The destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by a Roman army in the year 70 C.E. has a good claim to be called the most important event in Jewish history. And almost everything we know about that event comes from The Jewish War, a Greek-language history by Josephus, who served as a general in the Judean rebellion against Roman rule. A vivid chronicle of amazing heroism, vicious infighting, and final disaster, The Jewish War manages to sympathize with the defeated Jews while suggesting that the Roman victory was God’s will.