JOSEPHUS FLAVIUS. WAR OF THE JEWS AND THE HISTORY OF THE
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM & AND ITS REIGN, UNDER VESPASIAN
EMPEROR.
Translated from the Greek into the
Tuscan language, & definitively corrected with much precision.
This edition is
EXTREMELY RARE, as there are only seven copies known in
the world: one in Oxford (UK) and six in the Italian museums
of Pisa, Thiene, Padova, Mestre, Adria and Gubbio. Ref.:
Graesse III, page 483 Edition, CNC 30694 KVK. Printed by, Baldassar Salviani, Venice (Italy), Year
Published, 1570, Measuring 6” tall x 4.5” wide, 756 pages,
Complete.
One of the oldest books
of the works of Josephus, “The Jewish War” translated from
the original Greek into the Tuscan (post-Latin/pre-Italian)
The language of the book is Tuscan/Florentine. For centuries
Josephus' works were more widely read in Europe than any
book other than the Bible. They are an invaluable
eye-witness to a momentous turning point in Judaism,
Christianity, and Western civilization.
In this way were born the Romance languages. In Italy, the
use of Latin as the single language gradually faded to be
replaced by numerous dialects: the "vernacular" which varied
from region to region. The vernacular first appears in
literature in the poetry of the 13th century with the
Sicilian, Tuscan and "Stil novo" poets who employed a
refined lexicon.
The great Tuscan writers of the 13th and 14th centuries,
Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, made a fundamental
contribution by writing a literary language that would be
the model for succeeding centuries. After an initial period
in which the various dialects vied for supremacy, Florence's
prodigious economic growth, social development and
commercial and cultural expansion, led to the adoption over
the centuries of its dialect as the common Italian tongue.
In the 16th century the linguistic unification of Italy came
about gradually through the spread of a language that
developed from the Tuscan dialect, more precisely
Florentine. It became a superior language, used in politics,
administration and as the language of culture and the
Church.
