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.

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.

In later years Josephus Daniels was to claim that World War 1, was the first in American history in which there was great concern for both the health and morals of our soldiers.

Here Acts 12: 21-23 is largely parallel to Antiquities 19. 8. 2 ; ( 2 ) the cause of the Egyptian pseudo-prophet in Acts 21: 37f and in Josephus ( War 2. 13. 5 ; Antiquities 20. 8. 6 ); ( 3 ) the curious resemblance as to the order in which Theudas and Judas of Galilee are referred to in both ( Acts 5: 36f ; Antiquities 20. 5. 1 ).

Josephus claims the Jewish Messianic prophecies that initiated the First Roman-Jewish War made reference to Vespasian becoming Emperor of Rome.

The works of Josephus provide crucial information about the First Jewish-Roman War and also represent important literary source material for understanding the context of the Dead Sea Scrolls and late Temple Judaism.

It was against this background that Josephus wrote his War, and although this work has often been dismissed as pro-Roman propaganda ( hardly a surprising view, given the source of his patronage ), he claims to be writing to counter anti-Judean accounts.

* 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.

The earliest copies of The Jewish War by Josephus ( originally composed in the 1st century AD ), in contrast, come from nine manuscripts written in the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries.

The Romans fared very poorly during the initial revolt facing a completely unified Jewish force ( unlike during the First Jewish-Roman War, where Flavius Josephus records three separate Jewish armies fighting each other for control of the Temple Mount during the three weeks time after the Romans had breached Jerusalem's walls and were fighting their way to the center ).

* Daniels, Josephus, The Wilson Era: Years of War and After, 1917-1923 ( Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1946 )

* Josephus, The War of the Jews, English translation

In Josephus ' Jewish War ( vii ), after the fall of the Temple in 70 CE, the sicarii became the dominant revolutionary Jewish party, scattered abroad.

The most complete ancient account of this event is The Jewish War by Flavius Josephus.

She shows up in The Enemies of Jupiter, is mentioned in The Assassins of Rome and plays a fairly prominent role in Lion Feuchtwanger's historical novel, Josephus ( The Jewish War ).

* Josephus, The War of the Jews, Book II, English translation

During the First Jewish – Roman War Josephus Flavius took control of the city and destroyed Herod's palace, but was able to stop the city from being pillaged by his Jewish army.

Josephus ( Antiquities 12. 8. 1 ; War 1. 2. 3 ) mentions a place named Dagon above Jericho.

In February 1921, at the urging of Mitchell, who was anxious to test his theories of destruction of ships by aerial bombing, Secretary of War Newton Baker and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels agreed to a series of joint Army-Navy exercises, known as Project B, to be held that summer in which surplus or captured ships could be used as targets.

Josephus, the author of the most extensive historical account of the Second Temple Period, gives an extensive account of Jewish sectarianism in both Jewish War and Antiquities.

Separate passages in the " Jewish Antiquities " and " Jewish War " of the 1st century Jewish historian and scholar Josephus show that Jews of that time identified Gog and Magog with the Scythians: Alexander the Great, Josephus said, locked these horse-riding barbarians of the far north behind the Caucasus mountains with iron gates.

In his Church History ( Book I, Chapter XI ) Eusebius discusses the Josephus reference to how Herod Antipas killed John the Baptist, and mentions the marriage to Herodias in items 1 to 6.

However, although both the gospels and Josephus refer to Herod Antipas killing John the Baptist, they differ on the details and motives, e. g. whether this act was a consequence of the marriage of Herod Antipas and Herodias ( as indicated in Matthew 14: 4, Mark 6: 18 ), or a pre-emptive measure by Herod which possibly took place before the marriage to quell a possible uprising based on the remarks of John, as Josephus suggests in Antiquities 18. 5. 2.

Dunn states that Josephus positions John as a righteous preacher ( dikaiosyne ) who encourages his followers to practice " righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God " and that Mark 6: 20 similarly calls John " a righteous ( dikaios ) and holy man ".

According to Josephus ( Antiquities of the Jews I. 6 ):

5 and 6 ), Josephus ( Antiquities 1. 4. 3 ), and the Sibylline Oracles ( iii.

* Flavius Josephus ( Antiquitates Iudaicae i. 6, § 1 ) reads " Tarshush ", identifying it as the city of Tarsus in southern Asia Minor, which was referred to in Assyrian records from the reign of Esarhaddon as Tarsisi.

Josephus connected it with " Cophen, an Indian river, and in part of Asia adjoining to it ," ( Antiquities of the Jews I: 6 ), sometimes associated with a part of Afghanistan.

In a 1951 article, J. Liver argued that the 825 date has some credibility because, with it, the elapsed time between that date and the start of building of Solomon ’ s Temple, given as 143 years and 8 months in Menander / Josephus, agrees very closely with the date of approximately 967 BC for the start of Temple construction as derived from 1 Kings 6: 1 ( fourth year of Solomon ) and the date given by most historians for the end of Solomon ’ s forty-year reign, i. e. 932 or 931 BC.

* Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews Book XVIII, Chapter 6 English translation

However Josephus ( 1st century ) appears to find the story completely credible ( Antiquities of the Jews 6, 14 ).

Josephus says in his Antiquity of the Jews, book 8 chapter 6, that it was the " queen of Egypt and Ethiopia " who visited King Solomon.

On July 27, 1917, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels approved the project ; the contract was let on August 6, 1917 and ground was broken four days later.

Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XVIII ch. 6, is invaluable.

Josephus mentions a number of people who had taken the vow, such as his tutor Banns ( Antiquities 20. 6 ), and Gamaliel records in the Mishna how the father of Rabbi Chenena made a lifetime nazirite vow before him ( Nazir 29b ).

AD 6 according to Josephus, see above.

* Josephus, War 2. 220, 2. 309, 2. 490-497, 4. 616-617, 5. 45-46, 5. 205, 6. 236-243

* But Josephus makes it plain that Gamala, while added to his jurisdiction, was not in Galilee, but in Gaulanitis ( BJ, II, xx, 6 ).

* To go to the other side-eis tó péran ( Mark 6: 45 )-does not of necessity imply passing from the east to the west coast of the lake, since Josephus uses the verb diaperaióō of a passage from Tiberias to Tarichaeae ( Vita, 59 ).

Josephus alleges that Phraates V married his mother Musa, and, this being unacceptable to the Iranian Parthians, they rose up and overthrew him, offering the crown to Orodes III of Parthia ( who ruled briefly in 6 ).

Josephus alleges that Musa then married Phraates V, and, this being unacceptable to the Parthians, they rose up and overthrew them, offering the crown to Orodes III ( who ruled briefly in 6 ).

Chapter 3. 6 quotes Tacitus, Varro, Valerius Maximus, Orosius, Frontinus, Strabo, Caesar, Columella, Plutarch, Josephus, Diodorus Siculus, Photius, Xiphilinus, Zonaras, Seneca, Petronius, Juvenal, Philo, Celsus, the authors of the Acts of the Apostles and of the pseudo-gospels of Nicodemus and St. James, and Claudius himself in his surviving letters and speeches.