William Whiston was an English theologian, historian, natural philosopher, and mathematician, a leading figure in the popularisation of the ideas of Isaac Newton. He is now probably best known for helping to instigate the Longitude Act in 1714 and his important translations of the Antiquities of the Jews and other works by Josephus. He was a prominent exponent of Arianism and wrote A New Theory of the Earth.
A portrait of Whiston from 1720
Solar System chart by William Whiston and John Senex
A portrait of William Whiston with a diagram demonstrating his theories of cometary catastrophism, described in A New Theory of the Earth
New theory of the Earth, 1696
Antiquities of the Jews is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by historian Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of Roman emperor Domitian, which was 94 CE. The book contains an account of the history of the Jewish people for Josephus's gentile patrons. In the first ten volumes, Josephus follows the events of the Hebrew Bible beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve.
11th-century illuminated manuscript
A leaf from the 1466 manuscript of the Antiquitates Iudaice, National Library of Poland