The Jewish War is a seven-book history composed in Greek by Josephus, a priest of Jerusalem who had commanded the Jewish forces in Galilee, and completed around 75–79 CE. It narrates the First Jewish-Roman War, from 66 to 73 CE, with its centre in the Roman siege and destruction of Jerusalem and its Second Temple in 70 CE. Josephus states that he first drafted the account in his native language, presumably Aramaic, for readers in the East, before producing the Greek version with the help of assistants; the earlier version is lost.
The first book runs from the Maccabean revolt through the reign of Herod the Great; books two through six narrate the causes, outbreak and course of the revolt, ending with the siege and fall of Jerusalem. The final book describes the war’s aftermath, including the Roman capture of the fortress at Masada. Josephus wrote in Rome under the patronage of the Flavian emperors, Vespasian and Titus. He says he wrote to correct accounts that flattered the Romans or abused the Jews. Throughout the narrative he stresses the futility of the revolt, lays the disaster chiefly on the rebel factions, and presents the Roman victory as ordained by God.
The complete Greek text has been preserved in medieval manuscripts, the oldest from about the tenth century. Early Christian writers read it for the history of the period of the New Testament.
Josephus the Historian Jewish War against the Romans: summary and contents (PDF)
Josephus the Historian Jewish War against the Romans: summary and contents (Markdown)
Contents
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Αʹ Book I
Josephus introduces himself as a priest of Jerusalem who fought the Romans and witnessed the war, and explains why he wrote. Book 1 then reaches back to the Hasmoneans and Pompey's capture of Jerusalem, and follows Herod's rise, his siege of the city with Sossius, his reign, his building and the strife among his sons, ending with his death and the funeral procession that carried his body to Herodium.
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Βʹ Book II
Archelaus's succession and the rioting that follows Herod's death open Book 2, which runs through the rule of Herod's sons and the Roman governors to the outbreak of revolt in 66 CE. It covers the provocations of Florus, the slaughter of crowds by his soldiers, the defeat of Cestius Gallus, and the appointment of commanders including Josephus in Galilee, ending with Simon son of Gioras plundering Idumaea.
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Γʹ Book III
Nero sends Vespasian to suppress the revolt in Book 3, and Vespasian sends his son Titus to Alexandria for troops. Josephus describes Galilee and the Roman army, then the siege of Jotapata, which he commanded, its fall and his own capture, and the taking of Tarichaeae and the battle on the lake. The book ends with Vespasian at Tiberias executing the old and unfit and sending six thousand young men to Nero at the Isthmus.
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Δʹ Book IV
Gamala, the hill town shaped like a camel, resists after Galilee falls and opens Book 4, followed by Gischala and John's flight to Jerusalem. Inside the city the Zealots and the Idumaeans kill Ananus and terrorise the people, and stage a mock trial of Zacharias son of Baris. Vespasian's campaigns, Nero's death and Vespasian's proclamation follow, and the book ends with Titus marching from Egypt to Caesarea.
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Εʹ Book V
Jerusalem is split three ways when Book 5 opens, as Eleazar son of Simon breaks from John and seizes the inner Temple while Simon holds the upper city. Titus arrives and the siege begins; Josephus describes the city, its walls and the Temple, recounts the assaults on the walls, a siege tower falling in the night, and his own appeal to the defenders, and ends with the famine and the dead cast out through the gates.
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Ϛʹ Book VI
Corpses heaped in the streets and the ruined countryside around the city open Book 6, as the Romans raise new earthworks in twenty-one days. The fighting moves to the Antonia and then to the Temple, its gates set alight on Titus's order and the sanctuary itself burned. Josephus records the famine, the portents and the capture of the city, and closes with a history of Jerusalem from its founding to its fall.
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Ζʹ Book VII
Titus orders Jerusalem and the Temple razed, sparing three towers and part of the wall, and rewards his army at the start of Book 7. Josephus follows the triumph in Rome, the deposition of Antiochus of Commagene, the taking of Herodium, Machaerus and Masada, where the defenders kill themselves, and the Sicarii in Egypt and Cyrene. The work ends with the death of the governor Catullus and a closing statement on its truth.