Any other English translations of Josephus

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rakovsky
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Re: Any other English translations of Josephus

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Whiston, http://sacred-texts.com/jud/josephus/#aoj

Thackeray, 1926, https://archive.org/search.php?query=cr ... 69%3F-1930"

These are the only copies I know of online.

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Re: Any other English translations of Josephus

Post by spin »

rakovsky wrote: Wed Jul 26, 2017 9:46 am The translations I know of are:
Whiston's translation was probably excellent for when he translated 280 years ago. But the art and science of translation have advanced far from that time to the 20th century.

I don't know anything about most of the others, though the notion of a revised Whiston doesn't hold much hope. And isn't the Kregal edition a publisher's repackaging of Whiston? All volumes published by Loeb have shown to be trustworthy in a scholarly sense over the whole range of classical sources. All their Josephus translations are 20th century, Thackeray from 1926-, Marcus 1940s-, Feldman 1960s-. Of the free versions you may find, go with the old Loeb Thackeray. (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.)

If you'd like to get hardcopies, a careful browse of what's available at Abebooks (or maybe Amazon) could be useful to find secondhand volumes at $20-$35.
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Re: Any other English translations of Josephus

Post by DCHindley »

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:
A list of all the available Loeb volumes of Josephus is found here:
http://www.earlywritings.com/forum/view ... 615#p67117

The first 7 volumes of the 9 volume series is available (English translation has been OCRd but not the Greek) at https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus/

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

The last two volumes of the 9 volume edition (covering books 15-20 & the index to the Antiquities) do not yet appear to be released into the public domain. Since both translators Allen Wikgren & Louis Feldman have died (1998 & 2017 I think) this may change in the future. So far, unlike the Philo volumes and several others by other authors, no one has had the uncontrollable urge to turn the Greek into Unicode with Tesseract.

All the other sets (10 & 13 volume) are the exact same translations as the 9 volume set but the contents are divided differently between the volumes. Stick with the ones above. I'm not sure, but there MUST be websites that have the B. Niese's Greek text and Whiston's English Translation. Whether any have the Loeb edition Greek or English text I just do not know, but for some reason I doubt it.

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Re: Any other English translations of Josephus

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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.)
Niese: search AJ and BJ; browse AJ and BJ. Whiston's there as well.
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Re: Any other English translations of Josephus

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I 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!

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Re: Any other English translations of Josephus

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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.

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
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Re: Any other English translations of Josephus

Post by DCHindley »

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
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Re: Any other English translations of Josephus

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I read chapters 1 to 2 and the preface today in loeb's Antiquities. It read far quicker and sensibly than Whiston's, which when I read the Jewish Wars took me hours to slog through even a few chapters due to his ungainly sentence structures.

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Re: Any other English translations of Josephus

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Maybe some day loeb's volumes 15 to 22 will be available in paperback or free pdf. Here's to hoping. :cheers:

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Re: Any other English translations of Josephus

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Harvard is selling the 13 volume set for 26$ per volume:
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/results-list ... mit=Search

That is $104 for the four missing Books, 14 to 20.

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