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Josephus Aramaic primacy.
#1
There are people, who say that it is a myth that Josephus wrote his books first in Aramaic.

I want to give any evidence about this but where to find it? I did a search on Google, but that gives lots of commentaries on the jewish wars, that indeed say, that he first wrote in Aramaic, and got it translated to Greek. But a real evidence, would be citations from his own days, by other people who confirm that.

Thanks
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#2
No, really? Who says? Where?

What do they say to :
Quote:He mentions several times in his Greek writings that he created an Aramaic version of the events as well, but it, unfortunately, is not extant.
(<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Josephus.html">http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jso ... ephus.html</a><!-- m -->)

Or to this:
Quote:I have proposed to myself, for the sake of such as live under the government of the Romans, to translate those books into the Greek tongue, which I formerly composed in the language of our country, and sent to the Upper Barbarians;

The quote above is from the very beginning of the preface to "The Wars" (The Wars of the Jews, of course).

So ... what do those people suggest as the original language of Josephus books of the Jewish War if not Aramaic? Hebrew again? And who do they suggest the Upper Barbarians to be? Or maybe that text was interjected there by an English translator? Have they actually read it? A printed edition of Whiston's translation (complete works) is available for a few quid, if a free electronic on internet is not enough.

Peace and blessings,
Jerzy
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#3
No, what they say: "It is written in Greek..." Of course, it's an assumption but I can understand why they say it

Thanks for the info.

That's usefull enough. I had another citation, but that was about the 'language of his nation'
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