Against Apion

This distinctive edition of Against Apion includes:

A clear, contemporary English translation based on the ancient text

Introductions and reading notes for both books

Study summaries covering key figures, arguments, and themes

Original infographics that bring the historical debates into focus

Who has the right to tell the history of a people: those who lived it, or those who tried to erase it?

Nearly two thousand years ago, Flavius Josephus confronted a battle fought not with weapons, but with documents, testimony, and arguments. The antiquity of the Jewish people was being questioned, their traditions ridiculed, and hostile accounts presented as historical truth.

In Against Apion, Josephus responds with the evidence of the ancient world. He challenges Greek historians, draws upon Egyptian, Phoenician, and Chaldean records, and exposes contradictions in the accusations directed against his people. Among his opponents is Apion, an Egyptian-born scholar whose attacks on Jewish history and customs demanded a forceful response.

Yet this is more than a refutation of slander. Josephus makes a compelling case for the preservation of Jewish memory, the authority of the sacred writings, and the wisdom of the laws associated with Moses. In the second book, his defense expands into a portrait of Jewish religious life, ethics, education, and devotion to the Law.