We are pleased to announce that Cambridge University now has access to Flavius Josephus Online hosted on the Brill Scholarly Editions platform. This was purchased following a reader request and with support from the Classics and Divinity faculty libraries.
From the publisher:
This is the first comprehensive literary-historical online commentary on the works of Flavius Josephus in English. The commentary, edited by Steve Mason (University of Groningen), also includes the full Greek texts, edited by Benedikt Niese in the 19th century.
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Flavius Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, is without a doubt the most important witness to ancient Judaism from the close of the biblical period to the aftermath of the destruction of the temple in 70 CE. His four surviving works – the Judean War, Judean Antiquities, Life, and Against Apion in thirty Greek volumes – provide the narrative structure for interpreting other, more fragmentary written sources and physical remains from this period. His descriptions of the Temple, the Judean countryside, Jewish-Roman relations and conflicts, and groups and institutions of ancient Judea have become indispensable for the student of early Judaism, of Classics, and of Christian origins alike.
This online reference is based on the print editions of Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary. It provides access to Josephus’ four surviving works (Judean War, Judean Antiquities, Life of Josephus, Against Apion) in original Greek and English translation, as well as commentaries, bibliographies and prefaces from the editor.
The online commentary is currently 65% complete (the Life, Against Apion, book 2 of the Judean War, and books 1-11 and 15 of the Judean Antiquities) with further updates to come. Please see this webpage for the most recent update schedule.
Tips for using Flavius Josephus Online
Under each of the four titles on the landing page for Flavius Josephus Online (click on “Search and Browse” if you don’t see the list of four volumes) there is a drop-down menu allowing users to select from the original Greek text, the English translation, the Bibliography, Commentary or Prefaces.
There is also an option within the online reader (or Scaife viewer) to select parallel texts allowing readers to compare, for example, the commentaries or translations against the original texts.
Other useful functionality of the Scaife viewer includes text search, options to adjust the text size, and grammatical analysis of a highlighted word (Morphology).
Please see this Brill “How to” page for advice on how to get the best out of this resource including search functions and a full explanation of the different ways you can use the Scaife viewer.
Flavius Josephus Online is accessible via iDiscover or via the ebooks@cambridge LibGuide A-Z. Please write to us at ebooks@lib.cam.ac.uk with any queries.
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