The Zealots Install a New High Priest
Josephus
ca. 75
In the end the people were reduced to such a state of abject fear, and the terrorists proceeded to such manic extremes, that they were actually able to take into their own hands the election of high priests. Invalidating the claims of the families which had provided successions of high priests, they appointed low-born nonentities to be partners in…
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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.
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