FLAVIUS JOSEPHE - Lot 473

FLAVIUS JOSEPHE History of Fl. Josephe, Hebrew priest. Newly translated by François Bourgoing. Lion, Jonte, 1558. In folio: 12f. (title leaf photocopied on laid paper), 716pp. 30f. (table). Angular paper loss at foot of folio C1 (with minor text damage), paper reinforcement bands on first few leaves, old handwritten annotations in margins. Old soft vellum overlay, handwritten title on spine, restoration at head of spine. The work of this Roman historiographer of Judean origin and Jewish faith is one of the principal sources on the history of the Judeans in the first century. The Antiquities of the Jews, a narrative of twenty books, adapts the history of the Jewish people to the Roman mentality. Books I to IX are a "survey of the biblical works up to Ezra-Nehemiah", while the last ten books are a historical document of the first order; Against Apion is a polemical work in two volumes in which the author defends Jewish traditions. In it, he denies Apion's accusation that Jews should participate in rituals and human sacrifices.