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.

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 him admitting to using " nameless oral tradition " ( 1. 105 ) and " myths and legends " ( 1. 229 ) into his account, and there is no reason to doubt this, as admissions of this type were common among historians of that era.

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 ).

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 earliest known such reference to Josephus ' work is found in the writings of the third century patristic author Origen, although he does not provide any direct reference to the passages involving Jesus.

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.

One of the earliest recordings of a play inspired by the myth of Myrrha is in the Antiquities of the Jews, written in 93 A. D. by the Roman-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.

The earliest and only surviving reference to Manetho's Aegyptiaca is that of the Jewish historian Josephus in his work " Against Apion ".

In Greek, the earliest fragments ( the Carthage inscription and Flavius Josephus ) write his name as Μανεθων Manethōn, so the rendering of his name here is given as Manetho ( the same way that Platōn is rendered " Plato ").

The earliest surviving attestation to Manetho is that of Josephus ' Contra Apionem, " Against Apion " nearly 4 centuries after Aegyptiaca was written.

Contemporary Biblical scholars like John P. Meier argue part of the reason why the passages about Christianity in Josephus are authentic is because they exist in all relevant manuscripts – Clare K. Rothschild ( Associate Professor of Theology at Lewis University ) has censured this argument on the basis that " the earliest manuscript dates from the eleventh century ", the Ambrosianus 370 ( F 128 ) being the earliest ; preserved in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan.

The 2nd century chronicler Hegesippus also left an account of the death of James, and while the details he provides diverge from those of Josephus, the two accounts share similar elements.

Moreover, in comparison with Hegesippus ' account of James ' death, most scholars consider Josephus ' to be the more historically reliable.

The 4th century writings of Eusebius of Caesarea refer to Josephus ' account of James, John and Jesus.

Josephus ' account places the date of the death of James as AD 62.

However, the account of Josephus differs from that of later works by Hegesippus, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen, and Eusebius of Caesarea that it simply has James stoned while the others have other variations such as having James thrown from the top of the Temple, stoned, and finally beaten to death by laundrymen as well as his death occurring during the siege of Jerusalem in AD 69.

Although Josephus ' account of the method of death of James differs from that of the New Testament, this is seen as an indication that the Josephus account is not a Christian interpolation.

Wells further states that differences between the Josephus account and those of Hegesippus and Clement of Alexandria may point to interpolations in the James passage.

Richard Bauckham states that although a few scholars have questioned the James passage, " the vast majority have considered it to be authentic ", and that among the several accounts of the death of James the account in Josephus is generally considered to be historically the most reliable.

John Painter states that the difference in the context for the Jewish Wars and the Antiquities may also account for some of the differences in tone between them, e. g. when writing of Ananus in a positive tone in the Jewish Wars the context was Ananus ' prudence in avoiding a war and hence Josephus considered that a positive aspect.

Accounts of John in the New Testament appear compatible with the account in Josephus.

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

An account of John the Baptist is found in all extant manuscripts of the Jewish Antiquities ( book 18, chapter 5, 2 ) by Flavius Josephus ( 37 – 100 ):

Together with the account in his Life of some of the same events, it also provides the reader with an overview of Josephus ' own part in the events since his return to Jerusalem from a brief visit to Rome in the early 60s ( Life 13 – 17 ).

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on account of his marriage to an Ethiopian, Josephus explains the marriage of Moses to this Ethiopian in the Antiquities of the Jews and about him being the only one through whom the Lord spoke.

Manetho for instance in a distorted account reported in Josephus, states that Moses was originally Osarseph a renegade priest, who led a band of lepers out of Avaris ( referred to as Raamses in the Bible ).

The single account of the Massacre comes in the Gospel of Matthew: it is not mentioned in Luke's gospel or by any contemporaneous historians, or by the later Roman Jewish historian, Josephus.

The description of Herod Agrippa I as a cruel, heartless king who persecuted the Jerusalem church, having James son of Zebedee killed and imprisoning Peter, stands in stark contrast with Josephus ' account of a kindly man.

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

There is, however, good reason to doubt this account by Josephus.

Furthermore, this account may represent a piece of Pharisaic apologetics due to Josephus ’ Pharisaic background.

Also the early historian Flavius Josephus, who detailed a history of the Jewish people and wrote an account of the Jewish Rebellion of 67.

According to Josephus, Berenice requested this marriage to dispel rumors that she and her brother were carrying on an incestuous relationship, with Polemon being persuaded to this union mostly on account of her wealth.