Shaye J. D. Cohen was associate professor of Jewish history at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America when this was written. He earned MAs from both Columbia and the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a BA from Yeshiva University, where he majored in Greek and Latin. His PhD is from Columbia. A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities enabled him to teach an Institute on post-Biblical foundations. He is a member of the Association of Jewish Studies, the Society of Biblical Literature, and other learned societies. His book, Josephus in Galilee and Rome: His Vita and Development as a Historian, was published by E. J. Brill in 1979. He has also published several articles on Jewish history, especially in the Greco-Roman period.