Customer Reviews

The New Complete Works of Josephus

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

To put it concisely, the introduction generalizes the contents of this work, the segment on "The Life of Flavius Josephus" gives a familiar aquaintance with the 1st century A.D. historian, "The Antiquities of the Jews" covers the time of creation to the riegn of Nero, "The Jewish War" covers the time from the taking of Jerusalem to Titus' riegn and subsequent destruction of the Temple, "Against Apion" defends and ascertains the validity of Josephus' history, the seven "Dissertations" consist of numorous interesting topics, "The Table of the Jewish Weights and Measures, The List of Ancient Testimonies and Records, The Old Testamant Parellel to the Josephus' History, and Harmony of the Numbering System" all sum up the gist of this work, inasmuch as the titles and themes go.

The content of this work provides a profound sense of history, and extends without an end a greater sense of it. This book acts many times as a supplement to the bible in filling important gaps that biblical history failed to provide.

The benefits of this work are inumerable and unweighable when contrasted with the abundance of historical resources and the give-away price offered.

The "New Complete Works of Josephus" Translated by William Whiston and the commentary by Paul L. Maier, is undoubtably the best edition yet. Buy this one you will not regret it.

Enhanced with expert commentary by Paul L. Maier (Russell H. Seibert Professor of Ancient History at Western Michigan University), William Whiston's (1662-1752) translation of the historical writings of Josephus (c. A.D. 37-100) is now available in a completely revised, expanded, and linguistically updated edition. The New Complete Works Of Josephus is a core title for any academic or public library world history collection, Judaic studies or Roman history reading list, as well as of sustained interest to scholars and students of Mideast and Mediterranean antiquity. Whiston provides a much needed updating of vocabulary and spellings in all five of the complete and unabridged works by Josephus and presents them in a single volume. More than forty photographs of ancient sites and artifacts, numbers charts, tables, maps, cross reference numbers to the Geek text of Josephus in the Loeb Classical Library, a revised subject index, and an index of Old Testament texts paralleling Josephus' writings make this edition a very necessary acquisition. The New Complete Works Of Josephus is also available in hard cover.

In studying Judean history in the first century CE, there is no historian more important than Josephus, especially when one is interested in the study of the historical Jesus or of the world around him (the religious/social/political climate, etc.) Josephus is not only the only Jewish historian of this era to comment on Jesus, he is the only Jewish historian to thoroughly present the history as well as psychological outlook of Jews through a lengthy span of time. His works are immeasurably important to anyone interested in this line of study. This book contains all of his important works and more: his autobiography, Jewish Antiquities, The Jewish War, Against Apion, and an extract out of Josephus's Discource to the Greeks Concerning Hades (the latter of which is spurious.)

This edition of Josephus is helpful, with occasional essays on certain topics (i.e. "Josephus and the Romans" or the family tree of the House of Herod.) The translation is a little stale, but easy enough to understand (and I am assured that the faults in the original Whiston translation have been corrected.) The textual notes are helpful. It is for the dry translation that I gave this work 4 stars instead of 5-- though I really am indebted to those who put together this extremely comprehensive, useful volume of one of the most important historians relating to the history of Israel/Judea.

I'm not quite sure how to place "The New Complete Works of Josephus" (Kregel Academic & Professional, 1999) among other editions of Josephus that are available.

This work is a "revised" version of Whiston's 1737 translation, which has been "corrected" to an unknown degree by Paul L. Maier.

Besides Josephus' writings, the book includes 7 "dissertations" on the text by Whiston such as "The testimonies of Josephus concerning Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, and James the Just, vindicated". These along with the footnotes reveal a translator anxious to defend the authenticity of his source text(s), the historical accuracy of Josephus, the correspondence of Josephus's accounts with the Old and New Testament, etc.

Whiston seems to have a vested interest in Josephus as supporting and supplementing various Biblical accounts. He definitely comments upon the work from a Christian (he was actually an Arian) rather than a purely critical perspective. However, I see no reason at this time to believe this infects his translation with bias.

Assuming that "Complete Works" has been completely corrected, it's greatest failing is being very difficult to read. Apparently, Whiston had something against periods, but really loved semicolons. Many a sentence runs on and on to paragraph length. The syntax is tortuous.

The same publisher has two other editions of Josephus that are very different from Complete Works, yet seem very similar to each other. These are "Essential Works" (Josephus: The Essential Works) and "Essential Writings" (Josephus: The Essential Writings). Both are current editions using a translation by Paul L. Maier.

The following is a sample of Maier's new translation followed by Whiston's. The text corresponds to Loeb Bk. VI, Ch. 14, 374-378


From "Josephus: The Essential Writings", Kregel, 1990, ISBN 0825429641 (Maier translation)

The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the bodies of the slain, they found those of Saul and his sons, and they cut off their heads and impaled their bodies on the walls of Bethshan. But when the Israelites of Jabesh-Gilead learned about this mutilation, the bravest of them marched all night to Bethshan, removed the bodies of Saul and his sons, and carried them to Jabesh, where they buried them. The enemy was either not able or not bold enough to stop them, because of their great courage.

Saul came to this end, as Samuel had predicted, because of his disobedience regarding the Amalekites and his destruction of the high priest and his family. He reigned eighteen years during the lifetime of Samuel, and 22 more after his death.


From "The New Complete Works of Josephus", Kregel, 1999, ISBN 0825429242 ("corrected" Whiston translation)

On the next day, when the Philistines came to strip their enemies that were killed, they got the bodies of Saul and of his sons, and stripped them, and cut off their heads; and they sent messengers all about their country, to acquaint them that their enemies were fallen; and they dedicated their armor in the temple of Astarte, but hung their bodies on crosses at the walls of the city Beth Shan, which is now called Scythopolis. But when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard that they had dismembered the dead bodies of Saul and of his sons, they deemed it so horrid a thing to overlook this barbarity, and to suffer them to be without funeral rites, that the most courageous and hardy among them (and indeed that city had in it men that were very stout both in body and mind) journeyed all night, and came to Beth Shan, and approached the enemy's wall, and taking down the bodies of Saul and of his sons they caried them to Jabesh, while the enemy was not able enough or bold enough to hinder them, because of their great courage. So the people of Jabesh all wept and buried their bodies in the best place of their country, which was named Aroura; and they observed a public mourning for them seven days, with their wives and children, beating their breasts, and lamenting the king and his sons, without either tasting meat or drink [until evening].

To this his end did Saul come, according to the prophecy of Samuel, because he disobeyed the commands of God about the Amalekites, and on the account of his destroying the family of Ahimelech the high priest, with Ahimelech himself, and the city of the high priests. Now Saul when he had reigned eighteen years while Samuel was alive, and after his death two [and twenty], ended his life in this manner.


Even granting that the Maier translation is abridged, you can see that the Whiston translation suffers pitifully where readability is concerned.


If you're still with me I'd say this. If you can afford it and need the complete works, buy the Loeb editions. I can't personally vouch for them, but in the introduction to "Complete Works" Maier himself states that those represent the "best English translation".

If you don't need each and every line and want text you can actually parse, perhaps you should buy "Essential Works" or "Essential Writings". I can't tell you which, since I don't have them and I'm mystified as to what the difference might be. Of course, there are other translations and editions from other publishers of repute that are certainly comparable in readability.

If you need (or want) every line for a very economical price, "Complete Works" will do.

Good luck reading it.

This volume is quite complete containing:

Life of Flavius Josephus

Antiquities of the Jews

Wars of the Jews

Antiquities of the Jews: Flavius Josephus Against Apion

An excerpt from Josephus' discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades

and others included in the appendices. Also included are a chapter on the Jewish weights and measures, a list of ancient testimonies and records cited by Josephus, texts of the Old Testament parallels to Josephus' accounts and a harmony of the numbering systems in the Greek and English editions. Original full page illustrations are peppered throughout.

Very complete. My only complaint is in the print which is a type of old news print font and pretty densly packed.

Overall a very good reference.

The works of Josephus give a reader a window into the perceptions of the world in the first century. Josephus, prolific by any standard, covered a range of topics from ancient Jewish history, the Jewish wars, life in the roman world (as presented in his autobiography) just to name a few. In almost everyway, Josephus is our best available source for understanding the ancients understanding of the Bible. As such, it is essential and invaluable to any serious student.

This collection utility is immeasurable. Not only does it contain all of the works collected under one cover, it also gives strong commentary and a well-written introduction. The translator has significantly updated the work, eliminating archaic English translation often held over from earlier editions and giving useful reference for things like Biblical parallels.

My only complaint about the work is that the text is extremely dense and the font quite small. Sitting down and reading the text is difficult as a result and I decided to get a magnifying glass. Still, despite this drawback, this edition is a must own for anyone interested in the subject.

This book was a serendipitous purchase. I was reading "James the Brother of Jesus, and that author recommended having three other works available while studying. One was "Josephus." I have not, unfortunately, finished "James" yet, but am totally fascinated by Josephus. One sees him as a bit puffed up about himself at times, as the detailed historian, the passionate supporter of causes, but most of all as a realist of the time. So valuable because organized religion seldom provides the lay person seldom insight into the actual social and political pressures that moved events that we take for granted in an almost legendary way. Again, a fascinating work is Josephus.

For readers of Jewish history, this book contains an indispensable account of Jewish life during the Roman occupation of Judea. While Josephus is much cited by nearly every subsequent historian recapping this era, these cites cannot capture the nuanced ways in which the author's psychological portrait of the time's leaders. The translation is clear and readable, although a little stilted. The textual notes are dated and largely unhelpful to the modern reader.

Josephus was born to an aristocratic family in 37AD. The work
discusses many important milestones in the history of the
Jewish people. Most prominent of these events are:

- the Jewish forces in Galilee in AD66
- the revolt in Rome
- the agony of the Sepphoris over the state of their land
- the war by Moses against the Ethiopians
- the flight of Moses from Egypt into Midian
- the return of Moses and Aaron to Egypt and the Pharoah and
the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt
- the receipt of the Law by Moses on Mt. Sinai
- how Josephus oversaw the 5th of 10 plagues afflicting cattle
- a map of Judea showing Samaria, Decaputis, Perea, Jerusalem
and the Mediterranean Sea

This work is an important milestone in the literature of the
Diaspora period. It should be widely read by academicians and
theologians everywhere.

Josephus' _Wars of the Jews_ is a masterpiece. His firsthand recounting of the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70AD is captivating and telling. To properly understand human action at the farthest extreme of desperation and depravity, one needs to read this book.

It is a shame that Hebrew civilization is not honored in our view of history to the same extent that the Greek or Roman is.