Passover Observance
Josephus
Jewish Antiquities 17.213
93–94
Now, the appointed time had drawn near for the festival during which the Jews have as their ancestral law to serve unleavened bread, whose feast is called Passover and is a memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt, when they offer sacrifices with great devotion, and when they are required to slay more sacrifices in number than at any other festival.
Translated by William Whiston, adapted byAaron Samuels.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
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Creator Bio
Josephus
Flavius Josephus was born into a prominent Jewish priestly family and served as a general stationed in the Galilee during the First Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE). He was captured by the Romans and eventually integrated into the Flavian imperial aristocracy, who commissioned him to compose chronicles of the Jewish–Roman war and the history of the Jews. Josephus’ works, all written in Greek, include The Jewish War, Jewish Antiquities, Against Apion, and his autobiography, Life of Josephus. These writings provide important insights into the Judaisms of the Second Temple period and include one of the few surviving accounts of the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.