How Josephus Linked the Nephilim to Greek Myths
Genesis 6:1–4 is brief and strange. It tells of the sons of God, the daughters of men, and the Nephilim. Jude and Peter later speak of angels who left their proper place and now await judgment. Second Temple Jews filled in details. 1 Enoch told the story of the Watchers.
In the first century, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus also retold the account. His version is simple and bold. Angels took human wives. Giants came from those unions. Their deeds looked like the giants of Greek myth.
This article presents Josephus in his own words, then walks line by line through what he says. We will compare his account with Genesis, 1 Enoch, Jude, and 2 Peter. Scripture is our authority. Josephus helps us hear how many Jews in the first century read Scripture.
Who was Josephus
Flavius Josephus was a Roman-Jewish historian and former military leader. He was born in Jerusalem around AD 37 to a priestly father and a mother with Hasmonean ancestry.
He fought Rome in the First Jewish–Roman War and surrendered to Vespasian in AD 67. After Vespasian became emperor, Josephus was freed, took the family name Flavius, and later served Titus during the siege of Jerusalem.
He wrote two major works. The Jewish War describes the revolt and the fall of the Temple. Antiquities of the Jews, finished around AD 93–94, tells the story of Israel from creation to his own day for a Greco-Roman audience.
His books are a key window into first-century Judaism and the background of early Christianity.
The full Josephus quote
Here is the paragraph from Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 3, in the Whiston translation. I present it in full, exactly as it appears in many printed editions, including the footnote marker in “angels11,” which points to Whiston’s note:
1. Now this posterity of Seth continued to esteem God as the Lord of the universe, and to have an entire regard to virtue, for seven generations; but in process of time they were perverted, and forsook the practices of their forefathers; and did neither pay those honors to God which were appointed them, nor had they any concern to do justice towards men. But for what degree of zeal they had formerly shown for virtue, they now showed by their actions a double degree of wickedness, whereby they made God to be their enemy. For many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength; for the tradition is, that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants. But Noah was very uneasy at what they did; and being displeased at their conduct, persuaded them to change their dispositions and their acts for the better: but seeing they did not yield to him, but were slaves to their wicked pleasures, he was afraid they would kill him, together with his wife and children, and those they had married; so he departed out of that land.
Translator’s note (Whiston): “This notion, that the fallen angels were, in some sense, the fathers of the old giants, was the constant opinion of antiquity.”
Line-by-line: what Josephus claims and how it compares
“This posterity of Seth… were perverted”
Josephus opens with moral decline among the Sethites. That does not mean he holds a “Sethite view” of the sons of God. He is simply setting the stage for a corrupt world. Genesis 6:1–5 does the same. Wickedness fills the earth. In Josephus, the Sethites abandon virtue, which prepares the way for the next sentence.
“For many angels… accompanied with women, and begat sons”
This is the core claim. Josephus takes the sons of God in Genesis 6 to be angels. He states it plainly and without apology. This aligns with 1 Enoch 6–7, where heavenly Watchers take wives.
It matches the oldest known Jewish reading and what many early Christians assumed. Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4 do not mention women, but they confirm an angelic transgression tied by context to Noah’s day.
“sons that proved unjust… despisers of all that was good”
Josephus describes the children as violent and arrogant. Genesis 6:11–13 says the earth was filled with violence. 1 Enoch 7 says the giants devoured, sinned, and oppressed.
The moral picture matches. Both traditions see the union as a fountain of disorder that spreads quickly.
“on account of the confidence they had in their own strength”
The giants trusted their power. This echoes the “mighty men” and “men of renown” language in Genesis 6:4. The Hebrew hints at fame and force. Josephus makes the same theme explicit. The point is pride.
“the tradition is, that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants”
Here Josephus links the biblical memory to Greek stories. He does not say they were the same figures. He says their deeds resembled what Greek myth recounts. This is important. It suggests that pagan myths preserve distorted memories of real events.
That is how many Jews and Christians in the period explained the overlap. The New Testament even uses a Greek term that echoes this world. Peter writes that God “cast them into Tartarus” and kept them in pits of gloom. Tartarus is the classic prison for the Titans in Greek lore.
Josephus’s line and Peter’s term sit in the same cultural frame, even though Scripture keeps the focus on God’s judgment rather than mythic genealogy.
“But Noah was very uneasy… persuaded them to change”
Josephus presents Noah as a preacher who warns the wicked. This matches 2 Peter 2:5, which calls Noah a “herald of righteousness.”
Genesis is brief on Noah’s sermons. Josephus fills in the pastoral effort. It supports the consistent theme. God warns. People harden. Judgment follows.
“seeing they did not yield… he was afraid they would kill him… so he departed out of that land”
Josephus adds concrete danger. Noah feared violence. This fits the wider Genesis picture of a world full of bloodshed. It also explains Noah’s separation before the flood.
The text does not claim Scripture says this. It gives a reasonable narrative that fits the moral logic of the story.
Josephus and 1 Enoch: agreement and difference
Josephus and 1 Enoch agree on the main points. Angels descended. They took wives. Giants came from the unions. Violence filled the earth. God judged.
They differ in color and emphasis. 1 Enoch details the oath at Mount Hermon, names leading Watchers, and lists forbidden arts and charms. Josephus is terse. He does not list crafts or magic here. He steps instead to Greek parallels. He is writing for Greeks and Romans. He wants them to see their own stories in light of Israel’s Scripture.
Josephus and Genesis, Jude, and 2 Peter
Josephus reads Genesis 6 in a way that fits Jude and Peter. The angels in Jude and Peter left their place, were judged, and are kept until the great day. Josephus places that transgression just before the flood and pairs it with the rise of giants.
He also echoes Peter by framing Noah as a preacher. Nothing in Josephus contradicts Genesis 6. He fills in motives and social detail and marks the story as the common view of his day.
Did Josephus present a fringe view
No. Josephus writes as if his readers already know this tradition. He even calls it “the tradition.” The translator Whiston notes that this was the constant opinion of antiquity.
Other first-century Jewish voices connect in similar ways. Philo of Alexandria discusses giants born from unions between heavenly beings and women. Early Christian writers like Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian read Genesis 6 the same way.
The Sethite view becomes prominent centuries later. In Josephus’s world, the angelic reading is normal.
Why Greek myths appear in his retelling
Josephus served a Greco-Roman audience. When he says the giants’ deeds resembled those in Greek stories, he is building a bridge. He is not baptizing myth. He is arguing that pagan tales echo true events in a distorted way.
This move helps outsiders take the biblical story seriously. It also reminds Jewish readers that the nations remember the flood and the giants, even if they tell it with different names.
Why Josephus still matters
Josephus is not Scripture, but he is a careful witness to how Scripture was read. His short paragraph helps modern readers in three ways. It shows that the earliest Jewish reading of Genesis 6 was angelic. It links the Nephilim to a wider world of giant lore that ancient people already knew. It places Noah as a public voice for repentance, which fits how the New Testament uses the story to warn and to comfort.
When someone says the angelic view is fringe, Josephus gives a clear reply. In the first century, it was mainstream.
Josephus does not solve every question.
He does give us a straight line to the first century. Angels took wives. Giants were born. Their violent pride matched what Greeks remembered in their giant tales. Noah warned. People refused. God judged.
Read with Genesis, Jude, and 2 Peter, his paragraph brings the old story into view. It helps us hear the Bible as the earliest readers did, with sober realism about sin, with confidence in God’s judgment, and with hope for those who walk with him.
