The Antiquities of the Jews

Josephus in his twenty-one volume Antiquities of the Jews, completed during the last year of the reign of the Emperor Flavius Domitian. In expounding Jewish history, law and custom, he is entering into many philosophical debates current in Rome at that time. Again he offers an apologia for the antiquity and universal significance of the Jewish people. He outlines Jewish history beginning with the creation, as passed down through Jewish historical tradition. Abraham taught science to the Egyptians, who in turn taught the Greeks. Moses set up a senatorial priestly aristocracy, which, like that of Rome, resisted monarchy. The great figures of the Tanakh are presented as ideal philosopher-leaders. He includes an autobiographical Appendix defending his conduct at the end of the war when he cooperated with the Roman forces. The works of Josephus provide crucial information and also represent important literary source material for understanding the context of the Dead Sea Scrolls and late Temple Judaism.