Some feel that the text of Acts shows evidence of having used the Jewish historian Josephus as a source ( in which case it would have to have been written sometime after 94 AD ).

The name Ahasuerus is equivalent to Xerxes, both deriving from the Persian Khshayārsha, thus Ahasuerus is usually identified as Xerxes I ( 486-465 BCE ), though Ahasuerus is identified as Artaxerxes in the later Greek version of Esther ( as well as by Josephus, the Jewish commentary Esther Rabbah, the Ethiopic translation and the Christian theologian Bar-Hebraeus who identified him more precisely as Artaxerxes II ).

The ancient Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus narrates in his book Jewish Antiquities XII, how the victorious Judas Maccabeus ordered lavish yearly eight-day festivities after rededicating the Temple in Jerusalem that had been profaned by Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

The Jewish historian Josephus speaks of there being 22 books in the canon of the Hebrew Bible, a Jewish tradition reported also by the Christian bishop Athanasius.

The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus described Jericho as " the most fertile spot in Judea ".

The most famous was Masada, where, in 70-73 CE, a small group of Jewish zealots held out against the might of the Roman legion, and Machaerus where, according to Josephus, John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipas and died.

From Suetonius, we know that she at least accompanied the Emperor to the amphitheatre, while the Jewish writer Josephus speaks of benefits he received from her.

Josephus, Jewish War 6. 10. 1 / 423 (" They sacrifice from the ninth to the eleventh hour ").

The first century Jewish historian, Josephus, deals with Ezra in his Antiquities of the Jews.

The events were described by the Jewish leader / historian Josephus, including the desperate defence of Jotapata, the siege of Jerusalem ( 69 – 70 CE ) and heroic last stand at Masada under Eleazar ben Yair ( 72 – 73 CE ).

Along these lines, the ancient historian Josephus emphasized practices and observances rather than religious beliefs, associating apostasy with a failure to observe Jewish law and maintaining that the requirements for conversion to Judaism included circumcision and adherence to traditional customs.

The references found in Antiquities have no parallel texts in the other work by Josephus such as the Jewish War, written 20 years earlier, but some scholars have provided explanations for their absence.

While the gospels present this as a consequence of the marriage of Herod Antipas and Herodias in defiance of Jewish law ( as in Matthew 14: 4, Mark 6: 18 ) Josephus refers to it as a pre-emptive measure by Herod to quell a possible uprising.

The works of Josephus were translated into Latin during the fourth century ( possibly by Rufinus ), and, in the same century, the Jewish War was " partially rewritten as an anti-Jewish treatise, known today as Pseudo-Hegesippus, but < nowiki ></ nowiki > was considered for over a millenium and a half by many Christians as the ipsissima verba of Josephus to his own people.

Book 20 of the Antiquities do not appear in any other versions of Josephus ' The Jewish War except for a Slavonic version of the Testimonium Flavomium ( at times called Testimonium Slavonium ) which surfaced in the west at the beginning of the 20th century, after its discovery in Russia at the end of the 19th century.

A comparative argument made against the authenticity of the James passage by scholars such as Tessa Rajak is that the passage has a negative tone regarding the High Priest Ananus, presenting him as impulsive while in the Jewish Wars Josephus presents a positive view of Ananus and portrays him as prudent.

A final argument from silence relates to Josephus ' own writings and questions the authenticity of Testimonium based on the fact that it has no parallel in the Jewish War, which includes a discussion of Pontius Pilate at about the same level of detail.

Setzer states that the passage indicates that Josephus, a Jewish historian writing towards the end of the first century, could use a neutral tone towards Christians, with some tones of sympathy, implying that they may be worthy of Roman protection.

Philip Carrington states that there is no reason to question the authenticity of the Josephus passage on James, and elaborates the background by stating that Ananus continued to remain a power within the Jewish circles at the time even after being deposed, and that it is likely that the charges brought against James by Ananus were not only because of his Christian association but because he objected to the oppressive policies against the poor ; hence explaining the later indignation of the more moderate Jewish leaders.

Van Voorst also states that calling Christians a " tribe " would have been very out of character for a Christian scribe, while Josephus has used it to refer both to Jewish and Christian groups.

Vermes states that if the Testimonium had been the work of a Christian forger, it would have placed blame on the Jewish leaders, but as is it is " perfectly in line " with the atitude of Josephus towards Pilate.

At the port city of Jaffa ( today part of Tel Aviv ) an outcrop of rocks near the harbour has been associated with the place of Andromeda's chaining and rescue by the traveler Pausanias, the geographer Strabo and the historian of the Jews Josephus.

He is specifically mentioned by Ben Sirah ( a writer of the Hellenistic period who listed the " great sages " of Israel ) and 4 Maccabees ( 1st century CE ), and by the 1st century CE historian Josephus, says that the prophet wrote two books.

The 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian Josephus mentioned a book circulating under the name of Solomon, which contained incantations for summoning demons and described how a Jew called Eleazar used it to cure cases of possession.

The historian Josephus claims that the conspirators wished to restore the Republic while the historian Suetonius claims their motivations were mostly personal.

The extant manuscripts of the writings of the 1st century Romano-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus include references to Jesus and the origins of Christianity.

The earliest secure reference to this passage is found in the writings of the fourth-century Christian apologist and historian Eusebius, who used Josephus ' works extensively as a source for his own Historia Ecclesiastica.

The dramatic murder of Aristobulus III in a swimming pool in Jericho, as told by the Roman Jewish historian Josephus, took place during a banquet organized by Herod's Hasmonean mother-in-law.

John the Baptist is also mentioned by Jewish historian Josephus, in Aramaic Matthew, in the Pseudo-Clementine literature, and in the Qur ' an.

The first-century Jewish historian Josephus gives a slightly different account in his Antiquities of the Jews.

Titus Flavius Josephus ( 37 – 100 ), also called Joseph ben Matityahu ( Biblical Hebrew: יוסף בן מתתיהו, Yosef ben Matityahu ), was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish 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.

Josephus in Galilee and Rome: his vita and development as a historian.

* The Romano-Jewish historian Josephus ( 37 – c. 100 AD ) describes it in his book The Jewish War ( 4. 10. 5 ) when he gives a geographical overview of Egypt.

However, the tradition is comparatively late ( it dates from Josephus, a 1st century AD historian ), and scholars are practically unanimous that the book had a long period of growth, that it includes some material of considerable antiquity, and that it reached its present form in the Persian period ( 538 – 332 BC ).

The Roman-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus states that three of the seven lamps were allowed to burn during the day also ; however, according to the Talmud ( Rashi, Tractate Shabbat 22b ), only the center lamp was left burning all day, into which as much oil was put as into the others.

According to Josephus, a 1st-century Jewish Roman historian, Herod the Great fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BC as a refuge for himself in the event of a revolt.

According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Samuel was about 12 years old.

The 1st century historian Flavius Josephus, among many others, recounted the tradition that these five sons were the progenitors of the nations of Elam, Assyria, Chaldea, Lydia, and Syria, respectively.

Under Schechter's leadership, JTS attracted a distinguished faculty, including Louis Ginzberg ( author of Legends of the Jews ), historian Alexander Marx, Arabist Israel Friedlander, and future founder of Reconstructionism Mordecai Kaplan, and became a highly regarded center of Jewish learning.

Robert S. Wistrich, a historian specializing in the study of anti-Semitism, described Hezbollah's ideology concerning Jews: " The anti-Semitism of Hezbollah leaders and spokesmen combines the image of seemingly invincible Jewish power ... and cunning with the contempt normally reserved for weak and cowardly enemies.

The Jewish historian Artapanus of Alexandria ( 2nd century BCE ), portrayed Moses as a cultural hero, alien to the Pharaonic court.

The Jewish historian Eupolemus, who wrote about 157 BC, included copies of apocryphal letters exchanged between Solomon and the kings of Egypt and Tyre.

A slightly different accounting can be found in the book Against Apion, by the 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus, who describes 22 sacred books: the five books of Moses, thirteen histories, and four books of hymns to God and precepts for the conduct of human life.

Rashīd al-Dīn Fadhl-allāh Hamadānī ( 1247 – 1318 ), was a Persian physician of Jewish origin, polymathic writer and historian, who wrote an enormous Islamic history, the Jami al-Tawarikh, in the Persian language, often considered a landmark in intercultural historiography and a key document on the Ilkhanids ( 13th and 14th century ).

Arafat's sister Inam stated in an interview with Arafat's biographer, British historian Alan Hart, that Arafat was heavily beaten by his father for going to the Jewish quarter in Cairo and attending religious services.

In the mid-20th century, the Jewish historian Gershom Scholem contended that de Leon himself was the most likely author of the Zohar.

** Gershom Scholem, German-born Israeli Jewish philosopher and historian ( d. 1982 )

* February 21 – Gershom Scholem, German-born Israeli Jewish philosopher and historian ( b. 1897 )