Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary : Life of Josephus

Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Josephus
Review: Most will want to compare this edition to the Loeb Classics version. Loeb offers facing page Greek text, which this edition does not. However, since I don't read Greek, this was not a problem. Whereas Loeb carries a modicum of footnotes explaining disputed points, the Brill edition is about 75% commentary, contained in extensive and enlightening footnote/essays on every page. The general introduction to Josephus as well as the introduction to Antiquities in particular has something to say to both novice and the reader familiar with Josephan scholarship. My own interest is in the War and the Life, which will not be printed for a few years. So I ordered Antiquities to see whether the project was worthwhile for future reference. I will have no hestiation in ordering other volumes as they become available. Louis Feldman's masterful commentary is a compendium of current scholarship on Josephus' rendition of the Old Testament. Even Books III, which concern matters of Jewish law, chiefly as concerns ritual and observance, but also social strictures, were enlivened and made relevant to Josephus' aims and historical context by Dr. Feldman's expert insights. The indices key on ancient texts,including the Torah, Rabbinical commentary (Midrash) and parallel relevant Greek and Roman historical works, plus persons, places, and modern authors. I compared the translation of the opening paragraph to the same passage in the Loeb. The differences are quite interesting and clearly show how Dr. Feldman and his colleagues picked up nuances from the original that Thackeray (the Loeb translator) had missed. I unhesitatingly recommend this edition. Of course the entire set will be prohibitively costly. University libraries will carry them no doubt. However if you are intrigued with Josephus, as I am, you will want to own some selected volumes. This is truly a work of reference to which I will return again and again.