Flavius Josephus

Flavius Josephus is without a doubt the most important witness to ancient Judaism from the close of the biblical period to the aftermath of the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70. His four surviving works - "Judean War", "Judean Antiquities", "Life", and "Against Apion" - provide the narrative stucture for interpreting the other, more fragmentary written sources and physical remains from this period. His descriptions of the Temple, the Judean countryside, Jewish-Roman relations and conflicts,