Texts

Notes on the editions, translations, manuscript annotations and textual correspondences used in the Latin Josephus Project.

Latin texts

• Antiquitates Judaicae — Bamberg Msc.Class.78 (s. IX, n. Italy?).
• Antiquitates Judaicae — Johann Froben (Basel, 1524).
• Bellum Judaicum — E. Cardwell (Oxford, 1837).
• Contra Apionem — K. Boysen (Vienna, 1898).
• De excidio Hierosolymitano — V. Ussani (Vienna, 1932). Download for offline reading · EPUB · PDF · English downloads

Manuscript annotations

• Available at the bottom of the reader is an edition of marginal and other annotations added to a variety of late antique and early medieval copies of the Josephan corpus: the Antiquities, the Jewish War and DEH.
• See the manuscript sources below, or search the annotations.

Translations

• Whiston (1737) — English Antiquities, Jewish War and Against Apion.
• Lodge (1602) — English Antiquities, Jewish War and Against Apion.
• Pollard (2026)— English DEH. Download for offline reading · EPUB · PDF
• Millet (1556) — French DEH.
• Lauro (1544) — Italian DEH.

DEH commentary

The De excidio Hierosolymitano reader includes English notes keyed to Ussani’s book, chapter and paragraph divisions. They identify people and places, explain events and allusions, and discuss parallels with Josephus and points of language.

The selection includes translated notes from Patrologia Latina 15 (1845) and the Ussani–Mras companion volume (CSEL 66/2, 1960), excerpts from the dissertation of A. A. Bell, Jr. (1977), and English summaries of Dominique Estève’s thesis (1987). Additional reading notes draw on Cornelius Gualtherus (1575), Hermann Rönsch (1883), Elimar Klebs (1895) and Vincenzo Ussani (1906).

Select Commentary in the reader to display the notes alongside the text. Each source group has its own typeface. References appear below the notes, with links where available. Open the commentary at DEH II.9.1.

Sources and preparation

Some texts were transcribed for this project; others draw on existing digital editions. The pages linked above give fuller discussions of the editions and translations.

• Bamberg Antiquities. The manuscript was transcribed by human readers in 2013–2019. Books I–VIII were corrected by human editors; further correction followed in 2026 with AI assistance.

• Froben’s Antiquities (1524). The transcription is based on the digitised Basel copy (UBH FQ I 5). The Proem and all twenty books can be read alongside the Bamberg text or browsed by Froben’s printed divisions and pages.

• Cardwell’s Bellum Judaicum. The electronic text was made in 2017 by OCR from three different scans of the printed edition. It was corrected with AI assistance in 2026. Google Books: volume II.

• Boysen’s Contra Apionem. The starting point was the Open Greek and Latin digital transcription of Boysen’s 1898 edition. This was corrected and aligned for the site. Printed edition: Internet Archive.

• Ussani’s De excidio Hierosolymitano. The electronic text is based on the digilibLT transcription of Ussani’s 1932 edition, with corrections made for this project. Printed edition: Google Books.

• Niese’s Greek edition. Benedict Niese’s Flavii Iosephi opera (Berlin: Weidmann) supplies the Greek texts and section numbering for the Antiquities, Jewish War and Against Apion. The digital texts come from the Perseus Digital Library. Volumes and scans.

• Whiston. The English text comes largely from the electronic transcription at the Perseus Digital Library. It has been aligned with the Latin and Greek for use in the readers. 1856 printing used by Perseus (Internet Archive).

• Lodge. The text comes from EEBO-TCP’s transcription of the 1602 edition, released under CC0. Lodge’s spelling and marginal notes are retained.

• Pollard. The English DEH was drafted by AI from the Latin, under Richard Matthew Pollard’s supervision and editorial direction. Subsequent review included systematic comparisons with Millet and Lauro, leading to revisions approved by Pollard.

• Millet and Lauro. Google Books scans of the French edition of 1556 and the Italian edition of 1544 were transcribed with Transkribus. The resulting texts underwent human-guided AI audits against the scans.

The DEH texts and translations are brought together using Ussani’s book, chapter and paragraph divisions.

Manuscript annotation sources

The Antiquities and Jewish War annotations were transcribed by Jean-Félix Aubé-Pronce and Jonathan di Gregorio. The DEH annotations were entirely transcribed by Aubé-Pronce. The edition includes words and phrases, symbolic marks and partially legible notes, with folio references and distinctions between hands where available. Coverage varies by manuscript.

The dates below follow the manuscript catalogue and refer to the manuscripts; the annotations themselves may be later.

Antiquitates Judaicae — manuscript sources

• Bern, Burgerbibliothek, ms. 50 — 9th century (middle third).
• Bern, Burgerbibliothek, ms. 118 — 9th century (middle third).
• Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, ms. 98 — 9th century (first two thirds).
• Copenhagen, Kongelige Bibliotek, GKS 157 fol. — 9th century (first half).
• Leiden, Universitaire Bibliotheken, VLF 17 — 9th/10th century.
• Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Cimelio 1 — 6th century.
• Monza, Biblioteca capitolare, b20/136 — 9th century (third quarter).
• Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 814 — 8th/9th century.

Bellum Judaicum — manuscript sources

• Bern, Burgerbibliothek, ms. 50 — 9th century (middle third).
• Bern, Burgerbibliothek, ms. 183 — 988–1004.
• Chartres, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 29 — 10th century (second half).
• Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, ms. 99 — 9th century (middle third).
• Montecassino, Biblioteca dell’Abbazia, Casin. 123 — late 10th century.
• Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 1992 — late 10th century.
• St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Csg 627 — mid-9th century.

De excidio Hierosolymitano — manuscript sources

• Bern, Burgerbibliothek, ms. 180 — 9th century (second quarter).
• Besançon, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 833 — 10th/11th century.
• Brussels, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, ms. 5540 — 10th century.
• Cambrai, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 678 — 10th/11th century.
• Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 51 — 9th century (first two thirds).
• Karlsruhe, Landesbibliothek, Aug. perg. 82 — 9th century (second quarter).
• Karlsruhe, Landesbibliothek, Aug. perg. 101 — 9th century (second quarter).
• Kassel, Universitätsbibliothek, 2° theol. 65 — 6th century.
• Laon, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 403b — 9th century (third quarter).
• Leiden, Universitaire Bibliotheken, BPL 21 — 9th century (third quarter).
• Leiden, Universitaire Bibliotheken, VLF 17 — 9th/10th century.
• Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, C 105 inf. — 5th/6th century.
• Naples, Biblioteca nazionale, V.F.34 — 10th/11th century.
• Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 5061 — 9th century (middle to third quarter).
• Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 12512 — 9th century (third quarter).
• Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 12513 — 9th century (second quarter to middle).
• Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 13367 — 7th century (the DEH excerpt).
• Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, N.A.L. 1490 — 9th century (last third).
• Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 170 — late 8th century.
• St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Csg 626 — 9th century (first quarter).
• Turin, Biblioteca nazionale universitaria, D.IV.7 — 9th/10th century.

Institutional affiliation and research support

This project draws on research supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Ce projet s’appuie sur des recherches financées par le Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada.

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