79 texts in Josephus
His response? A powerful and passionate defense of the Jewish people, a work we know as Against Apion. The title Against Apion is a bit misleading, at least for this first book. It...
Against Apion turns to Epaphroditus's Transgression. He begins this work by addressing a man named Epaphroditus. Now, there's some debate about who this Epaphroditus actually was. ...
Josephus begins by expressing his astonishment at those who insist on relying solely on Greek sources when seeking information about the most ancient events. Why, he asks, should w...
Flavius Josephus, in his Against Apion, grapples with precisely this when he contrasts the historical record of the Jews with that of the Greeks. He points out that the Greeks them...
How can the Greeks be so proud, boasting that they alone possess knowledge of antiquity and have delivered accurate accounts of early times? It seems a bit. well, absurd, doesn't i...
Why can't we get a straight story? Josephus, in his work Against Apion, grapples with this very issue, specifically regarding the discrepancies between Greek and Jewish accounts of...
Josephus points out a fundamental problem: when historians lack reliable source material, disagreements are bound to arise. If there are no original records, then individual interp...
Josephus, in his work Against Apion, reflects on this very question. He's making a case for the integrity and antiquity of Jewish history, and he does so by comparing it to the his...
It was a matter of utmost importance, a sacred duty meticulously observed. Josephus, in his work Against Apion, gives us a fascinating glimpse into this world. He explains that our...
The historian Josephus, writing in his work Against Apion, gives us a glimpse into the Jewish perspective on this very question. He contrasts the Jewish reverence for scripture wit...
Against Apion turns to Vespasian's Understanding. Josephus, a name that echoes through the ages. He was a Jewish leader and scholar who lived in the first century CE, a time of imm...
Here he is, trying to set the record straight, and he's facing accusations that his work is nothing more than a "scholastic performance," something churned out just for show. Can y...
He tackles this head-on in his work, Against Apion, a passionate defense of Judaism against its detractors. And in this section, Josephus gets straight to the point: he's had enoug...
Josephus, the first-century Romano-Jewish historian, grappled with this very question when trying to explain why the Jewish people weren't as well-known to the Greeks as, say, the ...
It’s a tangled web of texts, traditions, and sometimes, well, good old-fashioned arguments. Imagine trying to prove your nation’s antiquity. How would you do it? The historian Jose...
Take the story of the Jewish people and their time in Egypt, for example. The familiar version gives us the Exodus story from the Torah, but what did the Egyptians themselves say a...
One such fragment, courtesy of Flavius Josephus, the first-century Romano-Jewish scholar. He's quoting an Egyptian historian named Manetho in his work Against Apion. Josephus is tr...
Josephus, in his work Against Apion, is trying to defend the antiquity and accuracy of Jewish history against detractors. And he brings Manetho into the conversation. Now, Manetho ...
Especially when it comes to ancient history, where records are fragmented and perspectives are varied. how the Jewish narrative, specifically the story of King Solomon's Temple, fi...
Josephus defends the antiquity of the Jewish people by reaching outside Jewish records. Josephus, defending the antiquity of the Jewish people, calls upon a historian named Menande...
It turns out, they often are. And that's precisely what Flavius Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, points out in his work, Against Apion. He's making a case for the anti...
He’s wading into a historical debate, and it's more tangled than it first appears. Josephus brings up Berosus, a Babylonian priest and historian, who wrote a Chaldean History. Bero...
It's a puzzle, drawing together different accounts, comparing notes, and seeing where they align. And sometimes, the most powerful confirmations come from unexpected places. In thi...
A reader can think of ourselves as existing in a bubble, separate from the larger currents of history. But the truth is, we were always part of the conversation, even if sometimes ...
A reader can imagine them through our own lens, colored by sacred texts and centuries of tradition. But what did the rest of the world see? In his writings, Josephus cites Cherilus...
Josephus, the first-century Romano-Jewish historian, certainly felt that way, and in his work Against Apion, he confronts this head-on. Josephus points out that some writers chose ...
In this particular section, Josephus addresses the nasty accusations and outright lies that were being spread about the Jewish people. He argues that these slanders are, well, just...
Take the ancient Egyptians and the Israelites, for example. Their story is filled with power struggles, cultural clashes, and some serious finger-pointing. Josephus, in his work Ag...
One such path, guided by the words of Josephus, a first-century Romano-Jewish historian. He's responding to some pretty harsh claims made by an Egyptian priest named Manetho. Josep...
In his work Against Apion, Josephus takes aim at various anti-Jewish claims circulating in the ancient world. One of the biggest offenders? Manetho, an Egyptian priest and historia...
Our story comes to us, indirectly, from Flavius Josephus, the 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian. In his work Against Apion, Josephus is defending Judaism against its detractors. ...
Against Apion turns to Manetho in Joseph's Time. Manetho claims that a group of "leprous people" and others, after being mistreated, were given a city and land by the Egyptian king...
Sometimes, digging into the past brings up unexpected things... and uncomfortable questions. Against Apion isn't exactly light bedtime reading. It's a polemic, a fiery defense of J...
It concerns Moses, the ultimate liberator, and some truly wild accusations leveled against him. Josephus, in his work Against Apion, addresses these very claims, specifically those...
Against Apion turns to Cheremon and the Dreamer. We’ve already heard from Manetho, an Egyptian priest who spun a rather unflattering version of the Exodus story. Now, the tradition...
We've been looking at how different writers tried to explain the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt. Last time, we dug into Manetho's version, and now Get ready, because it's a ...
Against Apion turns to The Most Hateful Lie Ever Written About the Jewish People. Remember, Josephus wrote Against Apion specifically to defend the Jewish people against such sland...
Ever hear a story so outlandish, so dripping with bias, that you just have to raise an eyebrow and ask, "Really?" That's exactly the kind of tale Josephus, a first-century Romano-J...
Remember that feeling when someone tells you something so outrageous, so demonstrably false, that you almost don't want to dignify it with a response? But then you realize, silence...
Our guide for this adventure is Flavius Josephus, the first-century Romano-Jewish scholar and historian, and the story comes from his work, Against Apion. This book is essentially ...
Apion was an Egyptian, and he spun a wild yarn about the Jews' exodus from Egypt. Josephus calls it a "novel account," which is a polite way of saying it was complete fiction. But ...
He's responding to the claims of a writer named Apion, who seems to have a real bone to pick with the Jews of Alexandria. Apion, you see, is going after the Alexandrian Jews, criti...
The Jewish people have faced that challenge for centuries, and in his work Against Apion, Josephus steps up to the plate to set the record straight against a particularly virulent ...
The historian Josephus, in his work Against Apion, tackles these accusations head-on. Apion, a Graeco-Egyptian intellectual, throws a real zinger: "If the Jews are citizens of Alex...
It's an age-old problem, and one that the historian Josephus tackled head-on in his work, Against Apion. Josephus is responding to claims made by Apion, an Egyptian intellectual kn...
Josephus, the first-century Romano-Jewish scholar, takes on Apion's wild accusations in his work Against Apion, and it’s a doozy. Apion, in his eagerness to smear the Jewish people...
It comes to us from Apion, a Graeco-Egyptian intellectual who lived in the 1st century CE and who, shall we say, wasn't the biggest fan of the Jewish people. His writings, thankful...
He claimed they swore "by God, the Maker of the heaven, and earth, and sea, to bear no good will to any foreigner, and particularly to none of the Greeks." Josephus, the Jewish his...
