Josephus: Jewish Antiquities, Books V-VIII (Loeb Classical Library)

840 Pages·1950·8.71 MB·English

by  Flavius Josephus

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY
FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB, LL.D.
EDITED BY
tT. E. PAGE, C.H., LITT.D.
E. CAPPS, PH.D., LL.D. W. H. D. ROUSE, litt.d.
L. A. POST, m.a/ E. H. WARMINGTON, m.a., f.r.hist.soo.
JOSEPHUS
V

JOSEPHUS
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
THE LATE H. ST. J. THACKERAY, M.A.
HON. D.D. OXFOKD, HON. D.D. DURHAM
RALPH MARCUS, Ph.D.
PROFESSOR OF SEMITIC PHII.OLOOY, JEWlSlf INSTITDTE OF RELIOION
LECTURER IN SEMITIC LANGUAGES, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
IN NINE VOLUMES
V
JEWISH ANTIQUITIES, BOOKS V-VIII
LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD
CAMBIUOGE, MASSACHUSEITS
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
MCML
^'irstprinted li)3-4
H^rinteiJ1935, 1950
r'A
Fi-inttd inGreat britain
PREFACE
When Dr. Thackeray died early in the summer of
1930, he had sent to press the text and translation of
AntiquitiesBookV. and aportionofBook ^T.(to§ 14'0,
withexplanatorynotesextendingtoS60). Thepresent
N\Titer has slightly revised this part, and has supplied
atextandannotatedtranslationoftherestofBookVI.
and of Books VIL and \ III. No one realizes more
fullythanthe \\Titerhimselfhowdifficultitis to come
upto the standardofexcellence setby Dr.Thackeray
in his skilful translation of the works of Josephus
included in the earlier volumes of this series. An
attempt has been made to adhere to the spirit ofhis
rendering,butsomechangesinstylehavebeenmade,
chiefly in the direction of a less formal and a more
modern idiom. In undertaking to continue the
edition the wTiter has greatly profited by being able
to consult aroughlydrafted translationofBooks VI.-
VIII.,ofwhich Dr.Thackeray'swidowhas been kind
enough to make a fair copy, and by having before
him several notebooks containing Dr. Thackeray's
studies of Josephus's style, his use of Greek authors
and other useful material, which Mrs. Thackeray
has generously placed at his disposal. The WTiter
has also had the great advantage of using the ms.
of Dr. Thackeray's Index Verborum, on the basis
of which he was preparing his Greek Lexicon to
V
PREFACE
Josephus, published under the auspices oftlie Kohut
Foundation of the Jewish Institute of Religion.
The fn'st fascicle ofthis Lexicon appeared some time
after Dr. Thackeray's death, and a second fascicle,
completed by the writer, is expected to appear
shortly.
Beside the earlier versions ofthe Antiquities made
by Hudson, Weill and Whiston-Shilleto, two recent
works have been consulted in preparing the latter
part of this volume these are Agada und Exegese
;
bei Flavins Josephus by Salomo Rappaport, Vienna,
1930, and Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg
(six volumes), Philadelphia, 1909-1928 (abbr. Ginz-
berginthefootnotes) ; thelatteris aninvaluablecol-
lection ofrabbinic materialillustrating the amplifica-
tion of scriptural narratives and furnishing many
instructive parallels to Josephus's treatment of his
biblical text. The writer has, in addition, inde-
pendently examined the text of the Targum (the
Aramaic translation of the Bible, used in the early
synagogue) andthemediaeval Hebrewcommentaries
reprinted in the Rabbinic Bible. For the identifica-
tion ofmany of the Biblical place-names the w-riter
is indebted to the researches of Professor W. F.
Albright and other scholars, whose results have
appeared in the Bulletin of the American Schools of
Oriental Research.
With regard to the Greek text, the writer, like
Dr. Thackeray, has attempted to furnish a critical
edition on the basis of the apparatus in Niese's
editio maior, not (as some reviewers of the earlier
volumes by Dr. Thackeray have described it) an
edition based solely on Niese's text. Whether the
text here given is as satisfactory as the excellent
vi