Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

rakovsky wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2017 9:46 am The translations I know of are:

• Whiston's (http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/josephus/)
• Two by Lobel (one including Thackeray's at https://archive.org/search.php?query=cr ... 3F-1930%22)
• The Kregal 1960 edition
• Porter & Coates "Standard Edition", 1870s / William Milner, Halifax, 1850
• A. R. Shilleto's revision of Whiston's translation, Bohn's Standard Library series, George Bell & Sons, 1889

rakovsky wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2017 9:46 am May I please ask which are the translations of Josephus' writings that you have found to be most accurate in your opinion?
It's OK if you haven't read every translation out there. I just want to please ask what you have read at least parts of and found it to be the best.

The translations I know of are:

• Whiston's (http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/josephus/)
• Two by Lobel (one including Thackeray's at https://archive.org/search.php?query=cr ... 3F-1930%22)
• The Kregal 1960 edition
• Porter & Coates "Standard Edition", 1870s / William Milner, Halifax, 1850
• A. R. Shilleto's revision of Whiston's translation, Bohn's Standard Library series, George Bell & Sons, 1889

DCHindley wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2017 6:28 pmbut there MUST be websites that have the B. Niese's Greek text and Whiston's English Translation.

spin wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2017 2:17 pm(You may find using the online Perseus edition of Whiston a good means for searching for particular people and events, but look at the Loeb for the best translation—and access to the Greek.)

rakovsky wrote: ↑Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:53 amI looked many places online because I would like a paperback copy. Everybody is selling Whiston's version cheaply under different publishers.

But I sympathize with people criticizing Whiston's translation word choices. And besides, his wording style is ungainly to the point where many readers say that they can't get through the book because they slog through the wording so slowly.

I like Thackeray's and the Loeb's translations, but all I found were books containing 3 volumes at a time and selling for 25$ per book. The whole Antiquities of the Jews comes out to maybe $200-370!

DCHindley wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2017 11:24 am

rakovsky wrote: ↑Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:53 amI looked many places online because I would like a paperback copy. Everybody is selling Whiston's version cheaply under different publishers.

But I sympathize with people criticizing Whiston's translation word choices. And besides, his wording style is ungainly to the point where many readers say that they can't get through the book because they slog through the wording so slowly.

I like Thackeray's and the Loeb's translations, but all I found were books containing 3 volumes at a time and selling for 25$ per book. The whole Antiquities of the Jews comes out to maybe $200-370!

I was lucky to find a 9 volume edition for a little less than $170 US from ISIS Booksellers in the Netherlands. I think they were library copies from Brussels, Belgium.

I like paperbacks too. The ISBNs are as follows:

Book	Loeb Vol	Year	ISBN	9 vol
The Life and Against Apion	186	1926	0 674 99205 9	1
The Jewish War, Books I-III	203	1927	0 674 99223 7	2
The Jewish War, Books IV-VII	210	1927	0 674 99232 6	3
Jewish Antiquities, Books I-IV	242	1930	0 674 99267 9	4
Jewish Antiquities, Books V-VIII	281	1934	0 674 99310 1	5
Jewish Antiquities, Books IX-XI	326	1937	0 674 99360 8	6
Jewish Antiquities, Books XII-XIV	365	1942	0 674 99402 7	7
Jewish Antiquities, Books XV-XVII	410	1963	0 674 99451 5	8
Jewish Antiquities, Books XVIII-XX & Index	433	1965	0 434 99433 2	9

That 434 series Book Number for volume 9 is actually the UK equivalent book number to the US ISBN numbering system. It seems that volume 9 was never published in the US, only the UK, before the 10 volume edition replaced it, and that from then on Loeb used the US ISBN system. I'm only guessing ... it is super-duper confused.

If you want the 10 volume set, then look for these:

Book	Loeb Vol	ISBN	10 vol
The Life and Against Apion	186	0 674 99205 9	1
The Jewish War, Books I-III	203	0 674 99223 7	2
The Jewish War, Books IV-VII	210	0 674 99232 6	3
Jewish Antiquities, Books I-IV	242	0 674 99267 9	4
Jewish Antiquities, Books V-VIII	281	0 674 99310 1	5
Jewish Antiquities, Books IX-XI	326	0 674 99360 8	6
Jewish Antiquities, Books XII-XIV	365	0 674 99402 7	7
Jewish Antiquities, Books XV-XVII	410	0 674 99451 5	8
Jewish Antiquities, Books XVIII-XIX	433	0 674 99477 9	9
Jewish Antiquities, Book XX & Index	456	0 674 99502 3	10

If you want the 13 volume set, look for these:

Book	Loeb Vol	ISBN	Translator	13 vol
The Life and Against Apion	186	0 674 99205 9	H. St John Thackeray	1
The Jewish War, Books I-II	203	0 674 99568 6	H. St John Thackeray	2
The Jewish War, Books III-IV	487	0 674 99536 8	H. St John Thackeray	3
The Jewish War, Books V-VII	210	0 674 99569 4	H. St John Thackeray	4
Jewish Antiquities, Books I-III	242	0 674 99575 9	H. St John Thackeray	5
Jewish Antiquities, Books IV-VI	490	0 674 99539 2	H. St John Thackeray and Ralph Marcus	6
Jewish Antiquities, Books VII-VIII	281	0 674 99576 7	H. St John Thackeray and Ralph Marcus	7
Jewish Antiquities, Books IX-XI	326	0 674 99360 8	Ralph Marcus	8
Jewish Antiquities, Books XII-XIII	365	0 674 99577 5	Ralph Marcus	9
Jewish Antiquities, Books XIV-XV	489	0 674 99538 4	Ralph Marcus	10
Jewish Antiquities, Books XVI-XVII	410	0 674 99578 3	Ralph Marcus and Allen Wikgren	11
Jewish Antiquities, Books XVIII-XIX	433	0 674 99477 9	Louis H. Feldman	12
Jewish Antiquities, Books XX & Index	456	0 674 99502 3	Louis H. Feldman	13

Sometimes a PDF just has to do for cost purposes (they are free)! Unfortunately, not all are so scanned, as Loeb only releases volumes into the public domain after the death of the translators. The available PDF scans of the 9 volume edition are:

L186 - Josephus -- Josephus I: The Life. Against Apion
https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L186.pdf
L203 - Josephus -- Josephus II: The Jewish War Books 1-3
https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L203.pdf
L210 - Josephus -- Josephus III: The Jewish War Books 4-7
https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L210.pdf
L242 - Josephus -- Josephus IV: Jewish Antiquities Books 1-4
https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L242.pdf
L281 - Josephus -- Josephus V: Jewish Antiquities Books 5-8
https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L281.pdf
L326 - Josephus -- Josephus VI: Jewish Antiquities Books 9-11
https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L326.pdf
L365 - Josephus -- Josephus VII: Jewish Antiquities Books 12-14
https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L365.pdf

Have fun ...

DCH