Texts, translations, commentaries, and general works
The easiest way to access reliable editions of the Greek texts of Josephus is through the Loeb editions (Thackeray et al. 1926–65), which also provide facing translations. For other translations, readers of the Jewish War are fortunate: both Hammond 2017 and Williamson 1981 provide readable English versions. The other texts are a little trickier. In addition to the Loebs, the excellent ongoing series Flavius Josephus. Translation and Commentary (series editor Steve Mason) provides highly reliable modern English versions of the texts, as well as indispensable commentaries. The series is not, at the time of writing, complete, but many volumes have been published, and every one of them has made a significant impact on scholarship. Currently available volumes are, in series order, Mason 2008; Mason 2022; L. Feldman 2000; Begg 2004; Begg and Spilsbury 2005; Spilsbury and Seeman 2016; Van Henten 2013; Mason 2001; and Barclay 2006. Other than this, William Whiston's 1737 English translation is widely available online, and the Wordsworth edition of Whiston's Antiquities (Whiston 2006) contains a very useful introduction by Brian McGing.
Short overviews of the historian are provided by Chapman 2009 and Price 2011a. Moehring 1984 has been a widely influential survey. Good book-length introductory overviews are provided by Bilde 1988, Rajak 2002, and Mason 2003b. Bilde 1988 is out of print and can be quite difficult to obtain nowadays, but it is worth the effort, above all for its outstanding survey of prior scholarship. Even more generous assistance with older scholarship is provided by Louis Feldman's comprehensive annotated Josephus bibliography (L. Feldman 1984). The concordance of Rengstorf 1968–83 is still highly valuable, even in this age of searchable online text databases. More recently, Chapman and Rodgers 2016 is an outstanding collection of introductory essays to important Josephan topics.
Several important edited volumes on Josephus have been published in the last few decades, offering insights into a miscellaneous array of topics. Notable among them are L. Feldman and Hata 1987; L. Feldman and Hata 1989; Parente and Sievers 1995; Mason 1998c; Edmondson et al. 2005; Sievers and Lembi 2005; Rodgers 2007; and Pastor et al. 2011.
Chapter I
Good overviews of Judaea under Roman rule are provided by S. Schwartz 2001 and Eck 2007. Goodman 2007 offers focused examinations of key aspects of Judaean (and Roman) culture in this period, as well as insights into the causes and consequences of the Jewish Revolt. For the Revolt itself, Mason 2016a is a not-uncontroversial reading. Numerous more conventional narratives (which tend to follow Josephus’ interpretative framework much more closely than Mason) are available: Price 1992 and Rogers 2021 are especially recommended. Magness 2012 and Meyers and Chancey 2012 provide nicely written surveys of the material evidence. For Graeco-Roman views of Judaism, see Schäfer 1997 and Isaac 2004.
Chapter II
Mason 2016c provides an excellent, clear and short introduction to the War. Mader 2000 has been important in discussion of the work's rhetorical strategies. Davies 2023 gives detailed readings of Josephus’ engagement with Rome and (especially) the Flavians. Glas 2024 analyses Josephus’ self-presentation in the War. Vidal-Naquet 1977, originally the introduction to a French translation of the War, is an extraordinary piece of work by one of the twentieth century's leading classical historians, essential reading for anyone engaging with this text.
Chapter III
For introductions to and overviews of the Antiquities, see Mason 1998b; D. Schwartz 2016; Mason's introduction to L. Feldman 2000; and Davies in press. L. Feldman 1998a and b are fundamental to modern scholarship. Attridge 1976 remains important for the theology of the Antiquities. Westwood 2023 is important for Josephus’ Moses. Sterling 1992 is valuable for ancient traditions of apologetic historiography.
Chapter IV
The introduction to Mason 2001 and Mason 2016b provide excellent short introductions to the Life. Cohen 1979 in many ways initiated the modern study of the Life, and also includes important insights into the War and the Antiquities. Grojinowksi 2023 reads the work in the light of Graeco-Roman autobiography. Siegert et al. 2001 provides commentary.
Chapter V
For good introductions to the Against Apion, see the introduction to Barclay 2006 and Barclay 2016. The former is an outstanding contribution overall, the Platonic ideal of a commentary. Labow 2005 and Siegert 2008 also include extensive notes and commentary. The edited volume by L. Feldman and Levison 1996 contains many valuable considerations of this treatise.
Chapter VI
Goodman 2019 is an exemplary study of the reception history of the Jewish War, and Schatz 2019 surveys modern Jewish receptions of Josephus. Both of these volumes were generated by a major Oxford research project on the reception of Josephus; the same project also resulted in a special issue of the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (23.3 [2016]), and the creation of the online Josephus Reception Archive (https://josephus.orinst.ox.ac.uk/archive/jra), which contains short discussions of important moments in Josephan reception history. Chapman and Rodgers 2016 includes an extensive section dedicated to reception.
