694964 Ms. 1581 f. 211v Illustration from Book XI (\'From the First Year of Cyrus to the Death of Alexander the Great\'), Chapter 1 of the \'Antiquities of the Jews\' (\'Antiquitates Judaicae\') by Flavius Josephus - How Cyrus, King of the Persians, delivered the Jews out of Babylon and permitted them to return to their own country and gave them money to build their temple\', c.1503 (vellum) by French School, (16th century); Bibliotheque Mazarine, Paris, France; (add.info.: Commissioned by Cardinal Georges d\'Amboise, Archbishop of Rouen for the library of his ch璽teau of Gaillon; patron of Jean Pichore (fl. c. 1500-20) one of the most famous manuscript illuminators in Paris and responsible for almost all of the miniatures in this edition of Flavius Josephus; the decorated borders are the work of Jean Serpin; \'Antiquitates Judaicae\' is a history of the Jewish people in 21 volumes written in Greek by Flavius Josephus (c.37-c.100 AD); this book consists of the fourth-century Latin translation ascribed to Rufinus;).