Steve Mason is Distinguished Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Religions and Cultures in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands. A former Canada Research Chair (in Greco-Roman Cultural Interaction) at Toronto's York University and Visiting Fellow in Oxford and Berlin, he has published several monographs and scores of essays on Roman Judaea, Josephus, Flavian Rome, Christian origins, and historical method. He edits the multi-volume international project Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary.

'No study of the Jewish-Roman war approaches this one in level of sophistication, thoroughness, sweep of erudition, provocative ideas, and originality.' Erich S. Gruen, University of California, Berkeley

• Part I. Contexts: 1. A famous and unknown war; 2. Historical evidence: understanding Josephus' Judean War; 3. Parthian saviours, sieges, and morale: ancient warfare in human perspective; Part II. Investigations: 4. Why did they do it? Circumstances, conditions, and 'causes'; 5. Nero's war I: the 'blunder' of Cestius Gallus?; 6. Nero's war II: Flavians in Galilee; 7. Flavian war I: the education of Titus; 8. Flavian war II: coins, councils, and the siege of Jerusalem; 9. Machaerus and Masada: a tale of two fortresses.

Steve Mason is Distinguished Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Religions and Cultures in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands. A former Canada Research Chair (in Greco-Roman Cultural Interaction) at Toronto's York University and Visiting Fellow in Oxford and Berlin, he has published several monographs and scores of essays on Roman Judaea, Josephus, Flavian Rome, Christian origins, and historical method. He edits the multi-volume international project Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary.

'No study of the Jewish-Roman war approaches this one in level of sophistication, thoroughness, sweep of erudition, provocative ideas, and originality.' Erich S. Gruen, University of California, Berkeley

• Part I. Contexts: 1. A famous and unknown war; 2. Historical evidence: understanding Josephus' Judean War; 3. Parthian saviours, sieges, and morale: ancient warfare in human perspective; Part II. Investigations: 4. Why did they do it? Circumstances, conditions, and 'causes'; 5. Nero's war I: the 'blunder' of Cestius Gallus?; 6. Nero's war II: Flavians in Galilee; 7. Flavian war I: the education of Titus; 8. Flavian war II: coins, councils, and the siege of Jerusalem; 9. Machaerus and Masada: a tale of two fortresses.