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Josippon (mid 10th-cent. CE) is a medieval Jewish chronicle of Second Temple Judaism.

Overview

Written in Hebrew, the Sefer Josippon was composed in southern Italy in the mid-tenth century CE, based on three major Latin sources--the Book of Maccabees, the writings of Josephus, and the Hegesippus. The Jewish author, who was fluent in Hebrew and Latin, also had access to the Vulgate and its Apocrypha, and to some Roman sources (Livy, Virgil's Aeneid, Orosius, and others).

After providing a discussion of the table of nations in Genesis 10 and a narrative of the founding of Rome, Josippon focuses on the history of the Jews in the Second Temple Period down to the fall of Masada.

Manuscripts

The Josippon has a very complex history.

The oldest extant abstract was made in southern Italy, about 1150, by Jerahmeel ben Solomon

Another abstract, made in 1161 by Abraham ibn Daud, was used as the third book of his Sefer Seder ha-Qabbalah.

An Arabic translation of Josippon by a Yemenite Jew was probably in existence already in the 11th century. From Arabic it was translated into Ethiopic (c. 1300).

Printed editions and translations

The editio princeps of the Hebrew text of Josippon was published by Abraham Conat in Mantua, Italy in 1474-76; see ספר יוסיפון (Josippon / 1474-76 Conat), book (Hebrew / ed. princeps)

In 1510 Jacob Tam ibn Yahya ben David (1475c-1542) published in Constantinople a revised Hebrew text, enlarged and emended on the basis of a ms. edited by Judah Leon ben Moses Mosconi in the 14th century; see ספר יוסיפון (Josippon / 1510 Tam ibn Yahya), book (Hebrew)

Based on the Constantinople ed., Sebastian Münster published in Basel in 1544 a new edition of the Hebrew text with a Latin translation, which for the first time made the text accessible to a larger audience; see Iosephus Hebraicus (Josippon / 1541 Münster), book (Latin, Hebrew).

The Constantinople ed. was the basis of all editions of Josippon in the 16th and 17th centuries (Venice 1544; Cracow 1588 & 1599; Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1689). Three translations of the work also appeared in the 16th century: in Yiddish by Michael Adam (Zurich 1546; Prague, 1607; Amsterdam, 1661), in German by Georg Wolff (Ursel 1557), and in English by Peter Morwen (London 1558; often reprinted).

At the beginning of the 18th century, Jean Gagnier produced a new Latin translation in 1706. One year later, Friedrich Breithaupt published a new edition of the Hebrew text with a Latin translation and notes (Gotha 1707; repr. 1710); see יוסיפון בן גוריון id est: Josephus Gorionides, sive Josephus Hebraicus (Josippon / 1707 Breithaupt), book. In 1743 Menahem Amelander revised Adam's Yiddish translation; see כתר כהונה, והוא, ספר יוסיפון / (Josippon / 1743 Amelander), book

During the 18th and the 19th century, the Hebrew text of Josippon was reprinted at Amsterdam (1723), Prague (1784), Warsaw (1845 & 1871), Zhitomir (1851), and Lvov (1855).

In 1897 Julius Wellhausen published a German translations of an excerpt from the Arabic version of the work.

In the 20th century the Ethiopic text of Josippon were published by Murad Kamil in 1937. Hominer and Wertheimer (1967) reprinted the 1544 Venice edition. Ariel Toaff completed in 1969 the first Italian translation of the work. In 1978-80 David Flusser completed the first critical edition of the Hebrew text.

In 2009 Shulamit Sela produced the most comprehensive edition of the Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic texts, based on her 1991 dissertation.

External links

• Wikipedia.en

• Jewish Encyclopedia (1901-06) -- Jewish Virtual Library

Jewish Encyclopedia

Editions: (1) The first edition of the "Yosippon" was published in Mantua by Abraham Conat (1476-79), who also wrote a preface to it. Other editions are: (2) Constantinople, 1510; arranged and enlarged, with a preface by Tam ibn Yaḥya ben David. It is borrowed to a great extent from that of Judah Leon ben Moses Mosconi (b. 1328), published in "Oẓar Ṭob," 1878, i. 017 et seq. (see Berliner's "Magazin," 1876, p. 153). The text in this edition is divided into ninety-seven chapters. (3) Basel, 1541; with a Latin preface, and a translation from the text of the editio princeps, by Sebastian Münster. The edition, however, contains only chapters iv. to lxiii.; the remaining chapters have been translated into Latin by David Kyberus ("Historia Belli Judaici," in De la Bigne's "Bibliotheca Patroni," Paris). (4) Venice, 1544; reprinted from the Constantinople edition, as were all the following editions. (5) Cracow, 1588 and 1599. (6) Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1689. (7) Gotha, 1707 and 1710; with Münster's preface and a Latin translation and notes by Friedrich Breithaupt. Other editions appeared at Amsterdam (1723), Prague (1784), Warsaw (1845 and 1871), Jitomir (1851), and Lemberg (1855; see Steinschneider, "Hebr. Bibl." xi. 62).

Translations and Compilations: A Judæo-German translation, with excellent illustrations, was published by Michael Adam (Zurich, 1546; Prague, 1607; Amsterdam, 1661); it was later revised by Menahem ben Solomon ha-Levi, and published under the title "Keter Torah" (Amsterdam, 1743). Another Latin translation, with Tam ibn Yaḥya's preface, was published by Joseph Gagnier (Oxford, 1706); a French translation of Kyberus' Latin supplement by F. de Belleforest was published in Genebrard's French translation of Fl. Josephus (Paris, 1609). The oldest extant abstract was made in southern Italy, about 1150, by Jerahmeel ben Solomon (see the fragments published by Neubauer—"M. J. C." i. 190; "J. Q. R." xi. 364—and the translation of a portion by M. Gaster—"The Chronicles of Jerahmeel," London, 1899). Another abstract, made in 1161 by Abraham ibn Daud and used as the third book of his "Sefer Seder ha-Ḳabbalah," was published (Mantua, 1513; Venice, 1545; Basel, 1580, etc.), with Münster's Latin translation, at Worms (1529) and Basel (1559). An English translation of this abstract was made by Peter Morvyn (London, 1558, 1561, 1575, 1608). A Judæo-German compendium by Edel bat Moses was published in Cracow in 1670; the oldest German extract, under the title "Joseppi Jüdische Historien" (author not known) is described in Wolf, "Bibl. Hebr." (iii. 389). Some short extracts, in German, are given in Zedner, "Auswahl aus Hebräischen Schriftstellern" (pp. 16 et seq.), and in Winter and Wünsche, "Die Jüdische Litteratur" (iii. 310 et seq.). For the Arabic and Yemenite translations, in which the author is called "Yusuf ibn Ḳaryun," see Zechariah ibn Said.