Josephus was an ethnic Jew

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

 living in Jerusalem.

Josephus was the son born to Matthias Curtus

Matthias Curtus

Matthias Curtus was an ethnic Jew living in Jerusalem.Matthias came from a wealthy family who descended from the priestly order of the Jehoiarib, which was the first of the twenty four-orders of Priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. He was the son of Matthias Ephlias and the daughter of the High...

 and his unnamed Jewish wife. He came from a wealthy family and through his father he descended from the priestly order of the Jehoiarib

Jehoiarib

Jehoiarib was the head of a family of priests, which was made the first of the twenty-four priestly divisions organized by King David.- High Priest :...

, which was the first of the twenty four-orders of Priests in the Temple in Jerusalem

Temple in Jerusalem

The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...

. His paternal grandparents were Matthias Ephlias

Matthias Ephlias

Matthias Ephlias was an ethnic Jew living in Jerusalem.The meaning of Matthias' epithet is obscure. His epithet could mean ‘Handsome’ from the Hebrew language or ‘son of Ephesus’ from the Greek language, as he was sometimes known as ‘Matthias of Ephesus’...

 and the daughter of the High Priest Jonathon. Jonathon may have been Alexander Jannaeus

Alexander Jannaeus

Alexander Jannaeus was king of Judea from 103 BC to 76 BC. The son of John Hyrcanus, he inherited the throne from his brother Aristobulus I, and appears to have married his brother's widow, Shlomtzion or "Shelomit", also known as Salome Alexandra, according to the Biblical law of Yibbum...

, the High Priest and Hasmonean ruler who governed Judea

Judea

Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...

 from 103 BC-76 BC.

He was a contemporary to the King Herod the Great

Herod the Great

Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...

 and the Herodian Dynasty

Herodian Dynasty

The Herodian Dynasty was a Jewish dynasty of Idumean descent, client Kings of Roman Judaea Province between 37 BCE and 92 CE.- Origin :During the time of the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus 134-104 BCE, Israel conquered Edom and forced the Edomites to convert to Judaism.The Edomites were integrated...

 governing Judea

Judea

Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...

 and the surrounding territories. Josephus followed his paternal ancestors and served as a Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Josephus married an unnamed Jewish noblewoman. The wife of Josephus was a distant paternal relative of his, as she was a descendant of his paternal great-grandfather Simon Psellus

Simon Psellus

Simon Psellus was an ethnic Jew living in Jerusalem.Simon’s ancestors were contemporary to the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty and Seleucid dynasty over Judea. He was a wealthy man who served as a priest in the Temple in Jerusalem. Simon belonged to the first of the twenty-four orders of Priests in...

. His wife bore him a son, Matthias

Matthias (father of Josephus)

Matthias was an ethnic Jew living in Jerusalem.Matthias came from a wealthy family and through his father he descended from the priestly order of the Jehoiarib, which was the first of the twenty four-orders of Priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. He was the son born to Josephus and his wife, an...

. Through his son, he would be the paternal grandfather of the Roman Jewish Historian

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 of the 1st century, Flavius Josephus

Josephus

Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...

.

Sources

• Josephus’ Lineage
• M. Fergus, S. Emil & V. Geza, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. - A.D. 135), Continuum International Publishing Group, 1973
• F. Josephus & S. Mason, Flavius Josephus: translation and commentary, BRILL, 2001