if it all were (highly unlikely) it would not add much to anybody's understanding.There is a detailed and extensive account of what went on in the Roman court in the time of emperors such as Claudius, which must have come from Josephus' personal experience. If you only read one part of the book, read this bit. The story is mesmerising, and has an interestingly different perspective from Tacitus.The editor is old-fashioned in his reading of The Bible, and for this reason his footnotes are entertaining rather than erudite. A note on the Kindle edition again: the footnotes are not linked correctly, so you have to read them in sequence at the end of each of the books rather than inline in the text or as hyperlinks. This would matter if they were any good.The book would get five stars from me in a different edition, though I still prefer The Jewish Wars.

Didnt make it clear it was only a small section of Antiqities _ section 20

History is to remember mistakes, to avoid them in the future.

Brilliant. Nice and clear and easy to get around. The wordy sentences take a bit of getting used to, but extremely interesting read so far. Thank you.

The book adds details on the Biblical history. However, it omits "shameful" incidents that the Bible candidly reports. If you are looking for the part about the death of “James, the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ.” it is located at position 21243 (see the end notes also).In the notes you will find Testimonium Flavianum that reads: “Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”—Josephus—The Complete Works, translated by William Whiston.About the Testimonium Flavianum, over which there is a heated debate since 16th century, the eminent specialist of Hellenistic Judaism and primitive Christianity, Pierre Geoltrain, who used to consider the Testimonium to be an interpolation, even poking fun at those who believed in its authenticity, has now changed his opinion after studying Bardet’s work (Serge Bardet is a French historian and specialist in classical literature, has sought to untangle the threads of this debate that have become so knotted over the past four centuries. He published his research in a book entitled Le Testimonium Flavianum—Examen historique considérations historiographiques (The Testimonium Flavianum—A Historical Study With Historical Considerations). Geoltrain has now declared that “nobody should henceforth dare to speak of the ‘implausible testimony’ of Josephus.”

Antiquities is a must for any serious Bible student's library. I also recommend Fox's book of Martyrs and Eusebius' history of the church. While nothing can compare to the inspired word of God: The Bible - these and other books of ancient history are helpful in understanding the people, places and events comprising the Biblical world. That being said, here is my opinion for those seeking books of this type and you can take it or leave it, however: I prefer the "traditional" editions without unnecessary editing or commentary. There are wonderful commentaries if one wishes to delve further into these ancient works. Also, while I enjoy having access to these on my tablet it has been brought to my attention that those who digitalized these materials may have engaged in minor alterations from the original text. I have yet to find that to be true, but be aware that those concerns have been expressed by some. All in all however, Antiquities as well as the other texts I mentioned have been quite useful in painting a picture of life in and around the time of Christ as well as vividly describing the turbulent times following the death of Christ, the agonizing fate of those who loved and served the Savior and the slow, aching decline of Rome. God Bless...

Ordered from Kindle