What was going on: Judaea, 67 CE, during the revolt against Rome. Nicanor is urging Josephus to come out to the Romans. Writing of himself, Josephus says he recalled dreams in which God showed him what would happen to the Jews and to Rome's emperors, and prayed in secret.
Why it matters: The first of three major Jewish rebellions against Rome, the revolt ended with Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed, mass displacement and the end of the Jewish polity.
God, since you have brought my people low and handed their luck to Rome, and chose me to tell the future, I surrender and will live. I go as your servant, not a deserter.
Since it pleaseth thee, who hast created the Jewish nation, to depress the same, and since all their good fortune is gone over to the Romans, and since thou hast made choice of this soul of mine to foretell what is to come to pass hereafter, I willingly give them my hands, and am content to live. And I protest openly that I do not go over to the Romans as a deserter of the Jews, but as a minister from thee.
His own account of himself, written in the third person. Josephus, The Jewish War 3.350, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on: Judaea, 67 CE, in the revolt against Rome. Josephus, telling it himself in the third person, was with men who had resolved to die, and as their general he had them draw lots to kill one another in turn.
Why it matters: The first of three major Jewish rebellions against Rome, the revolt ended with Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed, mass displacement and the end of the Jewish polity.
He and one other man were left last, by chance or by God. Not wanting to die or to kill his own people, he talked the other man into living too.
…yet was he with another left to the last, whether we must say it happened so by chance, or whether by the providence of God. And as he was very desirous neither to be condemned by the lot, nor, if he had been left to the last, to imbrue his right hand in the blood of his countrymen, he persuaded him to trust his fidelity to him, and to live as well as himself.
His own account of himself, written in the third person. Josephus, The Jewish War 3.387, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on: Judaea, 67 CE, during the revolt against Rome. Josephus, writing of himself by name, has just been captured and led to the Roman general Vespasian, while soldiers crowd round and some shout for his death. Titus is Vespasian's son.
Why it matters: The first of three major Jewish rebellions against Rome, the revolt ended with Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed, mass displacement and the end of the Jewish polity.
Above all, his own courage and the prisoner's patience made Titus pity him. Seeing a fighter suddenly a captive made him think how fast fortune turns in war, and that no one's place is safe.
Above all the rest, Titus's own valor, and Josephus's own patience under his afflictions, made him pity him, as did also the commiseration of his age, when he recalled to mind that but a little while ago he was fighting, but lay now in the hands of his enemies, which made him consider the power of fortune, and how quick is the turn of affairs in war, and how no state of men is sure;
His own words, about Titus and himself. Josephus, The Jewish War 3.392, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on: Judaea, 67 CE, early in the Jewish revolt. Josephus, who fought against Rome, has been taken captive, and Vespasian plans to send him to Nero. Josephus asks to speak privately, before Titus and two friends. He tells this himself.
Why it matters: When the prediction came true, Vespasian, who took Josephus' prophecy to be divine, set him free.
Why send me to Nero? Will the rulers after Nero, before you, even live? You, Vespasian, are Caesar and emperor, you and your son here.
Dost thou send me to Nero? For why? Are Nero's successors till they come to thee still alive? Thou, O Vespasian, art Caesar and emperor, thou, and this thy son.
His own account of what he said. Josephus, The Jewish War 3.399, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on:Jerusalem, 70 CE, during the Roman siege that ended with Titus taking the city. Josephus writes that all hope of escape was gone and famine was killing whole families. The dead lay in the lanes, and the living were too weak or too afraid to bury them.
Why it matters: The city's fall effectively ended the revolt and marked a turning point in Jewish history: with sacrifice no longer possible, Judaism gradually reoriented around Torah study and prayer.
No one mourned or complained. Hunger numbed every feeling: the dying stared dry-eyed at the dead. A deep silence, like a deadly night, lay over the city.
Nor was there any lamentations made under these calamities, nor were heard any mournful complaints; but the famine confounded all natural passions; for those who were just going to die looked upon those that were gone to rest before them with dry eyes and open mouths. A deep silence also, and a kind of deadly night, had seized upon the city;
His own words. Josephus, The Jewish War 5.512, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on:Jerusalem, 70 CE, at the end of a five-month siege. As Josephus tells it, fire has reached the Temple, and Titus, Vespasian's son, runs from his tent to stop it, his commanders and legions behind him. Josephus calls him Caesar.
Why it matters: Painting the scene in 1638, Nicolas Poussin drew on Josephus and showed Titus not as a triumphant conqueror but as a conflicted figure, distressed by the ruin of the Temple.
Caesar shouted and signalled with his hand for the soldiers to put out the fire. But louder noise drowned him out and they did not hear.
Then did Caesar, both by calling to the soldiers that were fighting, with a loud voice, and by giving a signal to them with his right hand, order them to quench the fire. But they did not hear what he said, though he spake so loud, having their ears already dimmed by a greater noise another way;
His own words. Josephus, The Jewish War 6.254, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on:Jerusalem, 70 CE. After a five-month siege, Titus' army has stormed the city and the Temple is burning. Josephus describes the plundering and the killing of people of every age while it burned.
Why it matters: The city's fall effectively ended the revolt and marked a turning point in Jewish history: with sacrifice no longer possible, Judaism gradually reoriented around Torah study and prayer.
The flames reached far and echoed with the groans of the dying. The hill was high and the buildings huge, so it looked like the whole city was burning.
The flame was also carried a long way, and made an echo, together with the groans of those that were slain; and because this hill was high, and the works at the temple were very great, one would have thought the whole city had been on fire.
His own words. Josephus, The Jewish War 6.271, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on:Jerusalem, 70 CE. Titus' army has stormed the city, and in Josephus' telling a soldier sets fire to the Temple although Titus had rushed out to stop his men. Josephus mourns the building.
Why it matters: In Judaism the destruction of the Second Temple is commemorated on Tisha B'Av, a major fast day.
Anyone would be right to mourn it, the most wonderful building we ever saw or heard of, rich and holy. Yet one can take comfort that fate decreed it, and fate cannot be escaped.
Now although any one would justly lament the destruction of such a work as this was, since it was the most admirable of all the works that we have seen or heard of, both for its curious structure and its magnitude, and also for the vast wealth bestowed upon it, as well as for the glorious reputation it had for its holiness; yet might such a one comfort himself with this thought, that it was fate that decreed it so to be, which is inevitable,
His own words. Josephus, The Jewish War 6.267, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on:Rome, 71 CE, the year after Titus took Jerusalem. Josephus describes the huge floats carried in a procession, three or four storeys high, hung with gold and ivory, showing scenes from the war.
Why it matters: The Arch of Titus, still standing in Rome, has reliefs of soldiers parading the seven-branched menorah, the Table of Showbread, a golden cup and silver trumpets during the triumphal procession.
On display: a happy land laid waste, whole ranks of enemies killed, some fleeing, some taken captive, and great high walls smashed by siege machines.
For there was to be seen a happy country laid waste, and entire squadrons of enemies slain; while some of them ran away, and some were carried into captivity; with walls of great altitude and magnitude overthrown and ruined by machines;
His own words. Josephus, The Jewish War 7.132, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on:Rome, c. 71-75 CE, after the triumphs. Vespasian builds a Temple of Peace, finished fast, Josephus says, and fills it with pictures, statues and rare treasures. In 70 CE Titus had taken Jerusalem and its Temple had burned.
Why it matters: The treasures did not stay in Rome: Procopius records that the Vandal king Gaiseric took them to Carthage after sacking Rome in 455, and that they were paraded in Constantinople in 534.
He put the gold vessels and tools taken from the Jewish temple there as trophies. But their Law and the purple curtains of the holy place he had kept in the palace.
…he also laid up therein those golden vessels and instruments that were taken out of the Jewish temple, as ensigns of his glory. But still he gave order that they should lay up their Law, and the purple veils of the holy place, in the royal palace itself, and keep them there.
His own words. Josephus, The Jewish War 7.158, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on:Masada, around 73–74 CE; its fall ended the revolt. Josephus writes that the defenders' wall had burned down, and that Eleazar gathered his bravest companions and urged that all of them be slain rather than be taken. This opens his speech.
Why it matters: In modern Israel, the defenders' choice of death over slavery came to symbolize the courage of the warriors of Masada.
Friends, long ago we resolved to serve no one, not the Romans, only God, the one true Lord. Now the time has come to live up to that.
Since we, long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be servants to the Romans, nor to any other than to God himself, who alone is the true and just Lord of mankind, the time is now come that obliges us to make that resolution true in practice.
Eleazar speaking, as Josephus writes it. Josephus, The Jewish War 7.320, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on:Masada, 73 or 74 CE, the last stronghold of the Jewish revolt, with a Roman ramp built up to it. Josephus writes that Eleazar gathered the bravest defenders and urged them to die rather than be taken. The speech is as Josephus writes it.
Why it matters: Retold in modern times as the Masada myth, the siege became a national symbol in the early years of the State of Israel.
We were the first to rebel against them and are the last still fighting. I count it God's gift that we can still die bravely and free, unlike others caught off guard.
We were the very first that revolted from them, and we are the last that fight against them; and I cannot but esteem it as a favor that God hath granted us, that it is still in our power to die bravely, and in a state of freedom, which hath not been the case of others, who were conquered unexpectedly.
Eleazar speaking, as Josephus writes it. Josephus, The Jewish War 7.320, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on:Masada, 73 or 74 CE, the end of the Jewish revolt. The Romans broke in and could not tell what had happened, until women hiding underground came out and told them: the defenders had killed one another rather than be taken. At first the Romans did not believe it.
Why it matters: Josephus is the only writer of the time to record the siege. In modern times it was retold as the Masada myth, a selective narrative based on his account, which became a national symbol in Israel's early years.
Inside they found the many dead and took no joy in it, though these were their enemies. They could only marvel at how firmly so many had faced death.
…they came within the palace, and so met with the multitude of the slain, but could take no pleasure in the fact, though it were done to their enemies. Nor could they do other than wonder at the courage of their resolution, and the immovable contempt of death which so great a number of them had shown,
His own words. Josephus, The Jewish War 7.402, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on: Josephus introduces himself at the start of his history of the Jewish war against Rome, written in the 70s CE. He says he first wrote it in his own language and is now putting it into Greek for people living under Roman rule.
Why it matters: The work Josephus opens here is the only extensive eyewitness account of the revolt to survive from antiquity, and a foundational source for the late Second Temple period.
I, Joseph son of Matthias, a Hebrew and a priest, fought the Romans at first, and was then forced to watch what happened after.
Joseph, the son of Matthias, by birth a Hebrew, a priest also, and one who at first fought against the Romans myself, and was forced to be present at what was done afterwards, [am the author of this work].
His own words. Josephus, The Jewish War 1.1, translated by William Whiston (1737)J
What was going on: In his history of the war, Josephus asks readers to forgive his grief, because Jerusalem, once among the happiest cities under Roman rule, fell into terrible disaster, brought on by its own people rather than foreigners.
If you still blame me, take the facts as the history, and the grieving as mine alone.
But if any one be inflexible in his censures of me, let him attribute the facts themselves to the historical part, and the lamentations to the writer himself only.
His own words. Josephus, The Jewish War 1.9, translated by William Whiston (1737)
No portrait here: we have not found one whose identification and licence we can confirm.
