Flavius Josephus

bellum Judaecum 1.1

THE war of the Jews against the Romans was the greatest of our time; greater too, perhaps, than any recorded struggle whether between cities or nations.Yet persons with no first-hand knowledge, accepting baseless and inconsistent stories on hearsay, have written garbled accounts of it, while those of eyewitnesses have been falsified either to flatter the Romans or to vilify the Jews[=I)oudai/ouj Judaeans,] eulogy or abuse being substituted for factual record. So for the benefit of the Emperor's subjects [=toi=j kata\ th\n (Rwmai/wn h(gemoni/an those within the hegemony of Romans] I have decided to translate into Greek the books which I wrote some time ago in my native language^l for circulation among non-Greek speakers inland. I myself: Josephus, son of Matthias, am a Hebrew by race, and a priest from Jerusalem²; in the early stages I fought against the Romans, and of the later events I was an unwilling witness.

This upheaval, as I said, was the greatest of all time; and when it occurred Rome herself [=domestic affairs among Romans] was in a most unsettled state. Jewish [=Judaean] revo1utionaries took advantage of the general disturbance; they had vast resources of men and money; and so widespread was the ferment that some were filled with hope of gain, others with fear of loss, by the state of affairs in the East; for the Jews-expected all their Mesopotamian brethren to join their insurrection.³ From another side Roman supremacy was being challenged by the GauJs on their borders, and the Celts were restive -in fact after Nero's death disorder reigned everywhere. Presented with this opportunity many aspired to the imperial throne [=basileia=n, prominence] while the soldiery were eager for a transference of power as a means of enriching themselves.⁴

I therefore thought it inexcusable, when such issues were involved, to see the truth misrepresented and to take no notice. Parthians, Babylonians, Southern Arabians, Mesopotamian Jews, and Adiabenians,⁵ thanks to my labours, were accurately informed of the causes of the war, the sufferings it involved, and its disastrous ending. Were the Greeks and those Romans who took no part in it to remain ignorant of the facts, deluded with flattery or fiction ? Yet the writers I have in mind claim to be writing history, though besides getting all their facts wrong they seem to me to miss their target altogether. For they wish to establish the greatness of the Romans while all the time disparaging and deriding the actions of the Jews. But I do not see how men can prove themselves great by overcoming feeble opponents! Again, they are not impressed by the length of the war, the vastness of the Roman forces which endured such hardships, and the genius of their commanders, whose strenuous endeavours before Jerusalem will bring them little glory if the difficulties they overcame are belittled.

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