THE JEWISH WAR. Newly Translated With Extensive Commentary And Archaeological Background Illustrations.

blue hardcover ~ 2º (folio ~ 9"x12"). large ("coffee table" book), international or priority shipping will cost extra. dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. very fine cond. looks new. like new. as new. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean. contents free of markings. dustwrapper in fine cond. not worn or torn or price clipped (no price listed). nice clean copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking, underlining, remainder markings etc~. first edition. first printing (NAP). illustrated endpapers. color illustrated 1/2 title pg. glossy full color frontis. photo. 526p. maps, plans, color photos, b&w photos & illustrations throughout. appendix. the testamonium flavianum. general index. index of scripture passages. ancient history. jewish history. religion. roman empire. archaeology. ~ Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the recent vast excavations conducted at the foot of the Temple Mount and ancient Jerusalem, there has been a revival of interest in Josephus' history of the JEWISH WAR, our principal record and source of background material for the crucial period and long struggle that saw the collapse of Jewish independence. Josephus starts his account with events in the second century B.C., i.e., in the intertestimentary period, and links them with the fateful years AD 66~74. Here, from the pen of one of its leading figures and witness of the war, a gifted writer deeply versed in the sources of his own and former days, is the full story of the tragic struggle of the Jews. Josephus retired to Rome after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem and there related the tragic stages of the titanic struggle that he early regarded as a reckless attempt~led by the revolutionary Zealots who crushed the pacifist opposition and lost the war due to internal dissensions. He realized, almost from the start, that the courageous Judeans could not defeat the mighty Roman legions that ruled the ancient world and, still less, their mighty war weapons and matchless military organization (described and richly illustrated in the present volume in the light of ancient Roman documents). Later tradition~minded Jews called Josephus a turncoat, even though they revered his pacifist contemporary, Rabbi Johanan ben~Zakai, who fled the beleaguered Jerusalem and founded the spiritual centers that helped Judaism survive after the cessation of the Temple cult. But he was the only contemporary historian who preserved the intimate history of Herod's time as well as details of the topography, demography, and the social, political, and economic life of Jerusalem and Palestine. The accuracy of his descriptions has been supported by modern historians and the excavations conducted in recent years. …