Josephus

The Routledge Dictionary of Judaism

A first-century C.E. general and historian of the Jews. His great works were The Jewish War, which he wrote shortly after the defeat of the Jews by the Romans and the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., and The History of the Jews, a recapitulation of the narratives of Scripture joined with an account of affairs to his own time.

Josephus had been a general in the First War against Rome (67–73 C.E.) but surrendered and went over to the Roman side. After the war, he wrote to conciliate Roman opinion to the Jews and explained that the war was the work of zealots but did not represent the greater part of the people of Israel in the Land of Israel, all the more so the Jews living outside of the Land. In his autobiography, The Life, he justified his conduct during the war.