Thursday, March 16, 2017

Of Putin, Netanyahu, and Josephus

POLITICS: During Moscow Visit, Netanyahu Receives Special Gift From Putin — a Nearly 500-Year-Old Copy of Josephus’ The Jewish War (Barney Breen-Portnoy, The Algemeiner).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a special gift from Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Moscow on Thursday — a nearly 500-year-old copy of Roman-Jewish historian Josephus’ book The Jewish War.

The copy given to Netanyahu at the Kremlin on Thursday was printed in Italy in 1526.

The Israeli prime minister said he was “moved” by Putin’s gesture.

[...]
There's video.

Background here. The earlier exchange between Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Putin let to a pointed exchange of historical reflections between Mr. Netanyahu and various Iranian officials. This didn't seem of much interest and I didn't mention it. But now that Josephus is involved, some attention is merited.