The Life of Flavius Josephus

The Life of (Flavius) Josephus (Greek: Ἰωσήπου βίος Iosepou bios), also called the "Life of Flavius Josephus", or simply Life or Vita, is an autobiographical text written by Josephus in approximately 94-99 CE as an appendix to his Antiquities of the Jews (cf. Antiquities of the Jews 20.260-268 and Life 430), where the author for the most part revisits the events of the First Jewish-Roman War. Life is also a response to allegations made against Josephus by Justus of Tiberias (cf. Life 336). Nothing survives of Justus of Tiberius's works except what is mentioned by Josephus in Life.

The Life of Josephus is the earliest complete autobiography that has survived intact from the ancient world. Most of the work (28-413) focuses on the activities of Josephus as a general in Galilee, where Jesus of Nazareth ministered, around the mid 60s AD during the first Jewish revolt against Rome. He discusses demographics of the inhabitants of Galilee, economics, cultural patterns, and government.

Josephus states he is descended from a priestly family and is related to Hasmonenan dynasty. At around 26 years old, Josephus traveled to Rome to negotiate the release of Jewish priests imprisoned there by Nero. With the assistance of Nero's wife, Poppaea, and a Jewish actor, he succeeded in securing their freedom. Upon his return to Jerusalem, at the outbreak of the First Jewish–Roman War, Josephus was appointed the military governor of Galilee. His arrival in Galilee, however, was fraught with internal division: the inhabitants of Sepphoris and Tiberias opted to maintain peace with the Romans; the people of Sepphoris enlisted the help of the Roman army to protect their city, while the people of Tiberias appealed to King Agrippa's forces to protect them from the insurgents. Josephus trained 65,000 troops in the region.