Okay, neither Josephus nor the author of his biography, A Jew Among Romans, was/is a painter, poet, or critic like the Pre-Raphaelites of the 19th century. So I’ve cheated a little in giving this ...

Historian Shaye Cohen compares Josephus' account with recent archaeological evidence. From "Masada: Literary Tradition, Archaeological Remains, and the Credibility of Josephus" by Shaye Cohen Journal ...

In the first century of our era there were many sects and schools in Jewish society. We hear about the Essenes, of course, the Jews of Qumran, the Dead Sea Scrolls, who separated themselves from the ...