No source, other than the Bible itself, provides more relevant information on the first century than the work of Flavius Josephus. This newly edited version updates the original 18th century language; includes commentary by the award winning author and historian, Dr. Paul L. Maier; features over forty photos of ancient sites and artifacts mentioned by Josephus; cross references numbers throughout to the Greek text of Josephus in the Loeb Classical Library; and offers revised indexes of subjects and Old Testament texts.

Encounter the world and traditions that Jesus knew. Illuminate your understanding of the New Testament. In The Complete Works you will discover what the New Testament writers knew about Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, and Solomon and examine an in-depth history of Herod and his infamous family.

Josephus left us the earliest independent accounts of the lives of Jesus, John the Baptist, and James the brother of Jesus. Much of what we know about the beliefs of the Sadducees and Pharisees comes from Josephus. Without Josephus, we would know very little about the Essenes, the ancient Jewish group most frequently associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Features include:
"The War of the Jews"--an account of the Jewish revolt against Rome up to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem"The Antiquities of the Jews"--a history of the Jews from Creation to the Roman occupation of Palestine"The Life of Flavius Josephus"--the autobiography of Josephus, who fought against Rome and later served the empire "Against Apion"--a defense of the origin of Judaism in the face of Greco-Roman slanders"Discourse to the Greeks Concerning Hades"--a text Whiston attributed to JosephusIndex of parallels between Josephus's "Antiquities" and the Old Testament including the Apocrypha

About Flavius Josephus

Josephus was a first-century Pharisee, soldier, informant to the Romans, and writer. He left behind the most extensive writings on ancient Jewish history still in existence.

Collected here in one unabridged edition are all 20 books of Flavius Josephus' The Antiquities of the Jews. Antiquities of the Jews was first published in 94 AD, it is history of the Jewish people, written in Greek for Josephus' gentile patrons. It begins with the creation of Adam and Eve, and follows the events of the historical books of the Hebrew Bible, often adding information that we might not otherwise have today. This work, along with Josephus's other major work, The Jewish Wars, provides valuable background material to anyone wishing to understand first-century Judaism and the early Christian period. "I have undertaken the present work . . . for it will contain all our antiquities, and the constitution of our government, as interpreted out of the Hebrew Scriptures. And indeed I did formerly intend, when I wrote of the war, to explain who the Jews originally were, -what fortunes they had been subject to, -and by what legislature they had been instructed in piety, and the exercise of other virtues, -what wars also they had made in remote ages, till they were unwillingly engaged in this last with the Romans. . ."-Flavius Josephus