What is the date of the earliest surviving manuscript of Josephus “The Jewish War”?
Answer I am not an expert on the manuscript traditions of Josephus. The Greek manuscripts of which I am aware are medieval at the earliest. I have heard of bits from ancient times. And, of course, quotations of Josephus occur in some church fathers. There are three passages attributed to Josephus which speak of Jesus. Two are in his Antiquities (18.3.3 = 18.63 and 20.9.1 = 20.197) and the other is in his Jewish War. You have asked about the least respectible one of the three. The passage in The Jewish War appears in no Greek manuscript. It occurs only in the Slavonic translation of this work and was written, scholars believe, in the 10th or 11th century. For this reason many translations of The Jewish War don’t include this passage, even in a footnote. As for the two passages in the Antiquities, the second one is the most widely accepted. The first one some scholars feel is unacceptably Christian for Josephus. However, other scholars make a few slight emendations and end up with a text
