Jerusalem’s Traitor

Josephus, Masada, and the Fall of Judea

By: Desmond Seward

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

When the Jews revolted against Rome in 66 CE, Josephus, a Jerusalem aristocrat, was made a general in his nation’s army. Captured by the Romans, he saved his skin by finding favor with the emperor Vespasian. He then served as an adviser to the Roman legions, running a network of spies inside Jerusalem, in the belief that the Jews’ only hope of survival lay in surrender to Rome.

As a Jewish eyewitness who was given access to Vespasian’s campaign notebooks, Josephus is our only source of information for the war of extermination that ended in the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, and the amazing times in which he lived. He is of vital importance for anyone interested in the Middle East, Jewish history, and the early history of Christianity.

©2009 Desmond Seward (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Entertaining interpretation of Josephus' writings

The author avoids the scholarly traps to deliver an engaging and entertaining interpretation of Josephus' writings.

Wonderful!

A thorough and yet very interesting account of the Jewish-Roman war and the role of Josephus in that conflict and afterward. Loved it!

good look at historical event

story about haw a small group can bring down an entire nation. author gives a first hand account.

Josephus

This biography of Josephus was great. I thought the author did a good job of balancing Josephus' own claims with considered skepticism, and frequently supplemented Josephus' accounts with those of other historians, archaeology, or just plain logic.

For someone like me who has travelled and studied the land of Palestine, it was fun to picture the places and the events happening there. I'm not sure how it would have been for readers who weren't familiar with those though.

Josephus' life is pretty amazing, and mostly plausible. The wars sounded absolutely horrible though. Certain events didn't quite make sense (such as enemies being close enough to the wall to hit with a rock, but no one had a sharp shooter archer around?).

This book helped me fill in some holes in my first century knowledge, and knowledge of Roman military activities.

The narrator wasn't great. A bit robotic, and didn't narrate to the context, but basically read everything with the same tones.

Wow

If you know nothing about the fall of the 2nd temple in Jerusalem to the Romans, you are missing out on one of the craziest, most bizarre and horrifying chapters in human history. The story had me totally absorbed (if not in shock) during my commutes to work. Other reviewers didn't like the speakers steady vocal style, but he was easy to understand and his tempo worked well for me. I'm glad I listened to it.

Great book

I was looking for a book about josiphous, with context and commentary. This Book is phenomenal, very well balanced, entertaining, informative and educating.

Reader was a bit dry - the narrative outshone the narrator.

ok

just ok, far from great. a book for the religious folks out there. admittedly biased history

Misleading title

Excellent history. Very well read. At the end, I m still not sure whether Josephus is a traitor or a faithful, opportunistic politician.
I would like to have known more about the author and his perspective.

A retelling of Josephus's "The Jewish War"

What did you like best about Jerusalem’s Traitor? What did you like least?

It is a pretty accurate re-telling of what is in Josephus's writings. That's what is good.
It is for the most part untainted by more modern scholarship. The author quotes Josephus on numbers of people (usually killed), actions of troops, what speeches leaders gave, etc. mostly without criticism and little comment, except to say that, for example, "Titus probably did say that," or "Simon's speech said this," even if Josephus wasn't there. His numbers are probably fantasies. Josephus quotes the population of Jerusalem around the time of the siege as about 1 million. Modern scholars have put the figure at far less, perhaps 20,000, so there cannot have been 500,000 dead, even taking into account the pilgrims who happened to be there for the Passover. In 2011, the population of a vastly expanded Jerusalem was about 250,000.

I am not criticizing the author for reporting what Josephus says, but he hardly ever (except, I think, for one time) says that Josephus's numbers are not to be believed. The book also repeats, usually uncritically, laudatory comments about the Romans, particularly Titus, as well as condemnations that could do with some more contemporary views.

For example: Masada. The zealots holed up in that fortress were probably siccari, assassins who, before the war, assassinated Jews who dealt with Romans, and probably killed a lot of prominent people. After they took Masada, they never came out to attack the Romans, even from the rear during the siege of Jerusalem, and they lived by preying on the nearby Jewish population. Some historical discussion of this would have been useful.

If you want to know what Josephus wrote, without having to slog through the ancient verbiage, this book does just that for you. That is what makes it worth reading. Just be aware that much of it is colored by the self-serving intent of Josephus, and it is not necessarily (indeed, it almost certainly is not) accurate in much of what is written. I just wish the book's author had written with a more critical eye.

Of course, we have little other information about the Jewish War

An in depth look at the works of Josephus

An excellent scholarly review of Josephus' works as they pertain to the Jewish Revolt and the destruction of the second temple. Context and review of other works and criticism included.

If you are interested in the empire and the siege of Jerusalem it is a balanced look at some of the more biased recounting of Josephus.