Misplaced Pages

#60939

90-882: The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian Jews in a delegation to the Roman emperor Caligula in 40 CE following civil strife between the Jewish and Greek communities of Alexandria. Philo was a leading writer of the Hellenistic Jewish community in Alexandria , Egypt. He wrote expansively in Koine Greek on the intersection of philosophy , politics , and religion in his time; specifically, he explored

180-551: A corruption of Arabarch (Ἀραβάρχης), meaning "Arab leader". Professor Samuel Krauss in the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia suggests that the alabarch was the leader of the Jews in Alexandria , and would have been called " ethnarch " by gentiles including Strabo . The title of an official who stood at the head of the Jewish population of Alexandria during the Grecian period. [...] Strabo (quoted by Josephus, "Ant." xiv. 7, § 2), who

270-456: A designation for God". According to David B. Capes, "the problem for this case, however, is that Christian scholars are responsible for copying and transmitting Philo's words to later generations", and adds, George Howard surveys evidence and concludes: "Although it is improbable that Philo varied from the custom of writing the Tetragram when quoting from Scripture, it is likely that he used

360-555: A separate section of the city was assigned to the Jews, so that they might not be hindered in the observance of their laws by continual contact with the pagan population. This Jewish Quarter was one of the five sections of the city, each named after a letter of the Greek alphabet , with the Jewish quarter being named Delta . During this time, the Jews in Alexandria enjoyed a greater degree of political independence and prominence, serving as

450-620: A sizable Jewish crowd, along with some non-Jewish visitors, would gather on the beach for a grand picnic. Following the Roman conquest of Egypt , intense antisemitism became widespread throughout Alexandria's non-Jewish populations. Many viewed Jews as privileged isolationists . This sentiment led to the Alexandrian Pogrom in 38 CE, led by the Roman governor Aulus Avilius Flaccus . Many Jews were murdered, their notables were publicly scourged, synagogues were defiled and closed, and all

540-571: A tariff fixing 'how much is to be raised by those who farm the ἀποστόλιον [?] at Koptos under the arabarchy '; see the text of this inscription in Bulletin de corresp. hellénique , xx. [1896] 174–176; on the office of the alabarch in general, see the Literature in Schürer, GJV iii. 88 f., and add Wilcken, Greichische Ostraka , i. [1899] 347–351). Perhaps it is the office of the alabarch that

630-529: Is Free , § 8 [ii. 454]. Philo did not reject the subjective experience of ancient Judaism; yet, he repeatedly explained that the Septuagint cannot be understood as a concrete, objective history. Philo's allegorical interpretation of scripture allows him to grapple with morally disturbing events and impose a cohesive explanation of stories. Specifically, Philo interprets the characters of the Bible as aspects of

720-673: Is also described in Book 2, Chapter 5 of Eusebius 's Historia Ecclesiae Philo along with his brothers received a thorough education. They were educated in the Hellenistic culture of Alexandria and the culture of ancient Rome , to a degree in Ancient Egyptian religion and particularly in the traditions of Judaism , in the study of Jewish traditional literature and in Greek philosophy . In his works, Philo shows extensive influence not only from philosophers such as Plato and

810-410: Is always the same (ἀΐδιος). God needs no other being (χρῄζει γὰρ οὐδενὸς τὸ παράπαν) for self-existence or the creation of material things, and God is self-sufficient (ἑαυτῷ ἱκανός). God can never perish (ἅφθαρτος), is self-existent (ὁ ὤν, τὸ ὄν), and has no relations with any other being (τὸ γὰρ ὄν, ᾗ ὄν ἐστιν, οὐχὶ τῶν πρός τι). Philo considered the anthropomorphism of the Bible to be an impiety that

900-580: Is distinct from the material world. At the same time, Logos pervades the world, supporting it. This image of God is the type for all other things (the "Archetypal Idea" of Plato), a seal impressed upon things. The Logos is a kind of shadow cast by God, having the outlines but not the blinding light of the Divine Being. He calls the Logos "second god [deuteros theos]" the "name of God," There are, in addition, Biblical elements: Philo connects his doctrine of

990-488: Is in view when Josephus says that the Romans 'continued (to the Jews of Alexandria) the position of trust given them by the kings, namely, the watching of the river' ( c. Apion. ii. 5 fin .: 'maximam vero eis fidem olim a regibus datam conservaverunt, id est fluminis custodiam totiusque custodiæ' [the last word is certainly corrupt]). The 'watching of the river' refers to watching it in the interests of levying customs. In any cae

SECTION 10

#1732765034061

1080-522: Is influenced by Heraclitus ' conception of the "dividing Logos" (λόγος τομεύς), which calls the various objects into existence by the combination of contrasts ("Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit," § 43 [i. 503]), as well as the Stoic characterization of the Logos as the active and vivifying power. But Philo followed the Platonic distinction between imperfect matter and perfect Form, and Philo's conception of

1170-506: Is known that Philo came from a family which was noble, honourable and wealthy. It was either his father or paternal grandfather who was granted Roman citizenship from Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar . Jerome wrote that Philo came de genere sacerdotum (from a priestly family). His ancestors and family had social ties and connections to the priesthood in Judea , the Hasmonean dynasty ,

1260-577: Is specific; no appropriate predicates can be conceived. To Philo, God exists beyond time and space and does not make special interventions into the world because God already encompasses the entire cosmos. Philo also integrated select theology from the rabbinic tradition, including God's transcendence , and humankind's inability to behold an ineffable God. He argued that God has no attributes (ἁπλοῡς)—in consequence, no name (ἅρρητος)—and, therefore, that God cannot be perceived by man (ἀκατάληπτος). Furthermore, he posited that God cannot change (ἅτρεπτος): God

1350-453: Is the type; man is the copy. The similarity is found in the mind (νοῦς) of humans. For the shaping of the nous, the individual has the Logos for a pattern to follow. The latter officiates here also as "the divider" (τομεύς), separating and uniting. The Logos, as "interpreter," announces God's designs to humankind, acting in this respect as prophet and priest. As the latter, the Logos softens punishments by making God's merciful power stronger than

1440-505: Is to a city, that caution is to an individual. Do not these men then talk foolishly, are they not mad, who desire to display their inexperience and freedom of speech to kings and tyrants, at times daring to speak and to do things in opposition to their will? Do they not perceive that they have not only put their necks under the yoke like brute beasts, but that they have also surrendered and betrayed their whole bodies and souls likewise, and their wives and their children, and their parents, and all

1530-556: Is untouched by unreasonable emotions, as appears in Exodus 32 :12, wherein Moses, torn by his feelings, perceives God alone to be calm. He is free from sorrow, pain, and other affections. But God is frequently represented as endowed with human emotions, and this serves to explain expressions referring to human repentance in the ancient Jewish context. Similarly, God cannot exist or change in space. He has no "where" (πού, obtained by changing

1620-656: The Alhambra Decree of 1492, a large number of Sephardic Jews immigrated to Alexandria. The historian Joseph Sambari mentions an active Jewish community in Alexandria during the 17th century. After the Chmielnicki massacres , some Ukrainian Jews settled in Alexandria. In the 1660s some members of the community began to follow the Jewish mystic Shabbetai Zvi , while the majority adamantly opposed him. In 1700, some Jewish fishermen from Rosetta moved to Alexandria in hopes of better economic opportunities. During

1710-566: The Church Fathers ; some survive only through an Armenian translation, and a smaller number survive in a Latin translation. The exact dates of writing and original organization plans are unknown for many of the texts attributed to Philo. Most of Philo's surviving work deals with the Torah (the first five books of the Bible ). Within this corpus are three categories: Philo's commentary on

1800-586: The Diaspora Revolt (115–117 CE), Jewish communities in the Roman provinces of Egypt, Cyrenaica , and Cyprus rose in rebellion while Emperor Trajan was in the east, engaged in his campaign against the Parthians . Papyrological evidence shows that the Roman garrison in Alexandria experienced setbacks in the summer of 116 CE. Jewish forces targeted the shrine of Nemesis , which housed Pompey 's head, possibly in retaliation for Pompey's desecration of

1890-554: The French conquest of Egypt , Napoleon imposed heavy fines on the Jews and ordered the ancient synagogue, associated with the prophet Elijah , to be destroyed. Under the rule of Muhammad Ali of Egypt , Jews began to experience great social and economic development. During World War I, many Jews living in Ottoman Palestine were exiled to Alexandria under Ottoman rule. In 1937, 24,690 Jews lived in Alexandria. Following

SECTION 20

#1732765034061

1980-655: The Herodian dynasty and the Julio-Claudian dynasty in Rome . Philo had one brother, Alexander Lysimachus, who was the general tax administrator of customs in Alexandria . He accumulated an immense amount of wealth, becoming not only the richest man in that city but also in the entire Hellenistic world. Alexander was so rich that he gave a loan to the wife of king Herod Agrippa , as well as gold and silver to overlay

2070-639: The Jewish Scriptures chiefly from the Septuagint , a Koine Greek translation of Hebraic texts later compiled as the Hebrew Bible and the deuterocanonical books . His numerous etymologies of Hebrew names, which are along the lines of the etymologic midrash to Genesis and of the earlier rabbinism , although not modern Hebrew philology , suggest some familiarity. Philo offers for some names three or four etymologies, sometimes including

2160-610: The Roman province of Judaea . In Antiquities of the Jews , Josephus tells of Philo's selection by the Alexandrian Jewish community as their principal representative before the Roman emperor Gaius Caligula. He says that Philo agreed to represent the Alexandrian Jews about the civil disorder that had developed between the Jews and the Greeks. Josephus also tells us that Philo was skilled in philosophy and that he

2250-481: The Seleucids , as opposed to 1 Maccabees which was written in Judea and criticizes the entire Hellenistic ideology. Strabo (64/63 BCE–c.24 CE) described the Jewish community in Alexandria as having substantial autonomy, with an ethnarch that "governs the people and adjudicates suits and supervises contracts and ordinances just as if he were the head of a sovereign state." Contemporary studies affirm that

2340-728: The Stoics , but also poets and orators, especially Homer , Euripides , and Demosthenes . Philo's largest philosophical influence was Plato, drawing heavily from the Timaeus and the Phaedrus , and also from the Phaedo , Theaetetus , Symposium , Republic , and Laws . The extent of Philo's knowledge of Hebrew, however, is debated. Philo was more fluent in Greek than in Hebrew and read

2430-698: The Talmud ) was also established during this time. During the period of the Second Temple the Jews of Alexandria were represented in Jerusalem by a sizeable community. During Herod’s reign several prominent Alexandrian Jewish families lived in Jerusalem, such as Simeon the Just who was appointed high priest by Herod. Alexandria's Jewish population served as secular public officials and as soldiers for

2520-416: The alabarch was not an official of the Jewish community, but a man who held a prominent place in civil life.—Tiberius Alexander, a son of the alabarch Alexander, even reached the highest grades of a Roman military career, although at the expense of renouncing his ancestral religion. Philo's brother Alexander was alabarch (customs official) in the 30s A.D., and another Jew, Demetrius (otherwise unknown) held

2610-565: The alabarch was the head of the Jewish community is certainly wrong. He is in all probability identical with the ἀραβάρχης, whose office was that of chief superintendent of customs on the Arabian frontier, i.e. on the east side of the Nile. A 'vectigal Arabarchiæ per Ægyptum atque Augustamnicam constitutum' is mentioned in the Codex Justin . IV. lxi. 9; an inscription found at Koptos contains

2700-420: The nature of God ; he contrasted the nature of God with the nature of the physical world. Philo did not consider God similar to Heaven , the world , or man; he affirmed a transcendent God without physical features or emotional qualities resembling those of human beings. Following Plato, Philo equates matter to nothingness and sees its effect in fallacy, discord, damage, and decay of things. Only God's existence

2790-459: The "Arab" etymology unlikely for a term applying to a leader of only the Jewish community and proposes the alternative "alaba" referring to ink from tax records: The trend of modern opinion is to connect it with the Greek term for ink, ἄλαβα (alaba), taking ink in the sense of writing (scriptura), which, in those days, was a token for tax (vectigal). Such a derivation would imply that the Alabarch

Philo - Misplaced Pages Continue

2880-436: The "archetypal idea". Philo identified Plato's Ideas with the demiurge's thoughts. These thoughts make the contents of Logos; they were the seals for making sensual things during world creation. Logos resembles a book with creature paradigms. An Architect's design before the construction of a city serves to Philo as another simile of Logos. Since creation, Logos binds things together. As the receptacle and holder of ideas, Logos

2970-403: The Alabarch, without further question; but Franz is of the opinion ("C. I. G." iii. 291a) that the Alabarch was only a subordinate functionary of the ethnarch. Grätz ("Monatsschrift," xxx. 206) considers the alabarchs to be descendants of the priest Onias, who emigrated to Egypt; and he includes the generals Hilkias and Ananias among the alabarchs, though authority for this is lacking. He considers

3060-575: The Alexander referenced in the Book of Acts , who presided over the Sanhedrin trial of John and Peter . Philo lived in an era of increasing ethnic tension in Alexandria, exacerbated by the new strictures of imperial rule . Some expatriate Hellenes (Greeks) in Alexandria condemned the Jews for a supposed alliance with Rome, even as Rome was seeking to suppress Jewish national and cultural identity in

3150-544: The Alexandrian Greeks as the aggressors in the civil strife that had left many Jews and Greeks dead. Alexandrian Jews The history of the Jews in Alexandria dates back to the founding of the city by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. Jews in Alexandria played a crucial role in the political, economic, cultural and religious life of Hellenistic and Roman Alexandria, with Jews comprising about 35% of

3240-514: The Greek text in Eusebius , in the "Sacra Parallela", in the "Catena", and also in Ambrosius . The explanation is confined chiefly to determining the literal sense, although Philo frequently refers to the allegorical sense as the higher. Νόμων Ἱερῶν Ἀλληγορίαι, or "Legum Allegoriæ", deals, so far as it has been preserved, with selected passages from Genesis . According to Philo's original idea,

3330-654: The Hebrew Bible, he interpreted the stories of the first five books as elaborate metaphors and symbols to demonstrate that Greek philosophers' ideas had preceded them in the Bible: Heraclitus 's concept of binary oppositions , according to Who is the Heir of Divine Things? § 43 [i. 503]; and the conception of the wise man expounded by Zeno of Citium , the founder of Stoicism , in Every Good Man

3420-493: The Jewish community in a hostile Greek world. It is one of the seven Sapiential or Wisdom books included in the Septuagint . The Logos has a special relation to humankind. Philo seems to look at humans as a trichotomy of nous (mind), psyche (soul), and soma (body), which was common to the Hellenistic view of the mind-body relationship . In Philo's writings, however, mind and spirit are used interchangeably. The soul

3510-539: The Jewish community of Alexandria was completely eradicated by the end of the Diaspora Revolt in 117 CE. By the beginning of the Byzantine era , the Jewish population had again increased, but suffered from the persecutions of the Christian Church . During the subsequent Muslim conquest of Egypt , the number of Jews in Alexandria increased greatly, with some estimates numbering around 400,000. Following

3600-460: The Jewish elite, including those in Alexandria, were not spared. The only Alexandrian Jews who might have survived were likely refugees who had fled to other regions at the onset of the revolt. By the beginning of the Byzantine era, the Jewish population had again increased, but in 414 Cyril expelled the Jews from the city. According to contemporary Christian historian Socrates Scholasticus ,

3690-587: The Jewish embassage, a man eminent on all accounts, brother to Alexander the Alabarch, (30) and one not unskillful in philosophy, was ready to betake himself to make his defense against those accusations; but Gaius prohibited him, and bid him begone; he was also in such a rage, that it openly appeared he was about to do them some very great mischief. So Philo being thus affronted, went out, and said to those Jews who were about him, that they should be of good courage, since Gaius's words indeed showed anger at them, but in reality had already set God against himself. This event

Philo - Misplaced Pages Continue

3780-401: The Jewish inhabitants and the Greeks; and three ambassadors were chosen out of each party that were at variance, who came to Gaius. Now one of these ambassadors from the people of Alexandria was Apion , (29) who uttered many blasphemies against the Jews; and, among other things that he said, he charged them with neglecting the honors that belonged to Caesar; for that while all who were subject to

3870-465: The Jews were confined to one quarter of the city. Riots again erupted in 40 CE between Jews and Greeks. Jews were accused of not honouring the emperor, and Jews were angered by the erection of a clay altar and destroyed it. In response, Caligula ordered the erection of a statue of himself in the Temple of Jerusalem . Philo wrote that Caligula "regarded the Jews with most especial suspicion, as if they were

3960-634: The Law then follows in two sections. First come the biographies of the men who antedated the several written laws of the Torah, as Enos , Enoch , Noah , Abraham , Isaac , and Jacob . These were the Patriarchs, who were the living impersonations of the active law of virtue before there were any written laws. Then, the laws are discussed in detail: first, the chief ten commandments (the Decalogue), and then

4050-457: The Logos becomes the aspect of the divine that operates in the world through whom the world is created and sustained. Peter Schäfer argues that Philo's Logos was derived from his understanding of the "postbiblical Wisdom literature , in particular the Wisdom of Solomon ". The Wisdom of Solomon is a Jewish work composed in Alexandria , Egypt , around the 1st century BCE, to bolster the faith of

4140-470: The Logos is directly related to the Middle Platonic view of God as unmoved and utterly transcendent; therefore, intermediary beings were necessary to bridge the enormous gap between God and the material world. The Logos was the highest of these intermediary beings and was called by Philo "the first-born of God." Philo also adapted Platonic elements in designating the Logos as the "idea of ideas" and

4230-488: The Logos with Scripture, first of all, based on Genesis 1:27, the relation of the Logos to God. He translates this passage as follows: "He made man after the image of God," concluding from that place that an image of God existed. The Logos is also designated as " high priest " in reference to the exalted position that the high priest occupied after the Exile as the physical center of the Jews' relationship with God. The Logos, like

4320-538: The Pentateuch is usually classified into three genres. The Quaestiones explain the Pentateuch catechetically, in the form of questions and answers ("Zητήματα καὶ Λύσεις, Quæstiones et Solutiones"). Only the following fragments have been preserved: abundant passages in Armenian – possibly the complete work – in explanation of Genesis and Exodus, an old Latin translation of a part of the "Genesis", and fragments from

4410-535: The Ptolemaic army. Rich Jews occasionally held the office of alabarch, such as Alexander the Alabarch . However, Ptolemy VII was hostile towards the Jews because when he strove to wrest the throne of Egypt from Cleopatra, the Jews, led by the general Onias, fought on the side of Cleopatra. During the Maccabean Revolt , an Alexandrian Jew probably wrote 2 Maccabees which defends Hellenism and criticizes

4500-406: The Roman empire built altars and temples to Gaius, and in other regards universally received him as they received the gods, these Jews alone thought it a dishonorable thing for them to erect statues in honor of him, as well as to swear by his name. Many of these severe things were said by Apion, by which he hoped to provoke Gaius to anger at the Jews, as he was likely to be. But Philo, the principal of

4590-525: The Roman era, as deep antisemitic sentiment began developing amongst the city's Greek and Egyptian populations. This led to the subsequent Alexandrian pogrom in 38 CE and the Alexandria riot in 66 CE, which was in parallel with the outbreak of the First Jewish–Roman War . Alexandria's Jewry began to diminish, leading to a mass immigration of Alexandrian Jews to Rome , as well as other Mediterranean and North African cities. It appears that

SECTION 50

#1732765034061

4680-508: The Temple in Jerusalem in 63 BCE. Damage to other significant structures, such as the Serapeum of Alexandria , was likely inflicted by Jewish groups from Egypt and Cyrenaica rather than by Alexandria's own Jewish inhabitants. Eusebius 's later account of Alexandria being "overthrown" and needing reconstruction by Hadrian is, however, considered exaggerated. Finally, the Roman suppression of

4770-563: The accent in Genesis 3:9: "Adam, where [ποῡ] art thou?"), is not in any place. He is Himself the place; the dwelling-place of God means the same as God Himself, as in the Mishnah = "God is" (comp. Freudenthal, "Hellenistische Studien," p. 73), corresponding to the tenet of Greek philosophy that the existence of all things is summed up in God. God as such is motionless, as the Bible indicates by

4860-428: The apex of Jewish-Hellenistic syncretism . His work attempts to combine Plato and Moses into one philosophical system. Philo bases his doctrines on the Hebrew Bible , which he considers the source and standard not only of religious truth but of all truth. Its pronouncements are the ἱερὸς λόγος , θεῖος λόγος , and ὀρθὸς λόγος (holy word, godly word, righteous word), uttered sometimes directly and sometimes through

4950-544: The city had some 400,000 around the time of the conquest. However, Benjamin of Tudela who visited the town in about 1170, speaks of only 3,000 Jews living in Alexandria. Nevertheless, throughout the Middle Ages , Alexandria had a small but significant community of Jewish rabbis and scholars. The community is mentioned in several documents in the Cairo Genizah , some of which relate to Alexandrian Jews' reaction to

5040-443: The city's moneylenders, premium merchants and alabarchs . The Jewish ethnarchs were also established during this time, along with a council of 71 elders. According to Strabo , the ethnarch was responsible for the general conduct of Jewish affairs in the city, particularly in legal matters and the drawing up of documents. The city also established a large Bet Din known as the "archion". The Great Synagogue of Alexandria (mentioned in

5130-491: The city's population during the Roman Era. In the Ptolemaic period, Alexandrian Jews played a central role in the development of Hellenistic Judaism and were instrumental in the translation of the Torah from Hebrew to Koine Greek , which produced the Septuagint . Many important Jewish writers and figures came from or studied in Alexandria, such as Philo , Ben Sira , Tiberius Julius Alexander and Josephus . The position of Alexandria's Jewry began deteriorating during

5220-406: The community had its own established social and legal institutions, operating with the consent of Ptolemaic and later Roman authorities. The Jews of Alexandria commemorated the translation of the Jewish Scriptures into Greek with an annual festival held on the island of Pharos, the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria , and traditionally associated with the translation event. During this celebration,

5310-404: The connections between Greek Platonic philosophy and late Second Temple Judaism . For example, he maintained that the Greek-language Septuagint and the Jewish law still being developed by the rabbis of the period together serve as a blueprint for the pursuit of individual enlightenment. Philo's deployment of allegory to harmonize Jewish scripture, mainly the Torah , with Greek philosophy

5400-482: The controversial Sar Shalom ben Moses . During the 12th century, Aaron He-Haver ben Yeshuah Alamani served as the community's spiritual leader. During the Arab period, Alexandrian Jewry kept a close relationship with other Egyptian communities in Cairo , Bilbeis , El Mahalla El Kubra as well as several others. It was during this time that Alexandria had two synagogues, one of which was called "the Small Synagogue of Alexandria". The Jews of Alexandria were engaged in

5490-465: The correct Hebrew root (e.g., [[[wikt:ירד|יָרַד]]] Error: {{Langx}}: invalid parameter: |lk= ( help ) as the origin of the name Jordan ). However, his works do not display much understanding of Hebrew grammar , and they tend to follow the translation of the Septuagint more closely than the Hebrew version. . Philo identified the angel of the Lord (in the singular) with the Logos . In the text attributed to Philo, he "consistently uses Κύριος as

SECTION 60

#1732765034061

5580-460: The efficient causes that not only represent the types of things, but also produce and maintain them. Philo endeavored to harmonize this conception with the Bible by designating these powers as angels. Philo conceives the powers both as independent hypostases and as immanent attributes of a Divine Being. In the same way, Philo contrasts the two divine attributes of goodness and power (ἄγαθότης and ἀρχή, δίναμις χαριστική and συγκολαστική) as expressed in

5670-402: The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and the ensuing Six-Day War in 1967, almost all of Alexandria's Jewish population were expelled from the country and emigrated to Israel. According to Josephus, Jews had inhabited Alexandria since its founding, and most historians agree that Jews lived in the city since at least the beginning of the third century BCE. Under Ptolemaic rule,

5760-414: The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and the ensuing Six-Day War , almost all of Egypt's Jewish population were expelled from the country and immigrated to Israel. As of 2017, only 12 Jews currently live in Alexandria. In February 2020, 180 Jews from Europe , Israel and the United States arrived in Alexandria to attend religious ceremonies at the historic Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue , which

5850-421: The expulsion was a response to a Jewish-led massacre against some Christians. Historians are divided on whether the expulsion was wholesale or just against those who had perpetrated the violence. There is evidence for Jews from Alexandria settling in Milan , Italy in late antiquity. Following the Muslim conquest of Egypt starting in 641, Jews were allowed to return to the city; according to some Arab sources,

5940-417: The high priest, is the expiator of the Jews' sins and the mediator and advocate for humankind before, and envoy to, God: ἱκέτης, and παράκλητος. He puts human minds in order. The right reason is an infallible law, the source of any other laws. The angel blocking Balaam 's way in Numbers 22:22–35 is interpreted by Philo as a manifestation of the Logos, which acts as Balaam's—or humankind's—conscience. As such,

6030-459: The history of primal humanity is here considered a symbol of the religious and moral development of the human soul. This commentary included the following treatises: Philo wrote a systematic work on Moses and his laws, which is usually prefaced by the treatise " De Opificio Mundi ". The Creation is, according to Philo, the basis for the Mosaic legislation, which is in complete harmony with nature ("De Opificio Mundi", § 1 [i. 1]). The exposition of

6120-453: The human being and the stories of the Bible as episodes from universal human experience. For example, Adam represents the mind and Eve , the senses. Noah represents tranquility, a stage of "relative"—incomplete but progressing—righteousness. According to Josephus , Philo was inspired mainly in this by Aristobulus of Alexandria and the Alexandrian school . Philo frequently engaged in Pythagorean-inspired numerology , explaining at length

6210-443: The importance of the first 10 numerals: Philo also determines the values of the numbers 50, 70, 100, 12, and 120. There is also extensive symbolism of objects. Philo elaborates on the extensive symbolism of proper names, following the example of the Bible and the Midrash , to which he adds many new interpretations. Philo stated his theology both through the negation of opposing ideas and through detailed, positive explanations of

6300-425: The international trade centered in their city, and some even held government posts. Under Mamluk rule , the Jewish population of Alexandria began to decline. Meshullam of Volterra , who visited it in 1481, states that he found only 60 Jewish families, but reported that the old men remembered the time when the community numbered 4,000. In 1488, Obadiah of Bertinoro found 25 Jewish families in Alexandria. Following

6390-420: The majority of Jews were killed, and those who were captured were burned alive. Following this event was the second Alexandrian pogrom. Tiberius Julius Alexander , the governor of Alexandria (who was born Jewish, but left the religion) was able to calm the riots. However, most Jews saw the rising antisemitism and emigrated out of the city, mostly to Rome and other Mediterranean and North African cities. During

6480-490: The mouth of a prophet, and especially through Moses , whom Philo considers the true medium of revelation . However, he distinguishes between the words uttered by God himself, such as the Ten Commandments , and the edicts of Moses (as the special laws). Philo regards the Bible as the source not only of religious revelation but also of philosophical truth. By applying the Stoic mode of allegorical interpretation to

6570-462: The names of God; designating "Yhwh" as Goodness, Philo interpreted "Elohim" (LXX. Θεός) as designating the "cosmic power"; and as he considered the Creation the most important proof of divine goodness, he found the idea of goodness especially in Θεός. Philo also treats the divine powers of God as a single independent being, or demiurge , which he designates " Logos ". Philo's conception of the Logos

6660-460: The nine gates of the temple in Jerusalem . Due to his extreme wealth, Alexander was also influential in imperial Roman circles as a friend of emperor Claudius. Through Alexander, Philo had two nephews, Tiberius Julius Alexander and Marcus Julius Alexander . The latter was the first husband of the Herodian princess Berenice . Marcus died in 43 or 44. Some scholars identify Alexander Lysimachus as

6750-539: The only persons who cherished wishes opposed to his." Following the First Jewish–Roman War, many Romans in Alexandria questioned the loyalty of the city's Jewry. Violence occurred in 66 CE, when the Alexandrines had organized a public assembly to deliberate about an embassy to Nero , and a great number of Jews came flocking to the amphitheater . When the Alexandrines saw the Jews, they attacked them ;

6840-493: The partly interpolated passages on the Essenes. In Legatio ad Gaium ( Embassy to Gaius ), Philo describes his diplomatic mission to Gaius Caligula , one of the few events in his life which is explicitly known. He relates that he was carrying a petition describing the sufferings of the Alexandrian Jews and asking the emperor to secure their rights. Philo describes their sufferings in more detail than Josephus's to characterize

6930-709: The phrase "God stands". Philo endeavored to find the Divine Being active and acting in the world, in agreement with Stoicism, yet his Platonic conception of Matter as evil required that he place God outside of the world in order to prevent God from having any contact with evil. Hence, he was obliged to separate from the Divine Being the activity displayed in the world and to transfer it to the divine powers, which accordingly were sometimes inherent in God and at other times exterior to God. In order to balance these Platonic and Stoic conceptions, Philo conceived of these divine attributes as types or patterns of actual things ("archetypal ideas") in keeping with Plato, but also regarded them as

7020-711: The precepts in amplification of each law. The work is divided into the following treatises: This exposition is more exoteric than allegorical and might have been intended for gentile audiences. Philo is also credited with writing: This is the second half of a work on the freedom of the just according to Stoic principles. The genuineness of this work has been disputed by Frankel (in "Monatsschrift", ii. 30 et seq., 61 et seq.), by Grätz ("Gesch." iii. 464 et seq.), and more recently by Ansfeld (1887), Hilgenfeld (in "Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Theologie", 1888, pp. 49–71), and others. Now Wendland , Ohle , Schürer , Massebieau , and Krell consider it genuine, except

7110-490: The punitive. The Logos has a special mystic influence upon the human soul, illuminating it and nourishing it with higher spiritual food, like the manna, of which the most diminutive piece has the same vitality as the whole. Philo's ethics were strongly influenced by Pythagoreanism and Stoicism , preferring a morality of virtues without passions, such as lust/desire and anger, but with a "common human sympathy". Commentators can also infer from his mission to Caligula that Philo

7200-568: The rest of the numerous kindred and community of their other relations? ... when an opportunity offers, it is a good thing to attack our enemies and put down their power; but when we have no such opportunity, it is better to be quiet The works of Philo are mostly allegorical interpretations of the Torah (known in the Hellenic world as the Pentateuch ) but also include histories and comments on philosophy. Most of these were preserved in Greek by

7290-512: The uprising in the city was aided by Greeks fleeing from Jewish attacks in other parts of the country. By the end of the conflict in late summer 117 CE, it is highly unlikely that Jews remained in Alexandria. The Great Synagogue, celebrated in the Talmud , was destroyed, and the city's Jewish court might have been abolished. Surviving Jews would have faced assaults by mobs, official reprisals, and possible executions ordered by Hadrian . The extensive confiscation of Jewish lands indicates that

7380-423: The word Κύριος when making a secondary reference to the divine name in his exposition". James Royse concludes: (1) the exegete [Philo] knows and reads biblical manuscripts in which the tetragram is written in palaeo-Hebrew or Aramaic script and not translated by kyrios and that (2) he quotes scriptures in the same way he would have pronounced it, that is, by translating it as kurios ." Philo represents

7470-567: Was a farmer of taxes, certainly from the time of the Ptolemies; and, judging by inscriptions which give a similar title to an office of the Thebaid in Egypt, he must also have collected the toll on animals passing through the country. Krauss also mentions an older etymology using ἄλς ( hals = sea). Professor Emil Schürer , however, holds in the 1912 Dictionary of the Bible : The view that

7560-399: Was brother to the alabarch Alexander. According to Josephus, Philo and the larger Jewish community refused to treat the emperor as a god, to erect statues in honour of the emperor, or to build altars and temples to the emperor. Josephus says Philo believed that God actively supported this refusal. Josephus' complete comments about Philo: There was now a tumult arisen at Alexandria, between

7650-423: Was in Egypt about 24 B.C., calls the governor of the Jews "ethnarch" (ἐθνάρχης), and remarks that he ruled over the Jews as over an autonomous community (Ως ἄν πōλιτείας ἄρχων αὐτōτελōῦς). If the term as used by Strabo is correct, then the Alabarch must have been known among the heathen as ethnarch; so that one would surmise that the term ἀλαβάρχης was used only by the Jews. Strabo's ethnarch is usually identified with

7740-420: Was incompatible with the Platonic conception of "God in opposition to matter", instead interpreting the ascription to God of hands and feet, eyes and ears, tongue and windpipe, as allegories. In Philo's interpretation, Hebrew scripture adapts itself to human conceptions, and so God is occasionally represented as a man for pedagogic reasons. The same holds true for God's anthropopathic attributes. God, as such,

7830-461: Was involved in politics. However, the nature of his political beliefs, especially his viewpoint on the Roman Empire, is a matter of debate. Philo did suggest in his writings that a prudent man should withhold his genuine opinion about tyrants: he will of necessity take up caution as a shield, as a protection to prevent his suffering any sudden and unexpected evil; for as I imagine what a wall

7920-436: Was part of the delegation to Gaius Caligula in 38 CE. Jewish history professor Daniel R. Schwartz estimates his birth year as sometime between 15 and 10 BCE. Philo's reference to an event under the reign of Emperor Claudius indicates that he died sometime between 45 and 50 CE. Philo also recounts that he visited the Second Temple in Jerusalem at least once in his lifetime. Although the names of his parents are unknown, it

8010-490: Was renovated by the Egyptian government as part of a program to protect Jewish heritage sites. Alabarch An alabarch was a traditionally Jewish official in Alexandria during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, seemingly responsible for taxation and especially customs at the harbor. The following alabarchs are known by name: "Alabarch" is a Latinization of a Greek title, Ἀλαβάρχης, often described as

8100-466: Was the first documented of its kind, and thereby often misunderstood. Many critics of Philo assumed his allegorical perspective would lend credibility to the notion of legend over historicity. Philo often advocated a literal understanding of the Torah and the historicity of such described events, while at other times favoring allegorical readings. Philo's dates of birth and death are unknown but can be judged by Philo's description of himself as "old" when he

#60939