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This contribution focuses on some aspects of Josephus’s significance as a source for the history of the Near East in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. I will start with briefly discussing the content of Josephus’s four works. The subsequent sections deal with the relevance of these works for the history of the Jews in Judaea and other territories controlled by a Jewish ruler, Josephus’s geographic information, the picture of so-called friendly kings that arises from his work, and finally, some of the passages about Diaspora Jews and other nations that figure prominently in Josephus.

Josephus is a very important source for the history of the Jews in the Near East in the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods (surveys: Schürer 1973–87; Grabbe 2004–2020). A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period I-III. London (66–73/74 CE; references in Popovic 2011; Mason 2016a), which he introduces as the biggest war ever (BJ 1.1; cf. Thucydides 1.1; Marincola 1997: 17, 198–199; Rajak 1998: 223). The themes and key words introduced in the prologue indicate that rebellion (stasis, 1.10, 25, 27), banditry (1.11), and internal corruption are recurring issues in this history, which point to Josephus’s interpretation of the events that foremost radical Jews were to blame for the war and that the Jewish defeat was the rightful punishment by God (see, e.g., 6.110, 250, 288). Internal conflicts and the tyrannical behavior of Jewish leaders brought about the intervention of the Romans, with its devastating outcome (1.10, 11, 24, 27–28). Josephus aims at a precise report in War (1.3) and introduces himself as “a Hebrew by birth and a priest from Jerusalem.” In this way he not only claims to have expert knowledge as a participant and later as an onlooker (BJ 1.3; Marincola 1997: 134–136; Chapman 2005: 290), but he also points to his personal sufferings and announces that he will lament the calamities that befell his fatherland (1.9; also 1.11–12; Swoboda 2014: 238, 417–426; also Lindner 1972: 132–141; Mader 2000: 2–4; Price 2005: 110).