Flavius Josephus

Flavius Josephus (37–c. 100) was a Jewish priest, soldier and historian. Born Joseph ben Matthias in Jerusalem, he commanded Jewish forces in Galilee at the start of the revolt against Rome in 66, surrendered to Vespasian after the siege of Jotapata and, having predicted that the general would become emperor, passed into the Flavian household as a client and interpreter. He watched the fall of Jerusalem from the Roman side in 70. In Rome he wrote The Wars of the Jews, the twenty-book Antiquities of the Jews, an autobiography and the defense of Judaism called Against Apion. His works are the chief source for Jewish history in the first century.