It too follows the original biblical account and includes additional traditions matching those found in the Greek version and Josephus ( whom the author claims as a source ) with the exception of the details of the letters found in the latter works.

Paul L. Maier, argues that Bethlehem was small and that the massacre would have been too small for Josephus to have heard of, given that it allegedly took place over forty years before his birth.

# The archives of the most ancient races — the Egyptians, Chaldaeans, and Phoenicians — need to be opened, and their citizens must be called upon, through whom knowledge must be provided — a certain Manetho the Egyptian and Berosus the Chaldaean, but also Jerome the Phoenician king of Tyre ; and their followers, too: Ptolemy the Mendesian and Menander the Ephesian and Demetrius the Phalerean and king Juba and Apion and Thallus and the one who either proves or refutes these men, Josephus the Jew.

" Like other textual sources, Flavius Josephus too criticizes the reign of Amon, describing his reign similarly to the Bible.

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.

Once, Josephus relates, after kidnapping the secretary of Eleazar, governor of the Temple precincts, they agreed to release him in exchange for the release of ten of their captured assassins.

Josephus then relates how Agrippa's brother, Herod of Chalcis, and Helcias sent Aristo to kill Silas.

The Greek version ( Septuagint ) of the Book of Esther refers to him as Artaxerxes, and the historian Josephus relates that this was the name by which he was known to the Greeks.

Josephus ( Antiquitates Judaicae 18. 33-35 ) relates that Caiaphas became a high priest during a turbulent period.

Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, relates the traditional view of the Jews regarding the prediction of Cyrus in Isaiah in his Antiquities of the Jews, book 11, chapter 1:

Josephus, who relates this episode, does not say who the leader of this resistance was, but shortly afterwards states that Pontius Pilate had Jesus crucified.

Josephus, in Antiquities of the Jews, relates Honi's end in the context of conflict between the Hasmonean brothers Hyrcanus II, backed by the Pharisees and advised by Antipater the Idumaean, and Aristobulus II, backed by the Sadducees.

These have been identified with the Samaritans Sabbæeus and Theodosius, of whom Josephus relates that they defended before the Egyptian king Ptolemæus Philometor, against Andronicus, the advocate of the Jews, the sanctity of Mt.

Herod is believed to have died in 4 BC, and while Matthew doesn't mention how, the Jewish historian Josephus vividly relates a gory death.

Shortly after 153 BCE, Josephus relates that Alexander Balas appointed Jonathan Maccabeus as strategos ( general ) and meridarch ( civil governor of a province ) of Judea, and sent him back with honors to Jerusalem ( I Macc.

However, Josephus in his later work, the Jewish Antiquities 14. 330-331, relates that it was Antigonus who made the offer to the Parthians.

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.

Several scholars have argued that Acts used material from both of Josephus ' works, rather than the other way around, which would indicate that Acts was written around the year 100 or later.

Josephus, a contemporary, reports that " Jerusalem ... was so thoroughly razed to the ground by those that demolished it to its foundations, that nothing was left that could ever persuade visitors that it had once been a place of habitation.

A similar story is reported by Flavius Josephus during the siege of Jerusalem by Rome in 70 AD ( see Mary of Bethezuba ), and the population of Numantia during the Roman Siege of Numantia in the 2nd century BC was reduced to cannibalism and suicide.

Some historians, particularly Josephus, claim that Claudius was directed in his actions by the Judaean King Herod Agrippa.

Philo of Alexandria, Josephus and Seneca state that Caligula was insane, but describe this madness as a personality trait that came through experience.

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

Josephus does not say the festival was called Hannukkah but rather the " Festival of Lights ":

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.

The overwhelming majority of modern scholars consider the reference in Book 20, Chapter 9, 1 of the Antiquities to " the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James " to be authentic and to have the highest level of authenticity among the references of Josephus to Christianity.

The works of Josephus refer to at least twenty different people with the name Jesus, and in chapter 9 of Book 20, there is also a reference to Jesus son of Damneus who was a High Priest of Israel but is distinct from the reference to " Jesus called Christ " mentioned along with the identification of James.

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.

While Josephus identifies the location of the imprisonment of John as Machaerus, southeast of the mouth of the Jordan river, the gospels mention no location for the place where John was imprisoned.

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.

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 ).

Bar-Hebraeus identified Ahasuerus explicitly as Artaxerxes II ; however, the names are not necessarily equivalent: Hebrew has a form of the name Artaxerxes distinct from Ahasuerus, and a direct Greek rendering of Ahasuerus is used by both Josephus and the Septuagint for occurrences of the name outside the Book of Esther.

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 Testimonium Flavianum ( meaning the testimony of Flavius < nowiki ></ nowiki >) is the name given to the passage found in Book 18, Chapter 3, 3 of the Antiquities in which Josephus describes the condemnation and crucifixion of Jesus at the hands of the Roman authorities.

Origen explicitly mentions the name of Josephus 11 times, both in Greek and Latin.

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.

Van Voorst also states that the use of a neutral term " called Christ " which neither denies nor affirms Jesus as the Messiah points to authenticity, and indicates that Josephus used it to distinguish Jesus from the many other people called Jesus at the time, in the same way that James is distinguished, given that it was also a common name.

After Vespasian did become Emperor in 69 he granted Josephus his freedom at which time Josephus assumed the emperor's family name of Flavius.

Josephus argued for an Egyptian etymology, and some scholarly suggestions have followed this in deriving the name from Coptic terms mo " water " and ` uses " save, deliver ", suggesting a meaning " saved from the water ".

But in the Aramaic versions Rekem is the name of Kadesh, implying that Josephus may have confused the two places.

William Whiston, a 17 / 18th century translator of the Antiquities, stated in a footnote that he believed Josephus mistook Seth for Sesostris, king of Egypt, the erector of the referenced pillar in Siriad ( being a contemporary name for the territories in which Sirius was venerated ( i. e., Egypt ).

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.

Tyropoeon Valley ( i. e., " Valley of the Cheesemakers ") is the name given by Josephus the historian ( Wars 5. 140 ) to the valley or rugged ravine, in the Old City of Jerusalem, which in ancient times separated Mount Moriah from Mount Zion and emptied into the valley of Hinnom.

* In the Torah, it is also the name of a gem-stone associated with the Tribe of Asher that has been identified by the Septuagint and by Josephus as the " gold stone " χρυσόλιθος ( whose identification remains in dispute, possibly topaz, probably not modern chrysolite ), and later as aquamarine.

The Babylonian Talmud, as well as Flavius Josephus mention the sea by the name " Sea of Ginnosar " after the small fertile plain of Gennesereth that lies on its western side.

The historian Josephus mentions Ogyges as the name of the oak by which the Hebrew patriarch Abram dwelt while he lived near Hebron.