Almost two thousand years have passed since the death of this man, but debate about how impartial he was in his assessments and how trustworthy he was as a witness of the era continues to this day. Some call him the greatest Jewish historian of antiquity, a patriot, a fighter for the independence of Judea, and even the savior of his homeland, who preserved its great past in his writings; others declare him a traitor who preferred captivity to heroic death for freedom, and in his works written in a foreign land, he tried in every possible way to whitewash the conquerors and humiliate his compatriots. As a historian, some classify this man as one of the most authoritative “chroniclers” of antiquity - along with Thucydides, Titus Livius, Arrian, Tacitus; others, without denying his works educational value, claim that they contain almost as much reliability as, for example, the reports of the ancient Greek traveler Ctesias about India (that is, that the author’s fiction often replaces real history). At the same time, his works have enjoyed constant popularity since the first centuries of our era - both as entertaining reading and as a source of information about the turbulent past of the Middle East; they were studied by the Fathers of the Church, and in the 20th century they, in particular, inspired Lion Feuchtwanger, who based on them created a series of historical novels - “The Jewish War”, “Sons”, “And the Day Will Come”. No matter how we feel about the role played by this man in the conquest and pacification of Judea by the Romans, the fact that it is to him that we owe our knowledge of the events that shook the “cradle of Christianity” at the turn of our era is beyond doubt. This man's name is Josephus.

A Jew by birth, Joseph belonged on his mother's side to the royal family of the Hasmoneans-Maccabees, and on his father's side to the family of priests (Cohens). In his homeland he was called Joseph ben Mattityahu, that is, Joseph, son of Mattathias. He was born in Jerusalem in 37 or 38 AD, received an excellent education (he spoke not only Hebrew, but also Aramaic, Greek, Nabataean and Arabic, and later learned Latin), in his youth he devoted himself to spiritual quests - first he went into the desert to to a certain hermit Ban, who preached the teachings of the Essenes, then joined the Pharisees, who proclaimed the “priesthood of the people” (in contrast to the Sadducees, who recognized holiness exclusively for the nobility and priests); as befitted an educated Jew, Joseph carefully studied the Torah (in the treatise “Against Apion” he wrote: “I compiled my essay on antiquities on the basis of our sacred books, since I myself belong to a priestly family and thoroughly studied the philosophy contained in those books”) . Quite quickly he rose to prominence among his peers; at the age of 26 he was sent to Rome to defend several Jewish priests accused of violating the laws of the empire before Emperor Nero (Judea was part of the Roman province of Syria from 6 AD). The Eternal City made a colossal impression on Joseph (by and large, a provincial), which subsequently undoubtedly influenced his decision to remain among the Romans.

In 66, a revolt against the Romans broke out in Judea, later known as the War of the Jews. Although the Pharisees were opponents of all wars, Joseph joined the rebels, who managed to capture Jerusalem and actually liberate the entire territory of Judea. Each of the leaders of the uprising received control of one or another region of the country; Joseph got Galilee, which he tried to strengthen, realizing that the Romans would definitely return. He managed to gather a militia numbering over 60,000 people, and he took advantage of the experience gained during his stay in Rome and organized this militia in the image and likeness of the Roman army. Of course, the militias did not become professional soldiers, but strict discipline and the presence of a number of fortresses made it possible to count, if not on success, then on stubborn resistance to the enemy. But all the calculations were overturned by the infighting among the leaders of the uprising, the result of which was the fragmentation of the country into “destinies” that fought the Romans on their own - and surrendered one after another. The same fate befell Galilee. Retreating under the onslaught of Vespasian's army, Joseph lost several fortifications and finally took refuge in the fortress of Iotapata.

The siege of Iotapata lasted about two months. The besieged repelled the first two assaults, but the third, decisive one, the garrison of the fortress could not withstand, and the Romans broke into Iotapata. They captured only one thousand one hundred people; the rest either died or chose to commit suicide. Among the captives was Joseph.

There is a legend (stated by Flavius ​​himself) according to which Joseph hid in a cave with 40 comrades. Vespasian called on them to surrender, but all the Jews, except Joseph, did not agree and even threatened to kill their commander for treason. In the end, they decided by lot to kill each other so as not to fall alive into the hands of the enemy. When only two Jews remained - Joseph and another warrior - Joseph persuaded his comrade to surrender. Vespasian, to whom the prisoners were brought, initially intended to execute them, but Joseph predicted imperial power for him and his son Titus. The prisoners were spared, and when the prediction was fulfilled (69), Vespasian personally granted Joseph Roman citizenship; from that time on, Joseph, according to the custom of freedmen, changed his name to the family name of his master and began to be called Josephus Flavius. As a modern Israeli historian notes, “to this act of betrayal the Jewish people owe one-sided but accurate information about this period.”

Already as a Roman citizen, Flavius ​​participated in negotiations with the rebels, and in 70, when Jerusalem fell, he convinced Titus to spare almost 200 Jews who had taken refuge in the Temple and to transfer the sacred books to him for safekeeping. After the pacification of Judea, Joseph moved to Rome, where he lived until his death at the court of three emperors - Vespasian, then Titus and Domitian, who alternately patronized him; According to the testimony of the church historian Eusebius, a statue of him was erected in Rome. In the Eternal City, he began writing books that glorified his name throughout the centuries - “The Jewish War” and “Jewish Antiquities.”

The year of Flavius's death is unknown; It is believed that he died around the year 100. In addition to the works mentioned above, he authored “Autobiography” and the treatise “Against Apion, or On the Antiquity of the Jewish People” - a refutation of the slander against the Jews erected by the Alexandrian rhetorician Apion.

“The Jewish War” was written, as they say, “hot on the heels” - soon after Flavius ​​moved to Rome. Josephus described the uprising in Judea not only as an eyewitness, but also as a direct participant in the events, which could not but leave an imprint on the style and very spirit of this work. Moreover, this Jew and one of the former leaders of the revolt spoke about the Jewish War, praising the Romans and condemning their recent comrades; in the end, the book turned out to be not so much historical - although this cannot be taken away from it - but polemical. Consider, for example, the speeches that Flavius, following the ancient tradition, puts into the mouths of both friends and enemies! These speeches bring to mind Thucydides and Titus Livy, but Josephus is not simply copying his great predecessors. As the English researcher T. Rajak noted, “even a writer of such a strict style as Thucydides... used speeches... for the purpose of analyzing various political positions and general discussions about the affairs of people. For Joseph, speech also becomes a means of conveying his thoughts. And his thoughts, however, are completely different: they contain both feeling and prejudice, and the most amazing thing is that the overwhelming majority of what is expressed in speeches is a concentrated expression of the same feeling generated by the position occupied by the author. Joseph stands out among the ancient historians, whose writings have come down to us, in that he attributes as many as three public speeches to himself... It is also significant that of the eight main speeches in the book, in addition to Joseph’s two, three belong to his political allies - the high priests Yeshua and Hanan and to King Agrippa, and two more to the Roman Titus; all these persons can quite naturally be considered as exponents of one or another part of the author’s views. Two impressive speeches are attributed to the famous rebel leader Eleazar, but even he expresses the views of Joseph! In giving him the floor, Josephus may be following the tradition of ancient authors, of which Tacitus is a prime example, of putting rebellious and even anti-Roman speeches into the mouths of defeated enemies.” In many ways, “The Jewish War” strives for the factual ideal set by Polybius’ “History,” but often the author’s subjective approach and polemical fervor prevail over the facts. The same Tacitus, who is difficult to suspect of sympathizing with the rebels, presents the events of the uprising, although shorter, but much more objectively. Nevertheless, “The Jewish War,” with all the undoubted partiality, if you will, engagement, of its author, remains a valuable historical document, unique in some respects: in particular, only thanks to this work, Roman military reports of that time and reports of defectors have reached us. It is not surprising, therefore, that “The Jewish War” was called “the most complete picture of the intertestamental period” (J. Thackeray), and Father Alexander Men defined it as “the most valuable historical commentary on the New Testament.”

Chapter Three

1. The descendants of Seth remained for seven generations in the unshakable faith that the Lord God is the ruler of all that exists, and were completely devoted to virtue. Then, over time, they deviated from their father’s customs towards evil, since they ceased to have the necessary reverence for God and treat people fairly; the zeal for virtue that they had previously shown, they now replaced with twice as much evil in all their actions. As a result, the Lord became hostile towards them. The fact is that many angels entered into relationships with women, and from this came a generation of arrogant people who relied on their physical strength and therefore despised everything good. The giants known from Greek legends allowed themselves something similar. Noah, upset by their actions and extremely saddened at the sight of their vile aspirations, began, to the best of his ability, to convince them to change their way of thinking and acting. Seeing, however, that they did not give in to admonitions and had already completely fallen into a passion for committing atrocities, and equally fearing that they might decide to kill him, he decided to leave the country with his wife, children and household.

2. The Lord God loved Noah for his justice; He not only punished the rest for their depravity, but also decided to destroy the entire human race and create new people, pure from sin. Therefore, He first shortened the duration of their lives so much that they now began to live, instead of the previous one, only one hundred and twenty years, and then sent a flood to the earth. Thus, the previous generation completely disappeared from the face of the earth, and only Noah was saved due to the fact that the Lord God gave him the following opportunity to be saved: to build a four-story ark, three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. Noah entered it with his wife, the sons and wives of the latter, took with him everything necessary for life and added to it all kinds of animals, one male and one female, so that their race would be preserved, and the rest in seven pairs. The ark had strong walls with strong braces and a roof, so that water could not penetrate anywhere and the ark could not succumb to its pressure. This was the only way that Noah and his household were saved. He is the tenth descendant of Adam, since he was the son of Lamech, whose father was Methuselah, who in turn was descended from Enoch, the son of Jared. Jared was born of Malalelel, who was descended from Enosh with several sisters; Enos was the son of Seth, the son of Adam.

3. This disaster (flood) occurred in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, which is called Dios by the Macedonians, and Marheshvan by the Jews; This is how they distributed the year in Egypt. Moses designated Nisan as the first month of the religious year, which is the same as Xanthic, since in this month he led the Jews out of Egypt. This same month served as his point of departure in all religious decrees; to determine the time of purchase, sale and other life relations, Moses retained the first of the named months (as the beginning of the year). Moses notes that the flood began on the twenty-seventh day of the named month. The time from Adam, the progenitor of the human race, to this moment embraced a period of two thousand two hundred and sixty-two years. This interval is recorded in the sacred books, because the people who lived then noted with great accuracy both the birth and death of outstanding personalities.

4. Adam, who lived only nine hundred and thirty years, had a son, Seth, when Adam was two hundred and thirty years old. Seth was two hundred and five years old when Enosh was born to him, who, having reached the age of nine hundred and five, passed on the care of government to his son Cain, who was born to him when he was 190 years old. He lived nine hundred and twelve years. Cain lived nine hundred and ten years, and in his one hundred and seventieth year received a son, Maleleel. This latter died, having lived eight hundred and ninety-five years, and leaving behind him a son of Jared, who was born to him when he was one hundred and sixty-five years old. After Jared had lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, he was succeeded by his son Enoch, who was born when his father was about one hundred and sixty-two years old. Having lived about three hundred and sixty-five years, he departed to God, which is why there is no message about his death. Enoch's son, Methuselah, who was born when Enoch was one hundred and sixty-five years old, had a son, Lamech, in the one hundred and eighty-seventh year of his life, to whom he transferred the reign that had belonged to him until the nine hundred and sixty-ninth year of his life. Lamech made Noah his heir, who was born to him when he was one hundred and eighty years old and after he himself had reigned for seven hundred and seventy-seven years. Noah reigned for nine hundred and fifty years. If we add up all the above numbers of years, we get the (indicated) time (from the beginning of the creation of the world to the flood). But no attempt should be made to establish the years of death of these patriarchs (since the lives of the latter covered part of the life of their children and further descendants), but attention should be paid exclusively to the dates of their births.

5. After the Lord God warned (the people), He sent rain, and for forty days streams of water flowed continuously, so that it covered the earth fifty cubits high. This was the reason that in general no one else (except Noah and his family) escaped, since there was no means of retreat and escape. Only one hundred and fifty days after the rain stopped pouring, precisely on the seventh day of the seventh month, the water began to flow down little by little. Then, when the ark stopped on the top of a mountain in Armenia, and Noah noticed this, the latter opened it and, seeing several dry lands near the ark, began to hope for the best and calmed down.

A few days later, when the water had receded even more, he released a raven, wanting to find out if there was still land somewhere free of water and already available for planting. However, he returned to Noah, finding that everything was still covered with water. Seven days later, Noah released a dove for the same purpose. When the latter returned to him, soiled (with earth) and carrying an olive leaf, Noah saw that the earth was free of water, and, after waiting another seven days, he released the animals from the ark and went out with his household. Having then made a sacrifice to the Lord God, he and his relatives arranged a sacrificial feast. The Armenians call this place “the landing place,” and to this day the natives show there the remains of the ark.

6. This flood and the ark are also mentioned by all those who wrote the history of the Gentiles. Among them is the Chaldean Berossus. In one place (of his work) he speaks as follows about the flood: they say that a remnant of this ark is still preserved in Armenia on Mount Cordui and that some take resin from it, using it in most cases as a remedy against diseases. This is also mentioned by the Egyptian Jerome, who wrote the ancient history of Phenicia, Mnase and some others. Likewise, Nicholas of Damascus, talking about this in the ninety-sixth book, reports the following: above the region of Miniada there is in Armenia a high mountain named Baris, on which, according to legend, many people sought refuge and found salvation during the flood. It is also reported that someone in an ark stopped at its top and that for a long time the remains of this vessel were preserved (here). Perhaps this is the same man about whom Moses, the Jewish lawgiver, wrote.

7. Fearing that the Lord God might decide to send a flood to the earth every year in order to completely destroy the human race, Noah offered a burnt offering and then began to ask the Lord God to leave the earth in its former form and no longer expose it to such sadness. a fate from which there could be a danger that all living things would perish; on the contrary, may He, having punished sinners, spare those who, as a result of their virtue, remained alive and, by His decision, escaped this terrible fate. The latter, after all, would otherwise have to be much more unhappy than the first and be subjected to a much worse punishment, if they had not been saved irrevocably and had to perish from a new flood: in that case, they would have recognized the feeling of the fear that the picture of the first flood aroused in them, and (in addition) would have perished in the second flood. Therefore, he begged the Lord God to graciously accept his sacrifice and not subject the land to such wrathful reprisals, so that (the surviving people) could, by cultivating the land and building cities, live in peace, enjoy all the blessings (of life), as it was before the flood, and more easily achieve old age and enjoy (like their ancestors) the same long life.

8. After Noah offered these prayers to the Lord God, He, loving Noah for his righteousness, agreed to fulfill his request, adding, however, that He was not the cause of the death of sinners, but that they only paid for their own depravity, and that if He had wished to destroy men, He would not have needed to create them; it would be much wiser not to give them life at all, than, having given it, to take it away again. “But because they mocked the piety and virtue required by Me, they forced Me to subject them to such punishment. However, subsequently I will not punish them for their sins with such severity, especially since you are their intercessor. And if I nevertheless someday bring bad weather (to the earth), then do not be afraid of the force of the downpour: the water will no longer flood the earth. But I require that you refrain from shedding human blood and be pure from murder, and you must punish those who do anything similar. At the same time, however, you can use all other animals at your own discretion and discretion, since I have made you rulers over all the animals that are on the earth, in the water or in the air; (use them entirely), except their blood, since the soul is in it. As a sign that (My anger) has come to an end against you, I will erect my bow - a rainbow.” This phenomenon is considered by them to be the bow of the Lord. After this promise, the Lord parted with him.

9. Noah lived after the flood for another three hundred and fifty years and lived happily all this time; then he died, having reached the age of nine hundred and fifty years. Let no one, however, consider, when comparing the data of ancient writers about the duration of their lives with the brevity of our present one, these reports to be false, explaining this by the fact that none of our contemporaries reaches such an age and that therefore none of the ancients could live such a long time. years. It is very natural for people to have such a number of years of life who enjoyed the special favor of the Lord God, were created by Him Himself and consumed more suitable food for a long time. In addition, the Lord God granted them a longer life for their piety and so that they could fully test and apply their inventions in the field of astronomy and geometry; after all, if these people had not lived (at least) six hundred years, then they would not have been able to make predictions, because that is how many years the so-called “great year” embraces. My words are also confirmed by all Greek and non-Greek historians, and they agree with my opinion: Manetho, who wrote Egyptian history, Berossus, who reports information about Chaldea, Mochos, Hecataeus and, in addition, the Egyptian Jerome, who narrate the deeds of the Phoenicians. Hesiod, Hecataeus, Hellanicus and Akuzilaus, in addition Ephorus and Nicholas, report that the ancient people lived for a thousand years. However, let everyone look at these data as they please.

Chapter Four

1. The three sons of Noah, Shem, Japheth and Ham, born a hundred years before the flood, were the first to descend from the mountains to the plains, settled here and convinced other people, who were very afraid of the lowlands and were reluctant to descend from elevated places due to fear of a (new) flood, to boldly follow their example. The plain on which they first settled is called Shinar. When the Lord God commanded them to select from their midst a part of the people, due to their strong multiplication, and send them to new places, so that they would not quarrel among themselves and so that, while cultivating a large expanse of land, they would have full abundance in fruits, they, out of ignorance, did not obeyed the Lord God and therefore suffered disasters and experienced the results of their sinfulness. When the number of young people among them increased significantly, the Lord God again ordered them to separate and settle. They (and this time) disobeyed the command, because, on the one hand, they believed that they owned all their property not by the goodness of the Lord, and on the other, they were of the opinion that their own strength was the reason for their present well-being. To this disobedience to the will of the Lord God, they also added the assumption of the evil intent of the Divine, which seemed to encourage them to resettle, so that it would be easier to deal with them.

2. Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a brave man and distinguished by enormous physical strength, prompted them to such daring disobedience regarding the Lord God. He convinced them not to attribute their prosperity to the Lord God, but to consider their own valor as the reason for their prosperity. After a little time, Nimrod began to seek supreme power, being convinced that people would only cease to fear God and fall away from Him if they agreed to live under the imperious protection of him, Nimrod. At the same time, he boastfully declared that he would protect them from the Lord God if He again wanted to send a flood to the earth. He advised them to build a tower higher than the water could rise, and thereby avenge the death of their ancestors.

3. The crowd unanimously expressed a desire to follow Nimrod's proposals and began to consider obedience to the Lord God as (shameful) slavery. And so they began to build the tower, sparing no zeal and effort. Due to the many working hands, the tower grew faster than one might have previously expected, and its width was so great that as a result its height was not so striking to the spectators. It was built from baked bricks, filled with asphalt so that water could not penetrate into it. Seeing such their madness, the Lord God, although he decided not to destroy them completely, despite the fact that they could have been more prudent due to the example of the death of previous people from the flood, however, he sowed discord between them, making them multilingual and thereby causing misunderstanding among them. friend. The place where they built the tower is now called Babylon due to the confusion of languages ​​that took place here, instead of which there was previously one accessible to everyone: the Jews call confusion babel. The Sibyl also mentions this tower and the confusion of languages, expressing itself as follows: “When all the people spoke another language, some of them began to build a tower of terrible height in order to ascend to heaven with its help. The gods, however, sent winds, crushed the tower and at the same time gave each (of the builders) a special language. Hence the city began to be called Babylon.” Regarding the so-called Shinar Valley located in Babylonia, Hecataeus mentions the following: “Those of the priests who escaped went to Shinar in Babylonia, taking with them the sacred armor of Zeus Enialius.”

Chapter Five

In the end, people, due to their diversity of languages, began to disperse and settled everywhere on earth, who ended up where or where the Lord led whom, so that the entire landmass, both inland, central places, and the coastal strips, was covered with population. People also appeared who crossed on ships to the islands and occupied them. Some peoples retained their previous, basic names, others changed them, and others finally adopted names that, in their opinion, were more understandable to their (new) neighbors. The culprits of this innovation are the Greeks, since over time they began to seek special glory by adorning different tribes with names peculiar to them, the Greeks themselves, and imposing on them their own state structure, as if those tribes were of the same origin.

Chapter Six

1. The sons of Noah had descendants, after whom those who took possession of any country named its population. Noah's son Japheth had seven sons. The latter settled, starting from the Taurus and Aman mountains to the Tanais River, and across Europe to Gadira, occupying lands encountered along the way that had not been occupied by anyone before, and gave the population their own names. It was Gomar who was the ancestor of those peoples who are now called Galatians by the Greeks, and are generally called Gomarites; Magog laid the foundation for the people who from him received the name Magog, and they (the Greeks) called the Scythians. From the sons of Japheth, Javan and Madai, came the tribes: from Madai, the Madea, who are called Medes by the Hellenes, and from Javan came the name of Ionia and all the Greeks. Fauvel laid the foundation for the Fauvelians, who are called Iberians by our contemporaries. The Moschians, whose ancestor is Meshech, now bear the name Cappadocians, although there is also an indication of their ancient name: to this day they have the city of Mazaka, indicating to savvy people that the whole people were once called this way. Firas called the tribe subject to himself Tyrians, whose name the Greeks changed into Thracians. All these peoples trace their origins to the sons of Japheth. Of the three sons of Gomar, Askenaz laid the foundation for the Askenazians, who are now called Rhegians by the Greeks, Rifat for the Riphataeans, now Paphlagonians, and Togarma for the Phogarmeans, whom the Greeks seem to have called Phrygians. Japheth's son, Javan, had (also) three sons: Elisha, who gave his name to the people over whom he ruled; these are the present-day Aeolians; then Fars, the ancestor of the Farsians. This is how Cilicia was called in ancient times, as evidenced by the following: their most prominent main city is called Tarsus, and they changed the letter tau (τ) to fita (φ) in its name. Kittim finally took possession of the island of Kittimoy (now called Cyprus), which is why all the islands and most of the coastal areas are called Kittim by the Jews. Proof of the correctness of my message is one of the cities on the island of Cyprus; this city has still retained the name Kition, as those who changed its name into the Greek style call it, and thus its name is not very different from the word “Kittim”.

So many nations were ruled by the sons and grandsons of Japheth. But before I return to the further story on which I stopped, I will make a remark that is probably new to the Greeks. In Scripture, all names are redone for the convenience of readers into the Greek style, so that it is more convenient (to pronounce them). For us, this type of name seems unsuitable, and therefore for us both the forms and the endings of words remain unchanged: for example. Noah (Νώεος) is called (with us) Νῶε, and this form runs throughout our entire work.

2. The sons of Ham occupied the region from Syria, Aman and the Lebanese mountains right down to the sea, taking possession of the country as far as the ocean. However, the names of some localities were completely lost, others were changed and distorted in other cases beyond recognition; only a few have retained their names unchanged. Of the four sons of Ham, the name of Cush has not undergone the disastrous influence of time, because the Ethiopians over whom he ruled still not only call themselves Cushites, but also receive this name from all the inhabitants of Asia. In the same way, the name of the Mestreans was also preserved in everyone’s memory, because all of us, the inhabitants of our country, call Egypt Mestrei, and the Egyptians Mestreans. Fut populated Libya and called the inhabitants of the country Futians. Likewise, in the country of the Moors there is a river of this name, which, as is known, is mentioned, as well as the adjacent country called Futa, by very many Greek historians. The country received its current name (Libya) from one of the sons of Mizraim, Livy. Below we will give the reason why it is also called Africa. Canaan, the fourth son of Ham, settled in the region now called Judea, and called it Canaanite after his own name. From all of them (i.e., the sons of Ham) sons came. Cush had six of them, of which Saba founded the Sabaeans, Evil the Evilians, now called the Getulians, and Sabatha the Sabatheans. The latter are called astabars by the Greeks. Sabakafa laid the foundation for the Sabakathenaeans. Regmus was the ancestor of the Regmeans and had two sons, of whom Judada founded the Judadeans, a western Ethiopian tribe, and gave it his name, and Saba - the Sabaeans. Nimrod, the son of Cush, remained with the Babylonians and took possession of the throne there, as I have already shown above. Mizraim had eight sons, who all occupied the land from Gaza to Egypt, but this country retained only the name Philistean, from the name of (the son of Canaan) Philistean. The region of the latter is called Palestine by the Greeks. About the rest (the sons of Mizraim), Ludim, Anamim and Legavim, who settled in Libya and named the country after his own name, about Naftuhim, Patrusim, Kasluhim and Kaftorim, we know nothing except names, since the Ethiopian war, which we will talk about below , brought final destruction to their cities. Canaan also had sons: Sidon, who founded a city of the same name in Phenicia, still called Sidon by the Greeks; Himatheus lived in Hamatha, which is still called that by the natives, while the Macedonians called it Epiphania after one of their epigones; Arvadey occupied the island of Arad, while Arkay took Arka in Lebanon. About the seven remaining sons, nothing has been preserved in the sacred books except the names: Hittite, Jebusite, Amorite, Gergesite, Hibeite, Sinei and Zemarite. The fact is that the Jews completely destroyed their cities for the following reason.

3. When, after the end of the flood, the earth again took on its former appearance, Noah began to cultivate it and plant vineyards on it. After the fruits had ripened in due time, he began to collect them and found wine suitable for consumption. Having made a sacrifice to the Lord God, he drank wine. Intoxicated by it, Noah fell asleep and lay naked and in complete disarray. Seeing him (in this position), the youngest son of Noah mockingly pointed this out to his brothers, who, however, covered up their father. When Noah found out about this, he blessed his (two) other sons, and although he did not curse Ham due to such a close relationship with him, he cursed his descendants. Thus, while everyone else escaped the curse, the sons of Canaan suffered the wrath of God. We will talk about this below.

4. Shem, the third son of Noah, had five sons, whose descendants populated Asia, ranging from the Euphrates to the Indian Ocean. Elam left behind the Elamites, the ancestors of the Persians. Assur built the city of Nin and gave the name to his subjects, the Assyrians, who achieved extraordinary power. Arphaxad called the present-day Chaldeans Arphaxadeans, since he ruled over them. The Arameans were owned by Aram, the Greeks call them Syrians. The ancestor of the current Lydians, who were then called Ludians, was Lud. Aram had four sons: Utz founded Trachonita and Damascus (located in the middle between Palestine and Kelesyria), Hul founded Armenia, Gepher is the ancestor of the Bactrians, Mash - the Misaneans, whose country is called Spasincharaks among our contemporaries, from Arphaxad came the son of Sal, and from the last Eber, according to which the Jews in ancient times were called Jews. Joktan, the son of Eber, had sons: Almodad, Shaleph, Hatzarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Dikla, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havil, Jobab. All of them inhabit the area from the Indian river Kefina to the adjacent country of Sefar. This will be enough about the sons of Shem. Now I will talk about the Jews.

5. Peleg the son of Eber had a son Raghav, and the latter had Seruch, who had a son Nahor, and by him Terah. The latter was the father of Abraham, who is the tenth descendant of Noah, and was born nine hundred and ninety-two years after the flood. Terah begat Abraham in the seventieth year of his life, and Nahor was one hundred years old when he begat Terah. Nahor was born to Serukh when the latter was one hundred and thirty-two years old, and Raghav became the father of Serukh in his one hundred and thirtieth year. At the same age, Peleg also had Ragava. Eber gave birth to Peleg in the one hundred and thirty-fourth year of his life. He himself was born to Sala when he was one hundred and thirty-five years old. The latter was born to Arphaxad when he was one hundred and thirty-five years old. Arphaxad was the son of Shem, born to the latter twelve years after the flood. Abraham had brothers Nahor and Haran. Of these, Haran died in Chaldea, precisely in the city of Ur, called Chaldean, leaving behind his son Lot and daughters Sarah and Milcah. His grave is still visible today. Nahor and Abraham married their nieces, the first to Milkah, the second to Sarah. Since Terah hated Chaldea due to grief over Arana, everyone (family members) moved to the Mesopotamian region of Harran. The sons also buried Terah there, who died after reaching the age of two hundred and five. The fact is that now people’s lives began to gradually decrease and shorten, and this continued until the birth of Moses. After this, according to the decree of the Lord God, the life span is one hundred and twenty years. Moses also reached this age. Nahor had eight sons from Milcah: Uz, Buz, Kemuel, Hazo, Keseda, Pildasha, Idlath and Bethuel. These were the legitimate children of Nahor. Tevah, Haham, Tachash and Maach were born to him from his concubine, Reuma. Bethuel, the legitimate son of Nahor, had a daughter, Rebekah, and a son, Laban.

. ..giants known according to Greek legends. – Giants are in Greek mythology the sons of the earth goddess Gaia, who were born from the blood of the castrated sky-Uranus, absorbed into the earth. The story of the birth of the giants and their death is told in detail by Apollodorus. The giants inspired horror with their appearance - thick hair and beards; their lower part was snake-like. They challenged the Olympian gods, and as fate would have it, their death depended on the participation of heroes (mortals) in the battle who would come to the aid of the gods. Gaia was looking for a magical herb that could save the lives of giants, but Zeus got ahead of Gaia and, sending darkness to the earth, cut off this grass himself. On the advice of Athena, he called on the hero Hercules to participate in the battle with the giants - Gigantomachia. In the battle, the gods destroyed 13 giants (in general, the latter numbered up to 150); Hercules finished off the wounded giants by shooting from a bow. – Note. ed.

. .. they began to live now, instead of the previous one, only one hundred and twenty years, and then a flood was sent to the earth. - This is not true. Josephus should have said that there were only one hundred and twenty years left before the flood.

. ... why there is no message about his death. – The book of Genesis (5:24) says: “And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him to himself.” The fact that Enoch was taken to heaven, having lived as a righteous man for only half the time that fell to the lot of the other antediluvian patriarchs, gave rise to a whole kind of legend about him. Already the meaning of his name - “initiated, knowledgeable” (Arabic idris - “scientist”) and the strange number 365, which determines the time of his life and which involuntarily resembles the number of days of the solar year, served as the reason for such legends and a whole apocryphal literature that has found itself a typical representative in the so-called “Book of Enoch”, dating back to the 1st century BC. e. and found in the Ethiopian (Ge'ez) language in 1773. In ancient times, it was a common belief that outstanding people did not die a natural death, but immediately ascended to heaven. However, there is a point of view that Enoch was not at all an unconditionally pious person, but even committed illegal offenses. His sudden disappearance from the face of the earth is explained as a warning sent in the person of Enoch to all antediluvian humanity mired in sinful life.

. ...and to this day the natives still show there the remains that have been preserved from the ark. – The legend about the flood that flooded the entire earth and destroyed all living things is known in many mythological traditions. In addition to the biblical myth of the Flood, there are similar myths among the Greeks, Egyptians, Indians, Chinese, Mayans and Quiche Indians and other peoples. The biblical story of the flood dates back to Sumerian myth. Table XI of the Sumerian-Akkadian epic about the hero Gilgamesh tells about the anger of the gods on people for their sins, about how one of the gods advises Utnapishtim (Sumerian Noah) to build a ship to save him from the flood, about how Utnapishtim took personal possessions on this ship property and various living creatures: I loaded it with everything that I had, I loaded it with everything that I had silver, I loaded it with everything that I had gold, I loaded it with everything that I had living creatures, I lifted my whole family and clan onto the ship, Steppe cattle and animals, I raised all the masters. (Translation by I.M. Dyakonov) - Note. ed.

This flood and the ark are also mentioned by all those who wrote the history of the Gentiles. – According to the biblical narrative, Noah’s ark stopped in the “Mountains of Ararat”. But in the same Old Testament, the cradle of post-Flood humanity is located to the east of Mesopotamia, and Ararat, as is known, lies to the northwest of it. The book of Genesis says that the descendants of Noah moved (obviously from the place where the ark stopped) from east to west and found a plain in the land of Shinar (i.e. Babylonia of the second half of the 2nd millennium BC), where they settled. The fact that Ararat is placed here instead of Armenia is indicated not only by Josephus, but also by the Bible (Genesis 8:4; Jer 51:27), cuneiform sources and Moses of Khoren.

. .. Chaldean Berossus. – Berossus (Berossus, c. 350–280 BC) – Babylonian historian. Compiled a history of Babylonia in Greek for the Seleucid king Antiochus I Soter based on local legendary and historical traditions. The works of Berossus have not reached our time, having been partially preserved (mostly distorted) only in the works of ancient and Byzantine historians as quotations. – Note. ed.

. ..on Mount Corduy... - According to Syrian legend, the ark stopped on the Jebel Chudi ridge (in Syriac - Kardu), not far from Lake Van.

. .. Egyptian Jerome... Mnase... - Jerome of Cardia - historian, contemporary of Alexander the Great, composed a “History” containing a description of the Hellenistic period from the death of Alexander, in whose campaign Jerome took part, until the death of Pyrrhus in 272 BC. e. Mnasaeus (2nd century BC) - historian from the city of Patras. – Note. ed.

. .... and Nicholas of Damascus... - Nicholas of Damascus (64 BC - early 1st century AD) - historian, peripatetic philosopher. He was an ally and close friend of King Herod I of Judea, and later a friend of Augustus. He composed a “General History” in 144 volumes, from which only excerpts have survived. – Note. ed.

. .... above the region of Miniada there is in Armenia a high mountain named Baris... - The Minyans are mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah (51:27); this people is probably identical with the Mannaeans, or Munneys, of the Assyrian cuneiform texts. Moses of Khoren mentions the Manavisites - perhaps these are the same Minyans. No information has been preserved about Mount Baris, except for the details given here.

. ...the so-called “great year”. – In modern astronomy, the “great” or “Platonic” year is usually called the period of time of twenty-six thousand years necessary for the Earth to return to the same point in the universe at which it was at the moment of the vernal equinox. If Josephus speaks here of six hundred years, then he had at hand some calculations of Berossus or Manetho, which have not reached us.

Manetho, who wrote Egyptian history, Berossus, who reported information about Chaldea, Mochos, Hecataeus, and, in addition, the Egyptian Jerome, who narrated the deeds of the Phoenicians. Hesiod, Hecataeus, Hellanicus and Akuzilaus, in addition Ephorus... - Manetho (IV-III centuries BC) - Egyptian historian, high priest in Heliopolis. He wrote the History of Egypt in Greek, of which only fragments have survived. Mochos (Ochos) - ancient Phoenician historian from Sidon. Hecataeus of Abdera (IV–III centuries BC) is a Greek historian, a contemporary of Alexander the Great and Ptolemy I. He wrote several works, including the “History of Egypt,” which is preserved in fragments. Hesiod (VIII–VII centuries BC) – Greek poet, author of the poems “Works and Days” and “Theogony”; the latter expounds ancient Greek cosmogonic myths. Hellanicus (480–400 BC) - Greek historian and writer from Fr. Lesvos. Akuzilaus (2nd half of the 6th century BC) - writer and historian from Argos. Ephorus (c. 405–330 BC) - Greek rhetorician and historian, author of the lost Greek History. – Note. ed.

Nimrod prompted them... - Nimrod (Nimrod, Nimrod) is a hero and hunter in Old Testament mythology. In the legends, “the first hero on earth”, “a mighty hunter before Yahweh”, Babylon and other large cities of Mesopotamia were under his rule. Built Assur and Nineveh.

. .. Jews call confusion babel. – This explains the name of Babylon in the Bible (Genesis 11:9). In Babylonian cuneiform sources, the name of the main city of the country literally means “gate of god.” It was first mentioned in written sources in the 24th century BC. e. It became the largest city in all of Western Asia under King Hammurabi (1792–1750 BC). Under Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562 BC) it reached its greatest prosperity. It fell into decline after the construction of Seleucia, the capital of the Hellenistic Seleucid state. By the 2nd century BC. e. finally left the historical arena. – Note. ed.

. .. also mentioned by the Sibyl... - Sibyls - in Greek mythology and historiography, prophetesses who predicted the future in sacred ecstasy. The Sibyls gave their predictions in poetic form - in hexameter. The tradition numbered from two to ten sibyls, each of which was named after its place of residence. The most famous to this day are the Delphic and Cumaean sibyls. These prophetesses predicted the death of Troy and the eruption of Vesuvius, which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum; one of the Sibyls patronized the hero Aeneas and predicted a great future for the Rome he founded. The Cumaean Sibyl, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, offered the Roman king Tarquinius Priscus to buy the so-called Sibylline books from her (there were nine of them in total). The king refused, and then she burned the first three books, and a little later - three more. Finally, the king heeded the advice of the sages and bought the last three books of prophecies. – Note. ed. This probably refers to the Jewish Sibyl Sabba, or Sambetta, identified with the Chaldean or Egyptian Sibyls. Even now there are twelve books of Sibylline predictions in Greek, with very diverse contents and, of course, different times. The oldest is the third book, which speaks of the conversion of the pagans in the eternal kingdom. Containing a mixture of pagan, Jewish and even Christian views, these prophecies consist for the most part of the narrative of historical events in the form of prediction, messages about different kingdoms, cities and peoples. In the latter respect, they are often of great interest.

. "...the sacred armor of Zeus Enialius." – Enialy, that is, the god of military combat, the Greeks usually called not Zeus, but Ares, the god of war. However, in the ancient tradition, Enialius was known as an independent deity.

. .. as if those tribes were of the same origin. – The most ancient inhabitants of Greece were the Leleges, Carians, Caucons, Giants, Abantes, Aons and Pelasgians. All these tribes were conquered by the Greeks, who settled the territory of the Southern Balkans at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. The Greeks themselves were originally divided into Achaeans and Ionians; by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. Dorians and Aeolians were added to them. – Note. ed.

Chapter six. – The sixth chapter represents the first treatment in antiquity of the famous genealogical table of peoples contained in the Bible.

. .. starting from the Taurus and Aman mountains to the Tanais River... - Aman is the southern peak of one of the Lebanese mountains, named after the Aman River, which flows through the picturesque Anti-Lebanon valley and then heads to Damascus. It seems more likely, however, to recognize in Aman that southwestern branch of the Taurus, which is now called Almadag, and in classical literature is known under the name Amanus. Our assumption is also confirmed by the fact that Taurus and Haman are named by Josephus together. Tanais is the ancient Greek name of the Don, which was considered the border between Asia and Europe.

. .. to Gadira... - Gadira, now Cadiz, is an ancient Phoenician colony, which allegedly received its name from the Semitic geder - “fence” (i.e., the end of the earth). On an island near the city, in the time of Strabo, the majestic temple of Hercules stood, the columns of which were covered with Phoenician inscriptions. There was also an ancient oracle here.

It was Gomar who was the ancestor of those peoples who are now called Galatians by the Greeks, and are generally called Gomarians... - Gomar is the ancestor of the Cimmerians, a people who lived, according to Homer (Odyssey, XI, 14), in a lightless foggy darkness north of the Euxine Pontus, west of the Don. The Galatians were Celtic tribes that invaded Asia Minor in 278–277 BC. e., settled in the area of ​​Galatia.

. .. are called Scythians. – Scythians (VII–III centuries BC) – the people of the Northern Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family, related to the Sarmatians, Massagetae, Saks; drove the Cimmerians out of the Northern Black Sea region.

. .. Madea... - The same as the Medes. Media is the name of a tribal union, and then a power, founded by Indo-Iranian tribes south of the Caspian Sea in the 9th–8th centuries BC. e. The Medes succeeded at the end of the 7th - mid-6th centuries BC. e. create a vast power from Cappodocia in the west to the borders with India in the east. This territory was then conquered by the Persians.

. .. are called Iberians. – Iberians – in ancient sources, East Georgian tribes. In 65 BC. e. The Romans invaded Iberia, but failed to establish themselves in the Caucasus; they only established allied relations with the Iberians.

. ..are now called Cappadocians... – Cappodocia is the Greek name for the central part of Asia Minor, where frequent ethnic changes took place. The oldest population known from written sources called themselves the Hutts. From the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. Indo-European tribes penetrated here, who, mixing with the Hattians, became known as the Hittites. Their kingdom lasted until the 12th century BC. e. and was destroyed by the mysterious “people of the sea” - possibly the Phoenicians. Then Cappadocia was conquered alternately by the Medes (VI century BC) and the Achaemenid power (V century BC). In the 4th century BC. e. became independent for a short time, then became part of the Seleucid power, and in the 1st century BC. e. was conquered by the Romans.

. .... the city of Mazaka... – Mazaka is the capital of Cappadocia; after the death of the last king of Cappadocia, Archelaus was renamed Caesarea Cappadocia (in honor of Emperor Augustus). Nowadays it is the city of Kayseri. – Note. ed.

. .. converted into Thracians. – Thracians is the common name for a group of Indo-European tribes that in ancient times inhabited the north-east of the Balkan Peninsula and the north-west of Asia Minor.

. .. called Phrygians. – The Phrygian kingdom reached its peak in the 8th century BC. e., during the reign of kings Gordius and Midas.

This is what Cilicia was called in ancient times, as evidenced by the following: their most prominent main city is called Tarsus... - This explanation of Josephus is completely wrong. The main city of Cilicia, Tarsus, lying on the mainland, quite far from the sea, is confused by Josephus (IX, 10, 2) with the city of Tartessus in the Spanish region of Tartessida, rich in silver and tin. Herodotus (I, 168) says that Tartessus was founded long before the arrival of the Phoenicians there by immigrants from the Greek region of Phocis.

So many nations were ruled by the sons and grandsons of Japheth. – In view of the fact that the basis of the genealogical messages in the book of Genesis (10, 11) is based almost exclusively on a geographical point of view, it will be very opportune to recall here that the so-called Japhetides were assigned the entire north of the known ancient map of the Earth, with Gomar, Magog and Madai occupying more the northern, and Javan, Tovel and Meshech the southern strip; The transfer goes from west to east.

. ..they call themselves the Khushites... - The Khushites are a people of Ethiopian origin who, often meeting with the Egyptians, lived along the upper Nile in present-day Nubia towards Abyssinia. Josephus's indication that the Cushites are found in Asia, or at least known there, acquires special value because the frequent transitions of the Cushites from Africa to Asia, namely to southern Arabia and back, are now an indisputable fact.

. ... and called her by his name Canaanite. – Canaan is the ancient name of the territory of Palestine, Syria and Phenicia. Its borders in various historical periods extended from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the valley of the Orontes and Jordan rivers in the east, from the Taurus Mountains in the north to Gaza in the south.

. .. of which Saba gave birth to the Sabaeans, Evil to the Evilians, now called Getulians, and Sabatha to the Sabatheans. – In the biblical text (Genesis 10:7) Saba bears the name of Seva, Evil - Havilah, Sabafa - Savta. In this book, Josephus identifies the city of Saba with Meroe, the capital of the ancient priestly state along the Nile and its tributary (the Blue Nile). The Sabafians inhabited the southern coast of Arabia.

Judada founded and gave his name to the Judahites, a western Ethiopian tribe, and Saba to the Sabaeans. – In the biblical text (Genesis 10:7) Judad bears the name of Dedan, and Saba bears the name of Sheba. – Note. ed.

The region of the latter is called Palestine by the Greeks. – The Philistines, most likely, are a people of Indo-European origin, representatives of the “people of the sea.” Two of their tribes settled on the fertile coast of the Mediterranean Sea, on a strip 60 km long and 20 km wide. In the 12th century BC. e. they created a union of five self-governing cities. They brought with them Late Mycenaean material culture, iron technology and iron weapons. The word “Palestine” itself comes from their name.

They named it after one of their epigones Epiphania... - Epigones (Greek “descendants”) are Argive leaders who, 10 years after the campaign of the “Seven against Thebes,” set out on a new campaign to avenge their fathers. Starting from the Hellenistic era, the descendants of the generals of Alexander the Great (Diadochi) began to be called this way. Epiphany received its name, most likely, from the name of Antiochus IV (175–163 BC) - the king of the Seleucid state.

The island of Arad... - Arad (Assyrian: Arvada, Aruada) is a city on a small rocky island near the Syrian coast. According to the Bible (Eze 27:8, 11), the inhabitants of Arad were famous as excellent sailors and warriors.

. .… Arch in Lebanon. – The ruins of this city have survived to this day and are called “Irka” by the Arabs. During the Roman Empire it was called Caesarea of ​​Lebanon.

. ...except for the names: Hittite, Jebusite, Amorite... - “The people of Hittite” (i.e., the Hittites) are often mentioned in the Bible. After the collapse of the Hittite kingdom in the 12th century BC. e. Smaller Late Hittite states continued to exist, whose rulers left hieroglyphic inscriptions. In many cases, the later Hittites bear Semitic names. Jebus is the ancient name for Jerusalem. The Jebusites lived between the Hittites and the Amorites. Amorite - in Akkadian Amurru, i.e. Syria. Here lived Western pastoral tribes who had different self-names and, in all likelihood, spoke several different dialects. Among them, a group of Sutu tribes stood out, which in a common sense means nomads in general. This term corresponds in the Bible to the name of their tribal ancestor, the patriarch Seth, son of Adam.

Elam left behind the Elamites, the ancestors of the Persians. – Elam (Elam) is a mountainous country located east of Shinar (the modern Iranian region of Khuzistan). By the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e. Several city-states arose here, and later a single state emerged with its center in Susa. In the 6th century BC. e. Elam was captured by the Persians. Its culture had a noticeable influence on the ancient Iranians. – Note. ed.

. ... and gave the name to his subjects, the Assyrians, who achieved extraordinary power. – The political history of Assyria begins with the emergence of the city-state of Ashur. The historical territory included the southern slopes of the Armenian Highlands and the upper and middle reaches of the Tigris River. The Assyrians also had trading colonies in Asia Minor, where numerous documents have been found. The Assyrian power reached its greatest power in the 9th century BC. e., when Babylonia, Media, and the kingdom of Israel were conquered. Assyria ceased to exist as a state at the end of the 7th century BC. e. after the defeat from the Medes and the New Babylonian kingdom.

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Jewish antiquities

book eighteen

Chapter first

1. Senator Quirinius, who previously held all government positions and paved his way to the consulate, a man who enjoyed enormous influence in all matters, came to Syria, where the emperor sent him in order to conduct justice and evaluate all the property of the population. Coponius, who came from the equestrian class, was sent along with him.

He was given supreme power [procurator] over all of Judea. Then Quirinius arrived in Judea, which in the meantime became part of Syria, wanting to carry out a general census and confiscate the property of Archelaus.

The people listened to these speeches with enthusiasm, and thus the enterprise became even more risky. There was no greater disaster for our common people than what the above-mentioned people were preparing for them. Thanks to constant wars, the Jews were no longer able to offer resistance to anyone; Moreover, there were no friends who could support them in difficult times; but there were constant robber raids and killings of the most eminent citizens under the pretext of pursuing the common good, but in fact so that the executioners could use the property of the murdered.

Hence, all sorts of indignations arose, a number of political murders took place, partly as a result of bloody internecine struggle, since people, becoming brutal, rushed at each other and, in their enthusiasm, did not want to leave any of their opponents alive, and partly as a result of beating their enemies. Finally, famine arrived, driving people to extreme shamelessness; the cities were taken by force and destroyed, until finally this unrest led to the fact that the temple of the Eternal itself became a victim of the flames thrown by the enemies. Such grief and such complications bring with them a violation and rejection of native institutions for all participants in this matter.

Meanwhile, Judas and Sadduc introduced a fourth school of philosophy among us.

Having a large number of ardent adherents, they not only filled the state with turmoil at the present moment, but also with unusual philosophical teachings laid the foundation for all sorts of disasters in the future.

3. Pharisees lead a strict lifestyle and refuse all pleasures. They follow everything that reason recognizes as good, considering reason to be the best guardian in all desires. They stand out for their respectful attitude towards the elderly and do not dare to contradict their plans. In their opinion, everything that happens happens under the influence of fate. However, they do not at all take away a person’s freedom of will, but they recognize that according to God’s design, His desire is mixed with the desire of a person, whether to follow the path of virtue or malice.

The Pharisees believe in the immortality of the soul and that beyond the grave people will face judgment and reward for virtue or retribution for crime during life; sinners are subject to eternal imprisonment, and virtuous people have the opportunity to rise again. Thanks to this, they have extraordinary influence over the people, and all sacred rites associated with prayers or sacrifices take place only with their permission. Thus, individual communities testified to their virtue, since everyone was convinced that the Pharisees, in deed and in word, strive only for the highest.

6. The founder of the fourth philosophical school was the Galilean Judas. The adherents of this sect in all other respects are completely aligned with the teachings of the Pharisees. But they have an unrestrained love for freedom. They consider the Lord God to be their only leader and ruler. They consider going to death as nothing, just as they despise the death of friends and relatives, just so as not to recognize the supremacy of man over themselves. Since anyone can personally verify this with their own eyes, I do not consider it necessary to dwell on them in particular. I have nothing to fear that my words about them will not be given faith; on the contrary, my words are far from exhausting all their generosity and their readiness to undergo suffering. The people began to suffer from a mad infatuation with them under Hessius Florus, who was governor and brought the Jews, by abuse of their power, to revolt against the Romans.

Such were the philosophical schools of the Jews.

Publius Sulpicius Quirinius belonged to an old Roman patrician family, whose representatives repeatedly occupied the highest government positions. It is difficult to determine from Josephus’s laconic statement that Quirinius “occupied all government positions” what these positions were. And although there was a certain order of promotion up the ladder of magistracy (quaestor, tribune, aedile, praetor, consul), under Octavian Augustus many positions appeared for which they were not elected, but appointed by the emperor. By the time of his arrival in Syria as governor in 6 AD. e. Quirinius was already at least 61 years old: the age limit for consuls was set at 43 years, and Quirinius was elected to this position in 12 BC. e.

Procurators were usually representatives of the equestrian class.

The census conducted by Quirinius in Judea is narrated in the Gospel of Luke (2:2) and in the Acts of the Holy Apostles (5:37). However, there is an opinion that we are talking about two censuses, and this to a certain extent affected the establishment of the time of the governorship of Quirinius in Syria (it is argued that he was the governor of this province twice - in 3-2 BC and in 6-?

The speech of Judas the Galilean against the census is also described in Christian literature (Acts 5:37).

The term “Pharisees” comes from the Hebrew “perushim” - “separated, isolated.” The name Sadducees most likely comes from Zadok, the ancient high priest of Jerusalem. The term "Essenes" probably comes from the Aramaic "assaja" - "doctors, healers."

However, in “Jewish Antiquities” (XIII, 5, 9) the author dwells on these sects. (Transl.)

In the “War of the Jews” (II, 8, 14) Joseph says that the Pharisees believe in the immortality of the soul. In their opinion, the souls of evil people are doomed to eternal torment, while the souls of good people, after their bodily death, move to other bodies.

Josephus sets out the teachings of the Essenes in most detail in the Second Book of the Jewish War, the eighth chapter of which is almost entirely devoted to a description of this sect.

Obviously, Josephus chose as an example for comparison with the way of life of the Essenes one of the Dacian tribes, which still lived in conditions of primitive relations, since while he was writing “Jewish Antiquities,” a powerful anti-Roman uprising broke out in Dacia under the leadership of Decebalus. Emperor Domitian then had to make peace with the Dacians, which was unfavorable for Rome. Only at the beginning of the 2nd century. Denmark was conquered by Emperor Trajan.

Gessius Florus was the procurator of Judea in 64-66. Josephus, here and in The Jewish War, seeks to reduce the causes of the Jewish War to the abuses of the Roman governors.

Publishers' Foreword

This book has not been republished in Russian for almost a hundred years. It was written about two thousand years ago and was popular among readers of all previous historical eras. It was read in different countries, in different languages, by people belonging to different cultures and religions. The book was rewritten and translated many times, and with the invention of printing it was often published. Written by a Jewish author, it became popular among Christians. And the fact that “Jewish Antiquities” has reached us is primarily a merit of the Christian tradition.

It is in this book that the chronologically first non-Christian mention of Jesus Christ is found. It was in it, as in the “War of the Jews,” that Christians found detailed characteristics of many characters who are described very fragmentarily in the New Testament. These are Herod I (the Great), Herod-Antipas, Herod-Philip, Herodias, the Roman procurators of Judea Pontius Pilate, Felix, Porcius Festus, the governor of Syria Quirinius and others. In the Middle Ages, the works of Josephus were perhaps the only source from which additional information could be obtained about the deeds of these people. But it was with them that the fates of the main characters of the Christian New Testament intersected. “Jewish Antiquities,” as well as “The Jewish War,” provided Christian thought with rich and unique material about the situation in Palestine, and in other regions of the Roman Empire, where Jesus and the apostles lived and acted. Judea is the birthplace of Christianity, and this undoubtedly aroused increased interest among Christians in its history, especially in New Testament times.

But, of course, the author’s goal was not to describe early Christian realities. Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the Jewish people from ancient times until the outbreak of the Jewish War in 66 AD. e., and it is illuminated against the broad background of world history - to the extent, of course, to which it was known to the author.

Antiquities of the Jews is the second and largest work of Josephus. The fate of this man is unusual. His real name is Joseph ben Mattathiah (Yosef ben Mattityahu). He is a Jew, born in Jerusalem in the first year of the reign of the Roman Emperor Gaius Caligula (that is, between March 37 and March 38 AD). He came from a noble Jewish family. In childhood and adolescence he received a traditional education, mainly religious. In his youth, he became interested in studying various directions in Judaism. He lived in the desert with the Essenes for three years, but then returned to Jerusalem - perhaps because he could not stand the three-year probation period established by the Essenes for their adherents. Although he retained his sympathies for the Essenes, Joseph nevertheless became a supporter of the Pharisees and remained so until the end of his life. At the age of twenty-three he went to Rome, where he stayed for several years. The grandeur and splendor of the great city amazed him.

When Joseph returned to his homeland, a war of liberation against Roman oppression was already underway. In this war of 66-73 AD. e., which, thanks to Josephus Flavius, began to be called Judaic, the Jewish national liberation movement intertwined against the Romans, who turned from 6 AD. e. Judea to his province, with social and religious struggle within the Jewish society itself. Joseph ben Mattathias was appointed commander of the rebel forces in Galilee, through which the Romans directed their main attack. Joseph acted slowly, hesitantly, and when the Romans defeated the rebels in Galilee, he surrendered. There he predicted to the Roman commander Vespasian that he would soon become emperor. And so it happened - in the strife that followed the death of Nero, the one under whose command the largest military forces was victorious. Vespasian freed Joseph from captivity, and as a token of gratitude, according to the custom of Roman freedmen, he took Vespasian's family name - Flavius. So Joseph ben Mattathias became Josephus. He took the path of treason - first he served under Vespasian, and then as an adjutant under his son Titus, who finally suppressed the uprising in Judea.

After the bloody conclusion of the Jewish War, Joseph lived in Rome until the end of his days, in the imperial palace on the Esquiline, and was essentially the most influential person among Roman Jews, enjoying the patronage of the emperors Vespasian, Titus and even Domitian. In Rome, he took up literary work and began writing historical works. The first of these was The Jewish War, read and approved by Vespasian and Titus.

Josephus worked on his second work, Antiquities of the Jews, for many years and completed it in the mid-90s, shortly before his death (he probably died in the year 100 or two or three years later). Joseph's main goal was not a simple description of historical events. He wanted to acquaint wide circles of readers from different countries subordinate to powerful Rome with the rich and ancient history of his people. To a certain extent, his work is a Jewish apology. Joseph sought to show that Jews, like many other peoples, have ancient and deep religious, state and cultural traditions. His concept of history is providentialist: in accordance with his religious beliefs, he considered only Jews to be God's chosen people and viewed their history as the fulfillment of divine decrees, deviations from which led to serious troubles and misfortunes.

In accordance with Joseph's main purpose, his work was written in Greek. It consists of twenty books. Josephus begins his narrative from the moment of the creation of the world. The text of the first ten books parallels the biblical text. Joseph does not recount the contents of the Bible in detail and does not strictly follow it. His narrative is more concise and, if I may say so, more historicized - he scrupulously traces the line of human history in the Bible. In the eleventh book he reaches the time of Alexander the Great. From the twelfth book, the content of “Jewish Antiquities” echoes the content of “The Jewish War,” but the events are revealed in more detail, more widely, sometimes in a different version. As in his first book, Josephus sets out the history of the Jews against the backdrop of world history.

When working on “Jewish Antiquities,” the author used a large number of sources, many of which have not reached us. He cites many texts of state decrees and quotes treaties between states. Joseph also relies on the works of his predecessors - the historians Strabo, Polybius, Titus Livius, Asinius Pollio, Nicholas of Damascus and others. For the very first books of Jewish Antiquities, the main source, of course, was the Bible.

Chapter 22. How Isaac died and was buried in Hebron. Book 2 Chapter 1. How the sons of Isaac, Esau and Jacob, divided the country among themselves, with Esau taking Idumea, and Jacob taking Canaanite. Chapter 2. How the youngest of Jacob's sons, Joseph, brought upon himself with his dreams, in which his future prosperity was foretold, the hatred of his brothers. Chapter 3. How Joseph was sold, as a result of the envious attitude of his brothers towards him, last to Egypt, how he became exalted and glorified there and how his brothers came into power with him. Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7. How his father, during a famine, moved with all his family to Egypt. Chapter 8 Chapter 9. What sufferings befell the Jews in Egypt for four hundred years. Chapter 10. How they, under the leadership of Moses, left Egypt. Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15. How, during the persecution of the Jews by the Egyptians, the sea parted and gave the Jews the opportunity to escape. The entire book covers a period of 220 years. Chapter 16 Book 3 Chapter 1. How Moses led his people from Egypt to Mount Sinai and how great disasters this people suffered on the way. Chapter 2. How the Amalekites, in alliance with neighboring tribes, attacked the Jews and how they were repulsed with great damage. Chapter 3. How Moses was found in the desert by his father-in-law Jethr. Chapter 4. How Jethr advised Moses to distribute the hitherto undivided people into thousands and hundreds under the command of individual leaders, and how Moses obeyed this advice. Chapter 5. How Moses climbed Mount Sinai, received the Law from the Lord God and taught it to the Jews. Chapter 6. About the Tabernacle, like a temple, built by Moses in the desert in honor of the Lord God. Chapter 7. About what vestments were assigned to the priests and the high priest, what was determined regarding sacrifices and holidays and how the latter were celebrated. Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14. How Moses departed from Sinai, how he brought the people to the border of the Canaanite country and how he sent scouts to inspect this country and its cities. Chapter 15. How, in view of all this, Moses declared to the Jews that the Lord God, in anger, would continue their stay in the desert for up to forty years and that now they would not return to Egypt, but they would not take possession of Canaan. Book 4 Chapter 1. The attack of the Jews, against the will of Moses, on the Canaanites and the defeat that befell the Jews as a result. Chapter 2. The indignation of Korah and his minions against Moses and his brother because of the priesthood. Chapter 3 Chapter 4. About what happened to the Jews in the desert during their thirty-eight year stay there. Chapter 5. How Moses defeated the Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, completely destroyed their troops and gave their possessions to two and a half tribes of the Jews. Chapter 6. About the activities of Moses and his death. Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Book 5 Chapter 1. How Jesus, the commander of the Jews, went to war against the Canaanites, defeated and destroyed them, and distributed their possessions by lot among the twelve tribes. Chapter 2. How the Jews, after the death of their commander, violated their father’s laws and thereby brought upon themselves great misfortune, and how during civil strife the entire tribe of Velyaminovo was exterminated, with the exception of six hundred people. Chapter 3. How, after these troubles, the Lord God gave the Jews into the power of the Assyrians as punishment for their disobedience. The liberation of the Jews by Kenets, the son of Aophniel, who reigned for forty years and bore the name of judge among the Greeks and Phoenicians. Chapter 4. About how our people were again subject to the Moabites for fourteen years and how they were then liberated by Ehad, who reigned for eighty years. Chapter 5. How the Jews, who had been enslaved by the Canaanites for twenty years, were freed by Barak and Deborah, to whom the reign then passed for forty years. Chapter 6. How the Amalekites attacked the Israelites, defeated them and devastated their country for seven years. How Gideon freed the Jews from the Amalekites and ruled over them for forty years. Chapter 7. About how after him many of his successors waged long wars with the surrounding tribes. Chapter 8. About the strength of Samson and how much harm he caused to the Philistines. Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11. How the sons of the priest Eli died in the battle with the Philistines. About how the Philistines defeated the Jews in this war and captured the Ark of the Covenant. How their father, having learned about the death of his sons, fell from his chair and died. Book 6 Chapter 1. Disaster befalls the Philistines and their country as a result of the wrath of God for the theft of the ark of the Covenant; about how the Philistines returned the latter to the Jews. Chapter 2. The campaign of the Philistines against the Jews and the victory won by the latter under the leadership of the prophet Samuel. Chapter 3. How Samuel, having reached old age, entrusted the rule to his sons. About how, thanks to the bad rule of the latter, the people expressed their displeasure and desire to have a king. Chapter 4. How unpleasant it was for Samuel, but how he nevertheless, at the command of the Lord God, declared Saul king. Chapter 5. Saul's campaign against the Ammonites, his victory over the latter and the taking away of rich booty from his enemies. Chapter 6. How the Philistines again moved against the Jews and were defeated by them. Chapter 7. Saul's struggle with the Amalekites and his victory over them. Chapter 8. About how Samuel, in view of Saul’s violation of the instructions of the Lord, secretly appointed, at the command of the Eternal, David as king. Chapter 9. About the new campaign of the Philistines against the Jews during the reign of Saul. The duel between David and Goliath, the bravest of the Philistines; death of Goliath and defeat of the Philistines. Chapter 10. How Saul, bowing to the courage of David, gave his daughter in marriage to him. Chapter 11. How David subsequently became disgusted with him and Saul tried to kill him. How David, repeatedly exposed to the danger of death from Saul, finally fled and twice spared Saul, despite the fact that the latter was completely in his hands. Chapter 12 Chapter 13. About how, during the new campaign of the Philistines against the Jews, the latter lost the battle and how their king Saul was killed along with his sons in battle. Chapter 14 Book 7 Chapter 1. How David was king of one tribe in the city of Hebron and how the son of Saul reigned over the other tribes. How, after the murder of Saul's son by his own friends, David began to rule the entire state. Chapter 2 Chapter 3. How David besieged and occupied Jerusalem, drove out the Canaanites from there and settled the Jews there. Chapter 4. How he defeated the Philistines who twice opposed him in Jerusalem. Chapter 5. How David fought with neighboring tribes and, having defeated them, imposed tribute on them. David's battle with the inhabitants of Damascus and his victory over them. Chapter 6 Chapter 7. How he went on a campaign against the Mesopotamians and defeated them. Chapter 8. About how a conspiracy was hatched against him in David’s own house and how the king, deprived of the throne by his son, had to flee across the Jordan. Chapter 9 Chapter 10. How Absalom opposed his father and died along with his army. Chapter 11. How David regained royal power, began to lead a quiet lifestyle and appointed his son Solomon king. Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15. About the death of David, who left his son a large supply of silver, gold and precious stones for the construction of the temple. Book 8 Chapter 1 Book 9 Chapter 1 Book 10 Chapter 1 Book 11 Chapter 1 Book 12 Chapter 1 Book 13 Chapter 1 Book 14 Chapter 1 Book 15 Chapter 1 Book 16 Chapter 1 Book 17 Chapter 1 Book 18 Chapter 1 Book 19 Chapter 1 Book 20 Chapter 1 Applications Monetary systems of Ancient Greece Persian monetary system Monetary system of Ancient Rome Ancient Roman units of weight High priests of the Old Testament period Kings of Israel and Judah Syrian-Macedonian calendar Units of length used in Antiquities of the Jews

Preface by the author

The “Author's Preface” briefly describes the purpose and objectives of the first part of the work - to present in Greek the history of the ancient Jews according to the sacred Jewish books and other available historical sources. Here Josephus refers to information taken from the works of his authoritative predecessors (Epaphroditus, scientists from the circle of Ptolemy II and his contemporary, the high priest Eleazar). He pays special attention to the wisdom of Moses, his ability to accurately convey divine institutions.

1. I find among people who begin to compile historical works not one and always the same motivating reason, but a whole multitude of them, and in most cases the reasons are extremely dissimilar from each other. Namely, some strive to take part in scientific work in order to show off their brilliant style and gain the fame that is inevitable in this case; others take on such work, despite the fact that it is beyond their strength, intending to gain the favor of those people about whom they have to talk; There are, further, also historians, prompted by some inner feeling of the need to capture on paper the events in which they themselves were participants; Many, finally, were prompted by the greatness of events hitherto hidden and resting, as it were, in darkness, to bring a description of the latter to the light, for the common benefit. Of the reasons mentioned here, the last two are also decisive for me. Precisely, on the one hand, I, as a personal participant, felt the need to describe the war that happened between us, the Jews, and the Romans, all its vicissitudes and end, due to the fact that there are people who distorted the truth in their descriptions on this matter.

2. On the other hand, I took up the present work, believing that its content would be worthy of arousing interest on the part of the Greeks, since here it is meant to present a picture of all our antiquities and our state structure, critically derived from Jewish writings. After all, earlier, when I described the [Jewish] war, I was thinking about showing who the Jews were by origin, what vicissitudes of fate they were subjected to, what legislator instilled in them the desire for piety and encouraged them to develop virtue in themselves, what wars they fought during a long period of time of their existence and how they, against their own wishes, became embroiled in their last war with the Romans. But since such an insertion would be too extensive for this kind of work, I made it the subject of a special work, in which I carefully outlined everything related to it from beginning to end. Over time, as is usually the case with people who decide to undertake any grandiose undertaking, I was overcome by laziness and doubt about the possibility of bringing such a vast task to a successful conclusion in a foreign language and in a form alien to us. But there were people who, out of love for history, encouraged me to do this work; between them in the foreground [stands] Epaphroditus, a man who seriously loves all science and finds special pleasure in historical research, especially since he himself was a participant in great events and a witness to many different revolutions, and in all these cases he showed amazing strength of character and constant integrity. Under the influence of him, who always shows such great sympathy for everyone undertaking some useful or glorious undertaking, and ashamed to incur his suspicion that I would rather be idle than such glorious work, I began to continue my work more diligently, especially since , in addition to all of the above, took into account the fact that our ancestors willingly communicated such information [to others] and that some of the Greeks diligently studied our customs and history.

3. By the way, I found that Ptolemy the Second, who was more interested in science and collecting books than all the kings, occupied himself with special love with our [religious] legislation and took care to translate its decrees and data on the state structure in accordance with it into Greek; likewise, he was not inferior in virtue to any of our high priests. Eleazar did not at all object to the above-mentioned king using this [translation], and in any case he would have forbidden him to do so if it had been our custom since ancient times to keep something good secret. Therefore, I considered myself right to imitate the generosity of that high priest and equally assume that even now there still exist, like that king, many inquisitive people; especially since the latter did not receive a translation of the entire Holy Scripture, but the persons sent to Alexandria for translation told [him] only the translation of the Pentateuch (in fact, only that which concerns the law). Meanwhile, in the sacred books tens of thousands of various other facts are recorded [besides the laws], due to the fact that they cover a period of five thousand years of historical life [of the people], all kinds of unexpected events are reported here, about the accidents of war, about the valor of commanders and about changes in the state structure . In any case, anyone who wants to familiarize themselves with this story in detail will draw from it the foreground conclusion that, on the one hand, people who obey the command of the Lord God and do not dare to break the laws succeed beyond their expectations, and their reward from God is future [afterlife] bliss; on the other hand, for people who deviate from the exact fulfillment of these commands, everything that they would have taken on as something undoubtedly good becomes insurmountable to the same extent and even turns into inevitable destruction. Therefore, I urge those who come into the hands of these books to keep in mind the command of the Lord God and take into account that our lawgiver has worthily understood His nature and always attributes to Him only deeds corresponding to His power, keeping the narrative about Him free from all disgrace. , although found in other [historians], mythological embellishments, despite the fact that, due to the remoteness of time and extreme antiquity, he could quite fearlessly introduce various false inventions into his story. After all, he lived two thousand years ago, i.e. in such a distant time to which poets did not dare to attribute not only the deeds and legislation of people, but also the origin of the gods themselves. All this will be shown with due clarity and in the appropriate order by the following historical narrative; In it, I set myself the constant task of not adding anything [unnecessary], but also not omitting anything.

4. And in view of the fact that almost all this came to us thanks to the wisdom of our lawgiver Moses, it is necessary for me to briefly preface something about him, so that some of the future readers will not be amazed why our book, by its title, is dedicated to the question of laws and historical acts, studies the data of natural science in such detail. So, it should be taken into account that Moses considered it necessary that a person who is going to regulate his way of life and then give governing laws to other people should first of all acquire a correct view of the essence of the Lord God and, constantly having His deeds before his eyes, strive to imitate this greatest example and, as far as it is in his power, would try to get closer to Him. For in the absence of such a view of things, the legislator himself cannot have a correct understanding and, likewise, he will in no way arouse with his writings an inclination towards virtue in his readers if they, first of all else, do not internalize the conviction that the Lord is the father and ruler of everything that exists, that He looks at everything and that He grants bliss to those who obey Him, and punishes those who walk outside the path of virtue with major misfortunes. And so, since Moses wanted to give his own relatives instruction precisely in this, he, in contrast to everyone else, began [his work] not with a statement of laws and regulations that have a conventional meaning among people, but by directing their attention to the Divine and on the structure of the universe and convincing them that we, people, are the best of the creations of the Lord God on earth, I could easily convince them of everything [else], after thus inducing them to piety. And while other legislators, adhering to myths, transferred to the gods all the shame of human errors and thus gave criminal people the opportunity to make all sorts of excuses, our legislator showed that the Lord God owns virtue in its complete purity, and considered it necessary for people to at least try a little internalize it; those who did not understand this or did not believe in it, he mercilessly punished. And it is from this point of view that I invite my readers to familiarize themselves [with my work]. Those who look at it from this point of view will see that it contains nothing incompatible with their own views, nor anything incompatible with the greatness of the Lord God and with His love for the human race. This work contains everything arranged in an order appropriate to the nature of things, and the legislator quite reasonably hints at one thing, points out another solemnly allegorically, and about what can be spoken about directly, he speaks about this in detail. And if there were anyone willing to consider the causes of each phenomenon, then it would be necessary to deduce many, moreover, strictly philosophical theories, which I, however, now omit; If the Lord gives me a long enough life for this, then, after finishing this work, I will take up that topic. Now I will move on to presenting my data, first recalling what Moses tells about the creation of the world. I found all this written down in the sacred books, and in the following form.

Publishers' Foreword

This book has not been republished in Russian for almost a hundred years. It was written about two thousand years ago and was popular among readers of all previous historical eras. It was read in different countries, in different languages, by people belonging to different cultures and religions. The book was rewritten and translated many times, and with the invention of printing it was often published. Written by a Jewish author, it became popular among Christians. And the fact that “Jewish Antiquities” has reached us is primarily a merit of the Christian tradition.

It is in this book that the chronologically first non-Christian mention of Jesus Christ is found. It was in it, as in the “War of the Jews,” that Christians found detailed characteristics of many characters who are described very fragmentarily in the New Testament. These are Herod I (the Great), Herod-Antipas, Herod-Philip, Herodias, the Roman procurators of Judea Pontius Pilate, Felix, Porcius Festus, the governor of Syria Quirinius and others. In the Middle Ages, the works of Josephus were perhaps the only source from which additional information could be obtained about the deeds of these people. But it was with them that the fates of the main characters of the Christian New Testament intersected. “Jewish Antiquities,” as well as “The Jewish War,” provided Christian thought with rich and unique material about the situation in Palestine, and in other regions of the Roman Empire, where Jesus and the apostles lived and acted. Judea is the birthplace of Christianity, and this undoubtedly aroused increased interest among Christians in its history, especially in New Testament times.

But, of course, the author’s goal was not to describe early Christian realities. Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the Jewish people from ancient times until the outbreak of the Jewish War in 66 AD. e., and it is illuminated against the broad background of world history - to the extent, of course, to which it was known to the author.

Antiquities of the Jews is the second and largest work of Josephus. this person is unusual. His real name is Joseph ben Mattathiah (Yosef ben Mattityahu). He is a Jew, born in Jerusalem in the first year of the reign of the Roman Emperor Gaius Caligula (that is, between March 37 and March 38 AD). He came from a noble Jewish family. In childhood and adolescence he received a traditional education, mainly religious. In his youth, he became interested in studying various directions in Judaism. He lived in the desert with the Essenes for three years, but then returned to Jerusalem - perhaps because he could not stand the three-year probation period established by the Essenes for their adherents. Although he retained his sympathies for the Essenes, Joseph nevertheless became a supporter of the Pharisees and remained so until the end of his life. At the age of twenty-three he went to Rome, where he stayed for several years. The grandeur and splendor of the great city amazed him.

When Joseph returned to his homeland, a war of liberation against Roman oppression was already underway. In this war of 66–73 AD. e., which, thanks to Josephus Flavius, began to be called Judaic, the Jewish national liberation movement intertwined against the Romans, who turned from 6 AD. e. Judea to his province, with social and religious struggle within the Jewish society itself. Joseph ben Mattathias was appointed commander of the rebel forces in Galilee, through which the Romans directed their main attack. Joseph acted slowly, hesitantly, and when the Romans defeated the rebels in Galilee, he surrendered. There he predicted to the Roman commander Vespasian that he would soon become emperor. And so it happened - in the strife that followed Nero, the one under whose command the largest military forces was victorious. Vespasian freed Joseph from captivity, and he, as a sign of gratitude, according to the custom of Roman freedmen, took Vespasian's family name - Flavius. So Joseph ben Mattathias became Josephus. He took the path of treason - first he served under Vespasian, and then as an adjutant under his son Titus, who finally suppressed the uprising in Judea.

After the bloody conclusion of the Jewish War, Joseph lived in Rome until the end of his days, in the imperial palace on the Esquiline, and was essentially the most influential person among Roman Jews, enjoying the patronage of the emperors Vespasian, Titus and even Domitian. In Rome, he took up literary work and began writing historical works. The first of these was The Jewish War, read and approved by Vespasian and Titus.

Josephus worked on his second work, Antiquities of the Jews, for many years and completed it in the mid-90s, shortly before his death (he probably died in the year 100 or two or three years later). Joseph's main goal was not a simple description of historical events. He wanted to acquaint wide circles of readers from different countries subordinate to powerful Rome with the rich and ancient history of his people. To a certain extent, his work is a Jewish apology. Joseph sought to show that Jews, like many other peoples, have ancient and deep religious, state and cultural traditions. His concept of history is providentialist: in accordance with his religious beliefs, he considered only Jews to be God's chosen people and viewed their history as the fulfillment of divine decrees, deviations from which led to serious troubles and misfortunes.

In accordance with Joseph's main purpose, his work was written in Greek. It consists of twenty books. Josephus begins his narrative from the moment of the creation of the world. The text of the first ten books parallels the biblical text. Joseph does not recount the contents of the Bible in detail and does not strictly follow it. His narrative is more concise and, if I may say so, more historicized - he scrupulously traces the line of human history in the Bible. In the eleventh book he reaches the time of Alexander the Great. From the twelfth book, the content of “Jewish Antiquities” echoes the content of “The Jewish War,” but the events are revealed in more detail, more widely, sometimes in a different version. As in his first book, Josephus sets out the history of the Jews against the backdrop of world history.

When working on “Jewish Antiquities,” the author used a large number of sources, many of which have not reached us. He cites many texts of state decrees and quotes treaties between states. Joseph also relies on the works of his predecessors - the historians Strabo, Polybius, Titus Livius, Asinius Pollio, Nicholas of Damascus and others. For the very first books of Jewish Antiquities, the main source, of course, was the Bible.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the works of Josephus for scientific biblical studies. In both The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews, he attempted to present in the most favorable light the history and culture of the Hebrew people. Understanding the full responsibility of the task set for himself, Joseph developed a unique approach to the material of biblical books. Basically following the text of the Septuagint, he omits or presents differently everything that presents his people in an unfavorable perspective. So he ignores in his retelling of the Old Testament the episode with Esau selling his birthright to Jacob, information about the incest of Judah and Tamar, Lot and his daughters, about the murder of an Egyptian by Moses and other unpleasant events.

His attitude towards the miracles that the Bible tells about is peculiar. In most cases, he strives to give them a rational explanation at the first opportunity. In other places it is limited to a simple retelling of the biblical text. Joseph is clearly skeptical about some of the Old Testament miracles. This can be seen from the analogies he gives. For example, he compares the passage of the Israelis along the bottom of the Red (Red) Sea with the description of the passage of Alexander the Great through the Pamphylian Sea; At the same time, he makes a reservation: let everyone think about such information as he pleases.

Joseph tries to show that the most ancient representatives of his people already possessed culture and education of a very high level. In this, he said, they were not inferior to the representatives of the ancient civilization of his day. Josephus generously endows biblical characters with the virtues inherent in ancient Greek heroes and legendary kings. So Cain, according to Josephus, introduced a system of weights and measures, established boundaries in the fields, and Seth and his children mastered astronomy. Josephus reports that the first man predicted the end of the world through a flood or universal fire. His insertions about the persecution of Abraham by his Mesopotamian fellow countrymen for monotheism and the fact that it was Abraham who taught the Egyptians mathematics and astronomy look far-fetched.

Josephus Flavius ​​noticeably embellished the merits of Hebrew literature. In his rendering of the Pentateuch, the last song of Moses is written in hexameter, and the psalms of David in pentameter. Three thousand books and parabolas are attributed to King Solomon. According to Joseph, Hebrew literature has the rhythm and musicality of ancient Greek literature.

In all this, Josephus’s desire to create the best possible opinion about the ancient Jews among foreign readers, primarily among his highest patrons from the imperial Flavian dynasty and their court circle, was manifested. Joseph probably also used Jewish folk traditions in this part of his work.

At the same time, it should be noted that Joseph retells the biblical laws briefly, with large omissions. Perhaps this is explained by the fact that he had the intention of devoting a separate essay to this topic.

Criticism of the works of Josephus is abundant and varied. First of all, starting from the 17th century, theologians of different faiths expressed distrust of him. They were outraged by his open and unexplained disregard for the text of Holy Scripture. Indeed, many such examples can be given. Joseph was often accused of self-aggrandizement and immoderate ambition. Even author's excursions of high literary merit were considered great blasphemy. The Hellenization of the Old Testament caused dissatisfaction among fellow tribesmen.

At the same time, secular criticism of his works was not always objective and reasoned. The latter in many cases refers to suspicions about Joseph’s poor knowledge of both his native language and ancient Greek. However, as subsequent studies showed, the flaws noticed in him are equally present in the works of other ancient authorities, mainly as clerical errors.

Undoubtedly, Josephus spoke Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and perhaps even Nabataean and Arabic. In his book “Against Appion” he says: “I compiled my essay on antiquities ... on the basis of our sacred books, since I myself belong to a priestly family and have thoroughly studied the philosophy contained in those books.”

“Jewish Antiquities” contains a lot of valuable, sometimes unique, historical material. This applies, for example, to the history of the Hellenistic states, Parthia, Armenia, the Nabataean kingdom, the Roman Empire, to the history of the conquest of the states of Western Asia by Rome. It is no coincidence that in the Middle Ages and in modern times this book by Josephus was considered one of the most important sources on ancient Roman history, along with the works of Titus Livy, Tacitus, Suetonius, and one of the most erudite Christian authors of the 4th-5th centuries, Jerome, called Josephus “Titus Livius of the Greeks.” "

However, for Christians, perhaps the most important thing in the work of Josephus was the first non-Christian testimony about Jesus Christ, found in the 18th book of the Antiquities of the Jews. Here it is: “About this time lived Jesus, a wise man, if He can be called a man at all. He performed amazing deeds and became a teacher of those people who willingly accepted the truth. He attracted many Jews and Greeks to himself. That was Christ. At the insistence of our influential people, Pilate sentenced Him to the cross. But those who loved Him before did not stop doing so now. On the third day He appeared to them alive again, as the divinely inspired prophets announced about Him and His many other miracles. To this day there are still so-called Christians who call themselves in this way by His name.”

This site later sparked heated debate regarding its authenticity. Many researchers (both atheists and theologians) believed that the Pharisee Joseph could not accept Jesus as the Christ (Messiah) and believe in His resurrection. At the same time, they cited the statement of a prominent Christian author of the 3rd century that Joseph did not consider Jesus to be the Christ. The entire passage above was claimed to be a later insertion by a Christian scribe. And few people noticed that the same Jerome, quoting Joseph in the Latin translation, instead of the words “that was Christ,” said “He was considered Christ.” But at the beginning of our century, a different version of this passage was discovered, quoted in Arabic by the 10th century Christian bishop Agapius in his “World History,” and everything fell into place: it turns out that Joseph was simply conveying the words of Jesus’ disciples about his mentor, whom they considered the messiah.

Talking about various prophetic and messianic movements in Judea, Josephus in the same 18th book also talks about John the Baptist, a righteous man who called on the Jews to be virtuous and perform ablutions to get rid of sins. Joseph's version of his death is different than in the New Testament - John was executed by Herod Antipas in the Macheron fortress due to fear of mass unrest among the population of Judea.

The works of Josephus were already popular in late antiquity. At the same time, a translation of “Jewish Antiquities” into Latin appeared. It is attributed either to Jerome or to a contemporary of his. In medieval Europe, Antiquities of the Jews was rewritten many times, mostly in Latin translation.

In the 9th-10th centuries, the so-called “Josippon” appeared in Italy, written in Hebrew. It described the events of world and Jewish history from the construction of the Tower of Babel to the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. e. Essentially, this chronicle was an abbreviated translation of the Antiquities of the Jews and the War of the Jews, but the author was named Joseph ben Gorion. Why not Josephus? Apparently, at that time the Jews were wary of him because of his betrayal during the Jewish War. “Josippon” gained no less popularity than “Jewish Antiquities.” With the advent of printing, it was published even earlier than this major work of Josephus - in 1476.

The first printed edition of Antiquities of the Jews in Greek appeared in 1544. Other editions followed - 1611 and 1634 (Cologne), 1687 (Oxford), 1691 (Leipzig), 1700 (Oxford), 1726 (Leiden) and so on. Already in the 15th-16th centuries, Antiquities of the Jews was translated into French, Italian, German and Spanish. The book was published both in modern languages ​​and in Latin.

The first Russian translation of “Jewish Antiquities” appeared in 1781. It was made by M. Manuilov. However, this translation had serious shortcomings. Suffice it to say that it was made from a French translation, which, in turn, was translated from the Latin version.

The next translation into Russian was carried out in 1900. G. Henkel translated “Jewish Antiquities” from ancient Greek. It is this translation that we offer the reader. Of course, it cannot be called perfect; This especially applies to the style, which is also largely outdated. In addition, there are inaccuracies and unjustified modernization of ancient realities. However, this translation is much closer to the original. Publishers only in some cases made stylistic edits, clarifications and corrections. Translator's notes partially preserved.

There are different opinions about the personality of Epaphroditus. Some believe that he is a freed Roman slave, later the secretary of Emperor Nero (54–68), executed under Emperor Domitian (81–96). A more common version is that Epaphroditus, a very educated man, served as prefect (viceroy) of Egypt, then settled in Rome, where he lived during the reign of Emperor Nerva (96–98).

Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC) - received an excellent education, was prone to effeminacy and cruelty. He invited many famous scientists and poets of his time to his court. He was the initiator of the translation of the Old Testament into Greek (about this, see below, book XII, 2, 1 et seq.).

High Priest – i.e. the first of the priests, the head of the Jewish priesthood. According to the Old Testament, this office was legalized under Moses; it was usually inherited from father to son of the high priest. Wearing a special robe, only he could enter the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple. He was obliged to marry only a girl. During the time of King Herod, the right to this post was seized by the aristocratic party, using it as a means for enrichment and political influence. For more details about the high priest Eleazar, see below, book. XII, 2, 5–6.

Alexandria is a city in Egypt, located on the northwestern edge of the Nile Delta, founded by Alexander the Great, the capital of the country during the reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty (305–31 BC).

The Pentateuch is the name of the first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), the authorship of which is attributed to the legendary biblical prophet Moses.