Selections from Josephus - Free Audiobook
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Selections from Josephus
Cestius Advances from Antioch
Cestius Advances from Antioch
A.D. 66
The Jews being now everywhere up in arms, Cestius[253] decided to remain inactive no longer. He accordingly left Antioch and advanced upon Ptolemais. His force consisted of the twelfth legion in full strength, two thousand picked men from each of the other legions, six cohorts of infantry and four squadrons of cavalry, besides the allied forces furnished by the kings; of these Antiochus supplied two thousand horse and three thousand foot, all archers, Agrippa an equal number of foot and rather less than two thousand horse, Sohemus following with four thousand, of which a third part were cavalry and the rest archers. In addition, numerous auxiliaries were collected from the towns; they lacked the training of the regulars, but made good any deficiency in technical skill by their zeal and their detestation of the Jews. Agrippa himself accompanied Cestius on the route as guide and adviser....
Galilee surrenders to Cestius, almost without a blow; Joppa, attacked by land and sea, is captured and burnt; and the Roman arms are everywhere successful.
From Antipatris Cestius advanced to Lydda and found the city deserted, for the population had gone up en masse to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles |October A.D. 66|. Fifty persons who showed themselves he put to the sword, and after burning down the town resumed his march; and, ascending through Beth-Horon, pitched his camp at a place called Gibeon,[254] fifty furlongs[255] distant from Jerusalem.
About
Jewish historian, military leader and Roman citizen, Titus Flavius Josephus, provides the most thorough history of the 1st century Roman Empire deals with the Jewish people. Born in Jerusalem during the reign of Caligula; present with the Roman Army of Vespasian and Titus at the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple, Josephus stands preeminent among early Christian period writers.
"I have selected the passages most relevant to Christian origins and New Testament study," writes Henry St. James Thackery of King's College, UK, leading biblical scholar on Josephus and Koine Greek translator.
"Some figures which in the New Testament are little more than names, become clothed with life" by Josephus as he "gives us the background of Jewish and world history in the time of our Lord and the infant church. ... And we have full and life-like portraits of Roman governors and generals."
More than 400 footnotes and extensive appendix notes have been woven through the audio recording that the listener might experience Thackery's insights and teaching, as if in his class at King's. Many of the names and places are read with Erasmian Koine Greek pronunciation. (Summary by Rebecca Eden Walker)
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