Category:Josephus Studies

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Josephus Studies (Home Page)

Josephus Studies is a field of research in Second Temple Judaism, that specializes in the study of Josephus and his Works. It includes scholarly works by international specialists, as well as selected fictional and non-fictional works by authors who have influenced the development of scholarship in the field.

Editions of the Works of Josephus

Besides a (lost) first edition of the Jewish War in Aramaic, Josephus composed all his works in Greek. With the exception of the Vita, all works of Josephus were translated into Latin by Cassiodurus. In the Middle Ages, however, Josephus was known mostly through a Latin paraphrases (named Hegesippus) and a 10th cent. Hebrew summary (named Josippon).

Editions of the Greek text

The 'editio princeps of the Greek text was published in 1544 by Arnoldus Arlenius. This text was the basis of the Seneven (1611 & 1634) and Leipzig editions (1691 by Iffig). A more correct text was published by Hudson (Oxford, 1720). The edition by Havercamp (1726) became the textus receptus, followed by Oberthur (1782-85) and Richter (1825-27). An improved edition of the Havercamp text was made by Wilhelm Dindorf (Parsi 1845-47, followed by Bekker (Leipzig 1855-56). Critical edition were completed by Naber (Leipzig 1888-96) and Niese (editio maior, Berlin 1887-95; editio minor, Berlin 1888-96

Editions of the Old Latin text

The editio princeps of the Latin text appeared more than 70 years before the publication of the Greek text, in 1470 in Augsburg by John Schlusser. Editions of the Latin text continued to be published regularly until 1617, then more sporadically.

Editions (and translations) of the Hegesippus

The editio princeps of Hegesippus appeared in Paris in 1510, and was reprinted in Gallandi's Bibliotheca patrum (tom. vii) and in Migne's Patrologia latina (tom. xv). A critical editition of the text was completed by Weber and Julius Caesar in Marburg in 1864.

Editions (and translations) of the Josippon

The editio princeps of Josippon appeared in Mantua in 1474-76, and then (in a revised and enlarged form) in Constantinople in 1510. The best earlier edition is the one published, with a Latin translation, by J.F. Breithhaupt in 1707.

Translations of the Works of Josephus

The first printed translations of Josephus (in Italian and German) were based on the Latin text. By the end of the 16th century however the Greek text became the basis of all translations

Italian Translations

The first Italian translations were based on the Latin text: the Jewish War (1493) and the Jewish Antiquities (1544). In 1580-81 Francesco Baldelli authored the first Italian translation based on the Greek text.

The 17th century saw only a reprint of the Lauro's translation in 1620.

Francesco Angiolini completed in 1779-80 a translation of all the works of Josephus.

The Jewish War was translated again by Luigi Calori in 1878-79, and Giusepppe Ricciotti in 1937.

The interest on Flavius Josephus arose again in the 1970 with the translation of the Jewish War by Giovanni Vitucci in 1974 and Againt Apion by Lucio Troiani in 1977.

New translations came in the 1990s: the Vita by Giorgio Jossa (1992) and Elvira Migliario (1994); Against Apion by Francesca Calabi (1993). After Luigi Moraldi published another version of the Jewish Antiquities in 1998, different portions of the same work have been translated also by Alessandro Galimberti (2001), Silvia Castelli (2002), and Manlio Simonetti (2002).

German Translations

The first German translation (Caspar Hedio, 1531) was based on the Latin text, but was revised already in 1561 based on the Greek text. It was followed by the versions by Conrad Lautenbach (Strassburg 1574) and Johann Baptist Ott (Zurich 1736), who also translated the Hegesippus.

Cotta (Tubingen 1736) and Demme (7th ed. 1868-69).

French translations

a French translation was issued by Burgoing in Lyons in 1558.

English translations

The first English translation of Josephus' Works by Thomas Lodge in 1602 (often reprinted: London 1683; Cambridge 1693) was based on the Latin text and on the French translation by Nicolas de Herberay; see The Famous and Memorable Works of Josephus (1602 Lodge), book. Lodge's translation was revised in 1702 by Roger L'Estrange, based on the Greek text.

The 1733 translation by John Court was the first made directly on the Greek text as edited in 1720 by John Hudson.

William Whiston's English translation in 1737 was the third major English version of Josephus' Works. Several other translations were made in the 18th century () but it was the Whinston version that became standard. Often reprinted, revised by Arthur Richard Shilleto in 1888-89 and David Samuel Margoliouth in 1906, is still in use today.

Then came the Loeb edition of all works of Josephus, by Henry St. John Thackeray et al. (1926-81). Other partial translation include the Jewish War by Geoffrey Arthur Williamson (1959) and confeldt (in 1982), and a selection of relevant passages by Nahum N. Glatzer in 1960.

Finally, Steve Mason launched in 2000 a new project of translation of the entire Josephus corpus.

Spanish Translations

Other Translations

There are translations of Josephus in all major European language.