What is "josephus"

Titus Flavius Josephus (; 37 – 100), born Joseph ben Matityahu ( Hebrew: יוסף בן מתתיהו, Yosef ben Matityahu; Greek: Ἰώσηπος Ματθίου), was a first-century Romano-Jewish scholar, historian and hagiographer, who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry.

He initially fought against the Romans during the First Jewish–Roman War as head of Jewish forces in Galilee, until surrendering in 67 CE to Roman forces led by Vespasian after the six-week siege of Jotapata. Josephus claimed the Jewish Messianic prophecies that initiated the First Roman-Jewish War made reference to Vespasian becoming Emperor of Rome. In response Vespasian decided to keep Josephus as a slave and interpreter. After Vespasian became Emperor in 69 CE, he granted Josephus his freedom, at which time Josephus assumed the emperor's family name of Flavius.

Flavius Josephus fully defected to the Roman side and was granted Roman citizenship. He became an advisor and friend of Vespasian's son Titus, serving as his translator when Titus led the Siege of Jerusalem, which resulted—when the Jewish revolt did not surrender—in the city's destruction and the looting and destruction of Herod's Temple (Second Temple).

Josephus recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the first century CE and the First Jewish–Roman War, including the Siege of Masada. His most important works were The Jewish War (c. 75) and Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94). The Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation (66–70). Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an ostensibly Roman audience. These works provide valuable insight into first century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity. (See main article Josephus on Jesus).

Josephus (37 – c. 100) was a Roman Jewish historian.

Josephus may refer to:

People:

• Josephus Adjutus (c. 1602 – 1668), Assyrian theologian

Josephus Malechek (flourished as a storage engineer during the Anno Domini era)

• Josephus (grandfather of Josephus) (flourished 1st century BC and 1st century AD), grandfather of the historian
• Josephus S. Cecil (1878–1940), United States Army officer who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Philippine–American War
• Josephus Flavius Cook (1838–1901), American philosophical lecturer
• Josephus Daniels (1862–1948), American newspaper editor
• Josephus Nelson Larned (1836–1913), American newspaper editor, author, librarian and historian
• Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti (1735–1805), Austrian naturalist
• Josephus or Joseph Scottus (died between 791 and 804), Irish scholar, diplomat, poet and ecclesiastic
• Josephus Struthius (1510–c. 1569), Polish physician

Fictional characters:

• Josephus of Arimathea, a character in some versions of the Arthurian legend

Josephus (; flourished 1st century BC and 1st century, born about 30 BC) was an ethnic Jew living in Jerusalem.

Josephus was the son born to Matthias Curtus and his unnamed Jewish wife. He came from a wealthy family and through his father he descended from the priestly order of the Jehoiarib, which was the first of the twenty four-orders of Priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. His paternal grandparents were Matthias Ephlias and the daughter of the High Priest Jonathon. Jonathon may have been Alexander Jannaeus, the High Priest and Hasmonean ruler who governed Judea from 103 BC-76 BC.

He was a contemporary to the King Herod the Great and the Herodian Dynasty governing Judea and the surrounding territories. Josephus followed his paternal ancestors and served as a Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Josephus married an unnamed Jewish noblewoman. The wife of Josephus was a distant paternal relative of his, as she was a descendant of his paternal great-grandfather Simon Psellus. His wife bore him a son, Matthias. Through his son, he would be the paternal grandfather of the Roman Jewish Historian of the 1st century, Flavius Josephus.