The approximate dates presented by Josephus are in concordance with other historical records, and most scholars view the variation between the motive presented by Josephus and the New Testament accounts is seen as an indication that the Josephus passage is not a Christian interpolation.

" Josephus records that Essenes existed in large numbers, and thousands lived throughout Roman Judæa.

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 ).

Josephus, citing Tyrian court records and Menander in Against Apion, gives a specific year during which Hiram I of Tyre sent materials to Solomon for the construction of the temple.

According to Josephus, he was a milder ruler than his grandfather Herod the Great, and Josephus records him as talking with and then forgiving a law student accused of political rabble rousing, rather than punishing him as his grandfather and some other Herods would have done.

* 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.

Flavius Josephus records that Herod the Great completely rebuilt the Temple, even going so far as to replace the foundation stones and to smooth off the surface of the Temple Mount.

Josephus records the false etymology that the Greek phrase Hyksos stood for the Egyptian phrase Hekw Shasu meaning the Shepherd Kings, which scholars have only recently shown means " rulers of foreign lands.

Josephus records three short-lived marriages in Berenice's life, the first which took place sometime between 41 and 43, to Marcus Julius Alexander, brother of Tiberius Julius Alexander and son of Alexander the Alabarch of Alexandria.

The beginning date of Hiram ’ s reign is derived from a statement by Josephus, citing both Tyrian court records and the writings of Menander, relating that 143 years passed between the start of construction of Solomon ’ s Temple until the founding of Carthage ( or until Dido ’ s flight that led to its founding ).

Josephus, citing both Tyrian court records and the writings of Menander, says that it was in Hiram ’ s 12th year that he sent assistance to Solomon for building the Temple.

Josephus records the earliest account of the false but understandable etymology that the Greek phrase Hyksos stood for the Egyptian phrase Hekw Shasu meaning the Bedouin-like Shepherd Kings, which scholars have only recently shown means " rulers of foreign lands.

Neverthelss Noah in his promotional materials did enthusiastically claim that the historian Josephus had said of the Book of Jasher: " by this book are to be understood certain records kept in some safe place on purpose, giving an account of what happened among the Hebrews from year to year, and called Jasher or the upright, on account of the fidelity of the annals.

Josephus also records the Persian persecution of Jews and mentions Jews being forced to worship at Persian erected shrines.

In 1808, Henry Alford cast doubt on Tabor due to the possible continuing Roman utilization of a fortress which Antiochus the Great built on Tabor in BC219, and which Josephus records was in use by the Romans in the Jewish War.

The town played a role after the Hasmonean Maccabee Revolt: Josephus records that the Jewish High Priest Jonathan was killed there by Demetrius II Nicator.

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 ).

Josephus ' records of Berossus include some of the only extant narrative material, but he is likely dependent on Alexander Polyhistor, even if he did give the impression that he had direct access to Berossus.

Josephus records that Pompey profaned the Temple by insisting on entering the Holy of Holies.

Flavius Josephus in Jewish Antiquities book 20, chapter 2 records the story of King Izates who having been persuaded by a Jewish merchant named Ananias ( claimed by Robert Eisenman in James the Brother of Jesus to be Paul of Tarsus ) to embrace the Jewish religion, decided to get circumcised so as to follow Jewish law.

1 Maccabees records that Judah's army consisting of 3, 000 men were terrified of such a large force and two thirds of them deserted, leaving Judah with 800-1, 000 soldiers ( 1 Maccabees, and Flavius Josephus respectively ).

However, according to Josephus, in Antiquities, Book 7, Chapter 1, Joab had forgiven Abner for the death of his brother, Asahel, the reason being that Abner had slain Asahel honorably in combat after he had first warned Asahel and had no other choice but to kill him out of self defense.

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 names are indeed unattested in Persian texts as gods, however the Talmud ( Sanhedrin 61b ) and Rashi both record a practice of deifying Haman and Josephus speaks of him being worshipped.

According to Josephus, power made Caligula incredibly conceited and led him to think he was a god.

John Painter states that phrase " who was called Christ " is used by Josephus in this passage " by way of distinguishing him from others of the same name such as the high priest Jesus son of Damneus, or Jesus son of Gamaliel " both having been mentioned by Josephus in this context.

( Jews did not preserve the writings of Josephus because they considered him to be a traitor.

And again in his Commentary on Matthew ( Book X, Chapter 17 ) Origen refers to Josephus ' Antiquities of the Jews by name and that Josephus had stated that the death of James had brought a wrath upon those who had killed him.

In item 20 of that chapter Eusebius then mentions Josephus ' reference to the death of James and the sufferings that befell those who killed him.

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.

An issue that is subject to more debate is that in Commentary on Matthew ( Book X, Chapter 17 ), Origen cites Josephus as stating the death of James had brought a wrath upon those who had killed him, and that his death was the cause of the destruction of Jerusalem.

In Book II, Chapter 23. 20 of his Church History, Eusebius mentions Josephus ' reference to the death of James and the sufferings that befell those who killed him.

For the Jews slew him, although he was a most just man .” However, this statement does not appear in the extant manuscripts of Josephus.

According to Van Voorst, the statement " those that loved him at the first did not forsake him " has the characteristics of Josephus ' writing and points to the continuation of Christianity.

Craig Blomberg states that if the three elements " lawful to call him a man ", " he was the Christ " and the reference to the resurrection are removed from the Testimonium the rest of the passage flows smoothly within the context, fits the style of Josephus and is likely to be authentic.

Vermes states that the Testomonium provides Josephus ' authentic portrayal of Jesus, depicting him as a wise teacher and miracle worker with an enthusiastic group of followers who remained faithful to him after his crucifixion by Pilate, up to the time of Josephus.

Josephus wrote that his revelation had taught him three things: that God, the creator of the Jewish people, had decided to " punish " them, that " fortune " had been given to the Romans, and that God had chosen him " to announce the things that are to come ".

Vespasian arranged for the widower Josephus to marry a captured Jewish woman, who ultimately left him.

Josephus ( Jewish Antiquities I, vi ) using extra-Biblical accounts provides context for the migration from Caphtor to Philistia.

In 1894, Josephus Daniels bought The News & Observer at a distressed property auction with the purpose of using the paper to support the state Democratic Party ; 70 prominent North Carolina Democrats donated money for the auction.

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.

It is both the lack of any original corroborating manuscript source outside the Christian tradition as well as the practice of Christian interpolation that has led to the scholarly debate regarding the authenticity of Josephus ' references to Jesus in his work.

Josephus's Against Apion is a two-volume defence of Judaism as classical religion and philosophy, stressing its antiquity, as opposed to what Josephus claimed was the relatively more recent tradition of the Greeks.

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 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.

Josephus calls him a ' bastard ' ( νόθος ), though in a derogative sense. A late extra-Biblical tradition, recorded by Nachmanides, maintains that the Amalekites were not descended from the grandson of Esau but from a man named Amalek, from whom the grandson took his name.

The Queen of Sheba (, ;, ;, ) was a monarch of the ancient kingdom of Sheba and is referred to in Ethiopian history, the Bible, the Qur ' an, Yoruba customary tradition, and Josephus.

They are inconsistent with the tradition, found in Josephus and the Talmud but not in the Bible, that the earthquake occurred when Uzziah entered the Temple to offer incense, accepting that the beginning of the Uzziah / Jotham coregency began sometime in the six-month period after Nisan 1 of 750 BC ( see the Jotham article ).

* There follows a summary of Abraham's career based on the Biblical account with the some changes and details similar to those found in the Genesis Apocryphon and Josephus and in Enochite tradition.

In the Armenian tradition and Western Christianity, based on Jerome's reading of Josephus, the mountain became associated with Mount Masis ( now known as Mount Ararat ) the highest peak of the Armenian Highland, located in present day Turkey.

Herodotus had noticed the practice among various Semite nations in the 5th century BCE, and Josephus had specifically mentioned circumcision as a tradition among Arabs in the first century CE.

" This tradition is found twice, in Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews xiv.

The third form of the tradition is that of Jason of Cyrene, on which the second Book of the Maccabees is based ; and Schlatter is even of the opinion that Josephus himself drew his account of the Tobiads from this same source.