Antiquities of the Jews

Antiquities of the Jews
AuthorFlavius Josephus
Original titleἸουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία
TranslatorThomas Lodge
William Whiston
Henry St. John Thackeray
Ralph Marcus
LanguageKoine Greek
SubjectJewish history
Genrehistoriography
Published93/94 AD
Publication placeRoman Empire
Published in English
1602
Media typeManuscript
296.093
LC ClassDS116.J7418
Original text
Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία at Greek Wikisource
TranslationAntiquities of the Jews at Wikisource
A leaf from the 1466 manuscript of the Antiquitates Iudaice, National Library of Poland

Antiquities of the Jews (Latin: Antiquitates Iudaicae; Greek: Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία, Ioudaikē archaiologia) is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by historian Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of Roman emperor Domitian, which was 94 CE.[1] The book contains an account of the history of the Jewish people for Josephus's gentile patrons. In the first ten volumes, Josephus follows the events of the Hebrew Bible beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve.

The second ten volumes continues the history of the Jewish people beyond the biblical text and up to the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE). This work, along with Josephus's other major work, The Jewish War (De Bello Iudaico), provides valuable background material for historians wishing to understand 1st-century CE Judaism and the early Christian period.[2]

  1. ^ Antiquities, Book XX, chapter 11; "I shall put an end to these Antiquities, which are contained in twenty books, and sixty thousand verses. And if God permit me, I will briefly run over this war again, with what befell us therein to this very day, which is the thirteenth year of the reign of Caesar Domitian [i.e. September 93 – September 94], and the fifty-sixth year of my own life."
  2. ^ Stephen L. Harris, Understanding the Bible, (Palo Alto: Mayfield, 1985).