Philo

For other uses, see Philo (disambiguation).

Philo of Alexandria (/ˈfaɪloʊ/; Greek: Φίλων, Philōn;Hebrew: הכהן , ידידיה Yedidia (Jedediah) HaCohen; c. 25BCE – c. 50 CE), also called Philo Judaeus, was aHellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria,in the Roman province of Egypt.Philo used philosophical allegory to attempt to fuse andharmonize Greek philosophy with Jewish philosophy.His method followed the practices of both Jewish exegesisand Stoic philosophy. His allegorical exegesis was im-portant for several Christian Church Fathers, but he hasbarely any reception history within Rabbinic Judaism. Hebelieved that literal interpretations of the Hebrew Biblewould stifle humanity’s view and perception of a God toocomplex and marvelous to be understood in literal humanterms.Some scholars hold that his concept of the Logos as God’screative principle influenced early Christology. Otherscholars, however, deny direct influence but say bothPhilo and Early Christianity borrow from a commonsource.[1]

The few biographical details known about Philo are foundin his own works, especially in Legatio ad Gaium (Em-bassy to Gaius), and in Josephus.[2] The only event inhis life that can be decisively dated is his participationin the embassy to Rome in 40 CE. He represented theAlexandrian Jews before Roman Emperor Caligula be-cause of civil strife between the Alexandrian Jewish andGreek communities.

1 Ancestry, family and early life

Philo was probably born with the name Julius Philo.Philo came from an aristocratic family which had livedin Alexandria for generations. His ancestors and fam-ily were contemporaries to the rule of the Ptolemaic dy-nasty and the rule of the Seleucid Empire. Althoughthe names of his parents are unknown, Philo came froma family which was noble, honourable and wealthy. Itwas either his father or paternal grandfather who wasgranted Roman citizenship from Roman dictator GaiusJulius Caesar. Philo had two brothers, Alexander the Al-abarch and Lysimachus.His ancestors and family had social ties and connec-tions to the Priesthood in Judea, the Hasmonean Dynasty,the Herodian Dynasty and the Julio-Claudian dynasty in

Rome. Philo visited the Temple in Jerusalem at leastonce in his lifetime.[3] Philo would have been a contem-porary to Jesus of Nazareth and his Apostles. Philo alongwith his brothers received a thorough education. Theywere educated in the Hellenistic culture of Alexandriaand Roman culture, to a degree in Ancient Egyptian cul-ture and particularly in the traditions of Judaism, in thestudy of Jewish traditional literature[4] and in Greek phi-losophy.Philo, through his brother Alexander, had two nephewsTiberius Julius Alexander and Marcus Julius Alexan-der. Marcus Julius Alexander was the first husband ofthe Herodian Princess Berenice. Marcus died in 43 or44. (For the sources regarding this section see articleAlexander the Alabarch).

2 Biography

Woodcut from Die Schedelsche Weltchronik

We find a brief reference to Philo by the 1st-century Jew-ish historian Josephus. In Antiquities of the Jews, Jose-phus tells of Philo’s selection by the Alexandrian Jew-ish community as their principal representative beforethe Roman emperor Gaius Caligula. He says that Philoagreed to represent the Alexandrian Jews in regard to civildisorder that had developed between the Jews and theGreeks in Alexandria, Egypt. Josephus also tells us thatPhilo was skilled in philosophy, and that he was brotherto an official called Alexander the alabarch.[5] Accord-

1

2 2 BIOGRAPHY

ing to Josephus, Philo and the larger Jewish communityrefused to treat the emperor as a god, to erect statues inhonor of the emperor, and to build altars and temples tothe emperor. Josephus says Philo believed that God ac-tively supported this refusal.Josephus’ complete comments about Philo:

“There was now a tumult arisen at Alexan-dria, between the Jewish inhabitants and theGreeks; and three ambassadors were chosenout of each party that were at variance, whocame to Gaius. Now one of these ambassadorsfrom the people of Alexandria was Apion,(29) who uttered many blasphemies against theJews; and, among other things that he said, hecharged them with neglecting the honors thatbelonged to Caesar; for that while all who weresubject to the Roman empire built altars andtemples to Gaius, and in other regards univer-sally received him as they received the gods,these Jews alone thought it a dishonorable thingfor them to erect statues in honor of him, aswell as to swear by his name. Many of thesesevere things were said by Apion, by which hehoped to provoke Gaius to anger at the Jews,as he was likely to be. But Philo, the principalof the Jewish embassage, a man eminent on allaccounts, brother to Alexander the Alabarch,(30) and one not unskillful in philosophy, wasready to betake himself to make his defenseagainst those accusations; but Gaius prohibitedhim, and bid him begone; he was also in such arage, that it openly appeared he was about to dothem some very great mischief. So Philo be-ing thus affronted, went out, and said to thoseJews who were about him, that they should beof good courage, since Gaius’s words indeedshowed anger at them, but in reality had alreadyset God against himself.” [6]

Our remaining information about Philo is based upon hisown writings. Philo himself claims in his Embassy toGaius to have been part of an embassy sent by the Alexan-drian Jews to the Roman Emperor Caligula. Philo says hewas carrying a petition which described the sufferings ofthe Alexandrian Jews, and which asked the emperor tosecure their rights. Philo gives a detailed description oftheir sufferings, in a way that Josephus overlooks, to as-sert that the Alexandrian Jews were simply the victimsof attacks by Alexandrian Greeks in the civil strife thathad left many Jews and Greeks dead. Philo says he wasregarded by his people as having unusual prudence, dueto his age, education, and knowledge. This indicates thathe was already an older man at this time (40 CE). Philoconsiders Caligula’s plan to erect a statue of himself in thetemple of Jerusalem to be a provocation, saying, “Are youmaking war upon us, because you anticipate that we willnot endure such indignity, but that we will fight on behalf

of our laws, and die in defence of our national customs?For you cannot possibly have been ignorant of what waslikely to result from your attempt to introduce these in-novations respecting our temple.” In his entire presen-tation, he implicitly supports the Jewish commitment torebel against the emperor rather than allow such sacrilegeto take place. This reveals Philo’s identification with theJewish community.[7]

In Flaccus, Philo tells indirectly of his own life in Alexan-dria by describing how the situation of Jews in Alexan-dria changed after Gaius Caligula became the emperorof Rome. Speaking of the large Jewish population inEgypt, Philo says that Alexandria “had two classes of in-habitants, our own nation and the people of the country,and that the whole of Egypt was inhabited in the samemanner, and that Jews who inhabited Alexandria and therest of the country from the Catabathmos on the side ofLibya to the boundaries of Ethiopia were not less than amillion of men.” Regarding the large proportion of Jewsin Alexandria, he writes, “There are five districts in thecity, named after the first five letters of the written alpha-bet, of these two are called the quarters of the Jews, be-cause the chief portion of the Jews lives in them.” Othersources tell us that Caligula had been asking to receivethe honors due to a god. Philo says Flaccus, the Romangovernor over Alexandria, permitted a mob to erect stat-ues of the Emperor Caius Caligula in Jewish synagoguesof Alexandria, an unprecedented provocation. This in-vasion of the synagogues was perhaps resisted by force,since Philo then says that Flaccus “was destroying the syn-agogues, and not leaving even their name.” In response,Philo says that Flaccus then “issued a notice in which hecalled us all foreigners and aliens... allowing any one whowas inclined to proceed to exterminate the Jews as prison-ers of war.” Philo says that in response, the mobs “drovethe Jews entirely out of four quarters, and crammed themall into a very small portion of one ... while the popu-lace, overrunning their desolate houses, turned to plun-der, and divided the booty among themselves as if theyhad obtained it in war.” In addition, Philo says their en-emies, “slew them and thousands of others with all kindsof agony and tortures, and newly invented cruelties, forwherever they met with or caught sight of a Jew, theystoned him, or beat him with sticks”. Philo even says,“the most merciless of all their persecutors in some in-stances burnt whole families, husbands with their wives,and infant children with their parents, in the middle of thecity, sparing neither age nor youth, nor the innocent help-lessness of infants.” Some men, he says, were draggedto death, while “those who did these things, mimickedthe sufferers, like people employed in the representationof theatrical farces”. Other Jews were crucified. Flaccuswas eventually removed from office and exiled, ultimatelysuffering the punishment of death.[8]

3

3 Exegesis

Philo bases his doctrines on the Old Testament, whichhe considers as the source and standard not only of re-ligious truth but in general of all truth. Its pronounce-ments are for him divine pronouncements. They are thewords of the ἱερὸς λόγος, θεῖος λόγος, ὀρθὸς λόγος[holy word, godly word, righteous word] [9] uttered some-times directly and sometimes through the mouth of aprophet, especially through Moses, whom Philo consid-ers the real medium of revelation. Although he distin-guishes between the words uttered by God Himself, asthe Decalogue, and the edicts of Moses, as the speciallaws,[10] he does not carry out this distinction, since hebelieves in general that everything in the Torah is of di-vine origin, even the letters and accents.[11] The extentof his canon cannot be exactly determined…. He doesnot quote Ezekiel, Daniel, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations,Ecclesiastes, or Esther…. Philo regards the Bible as thesource not only of religious revelation, but also of philo-sophic truth; for, according to him, the Greek philoso-phers also have borrowed from the Bible: Heraclitus, ac-cording to “Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit” § 43 [i.503]; Zeno, according to “Quod Omnis Probus Liber,” §8 [ii. 454]. “Philo Judaeus: His Methods of Exegesis”.Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901–1906.

4 Philosophy

Philo represents the apex of Jewish-Hellenistic syn-cretism. His work attempts to combine Plato and Mosesinto one philosophical system.[12] He developed an al-legoric approach of interpreting the Holy Scriptures, incontrast to literal approaches. His ethics were stronglyinfluenced by Aristotelianism and Stoicism, preferring amorality of virtues without passions, such as lust/desireand anger, but with a “common human sympathy”.[13]

Philo evolved an original teaching of Logos. The poly-semic profusion of this word provided for its use in differ-ent connotation. Complying with the anthropomorphicdescription of God in Tanakh, Philo used logos in themeaning of an utterance. In Philo’s philosophy, God isabsolutely transcendent: his notion is even more abstractthan that of the monas of Pythagoras or the good of Plato.Only God’s existence is certain, no appropriate predicatescan be conceived.[14] Following Plato, Philo equals mat-ter to nothingness and sees its effect in fallacy, discord,damage, and decay of things.[15] This view enables Philoto combine the Jewish belief in creation with the Greekconviction about the formation of all things from the per-manent matter.Philo thought that God created and governed the worldthrough mediators. Logos is the chief among them, thenext to God, demiurge of the world. Logos is imma-terial, an adequate image of God, his shadow, his first-

born son.[16] Being the mind of the Eternal, Logos isimperishable.[17] He is neither uncreated as God is, norcreated as men are, but occupies a middle position. Hehas no autarkic power, only an entrusted one.[18]

Philo probably was the first philosopher who identifiedPlato’s ideas with Creator’s thoughts. These thoughtsmake the contents of Logos; they were the seals for mak-ing sensual things during world creation.[19] Logos resem-bles a book with creature paradigms.[20] Architect’s de-sign before the construction of a city serves to Philo asanother simile of Logos.[21] Since creation, Logos bindsthings together.[22] As the receptacle and holder of ideas,Logos is distinct from the material world. At the sametime, Logos pervades the world, supporting it.[23]

Logos has the function of an advocate on behalf of hu-manity and also that of a God’s envoy to the world.[24]

He puts human minds in order.[25] The right reason is aninfallible law, the source of any other laws.[26] The angelclosing Balaam’s way (Numbers XXII, 31) is interpretedby Philo as manifestation of Logos, which acts as man’sconscience.[27]

Philo explains the apparitions described in Scripturethrough the activity of Logos. The advent of angels dur-ing the demolition of Sodom and Gomorrah and the theo-phanies to Jacob, to Moses in the flame-resistant thorn-bush and to Hebrews in the fire-pole belong to suchevents.Philo formed his representations of Logos by resortingnot only to intellectual speculations but also to the intu-ition of a poet and mystic-visionary. Therefore difficul-ties arise to conceive Logos at once as the idea of ideasand as individual personage of a mediator or envoy.

5 Knowledge of Hebrew

Philo read the Jewish Scriptures chiefly in the SeptuagintGreek translation.[28] His knowledge of Hebrew has beena matter of scholarly dispute, with most scholars arguingthat he did not read the language. One piece of evidencethat supports that hypothesis is Philo’s creative (often fan-ciful) use of etymologies.

6 See also

• Aulus Avilius Flaccus

• Leopold Cohn

• Land of Onias

• Philo’s view of God

• Philo’s works

• Pseudo-Philo

4 8 REFERENCES

7 Footnotes[1] Keener, Craig S (2003). The Gospel of John: A Commen-

tary 1. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson. pp. 343–347.

[2] Antiquities xviii.8, § 1; comp. ib. xix.5, § 1; xx.5, § 2

[3] On Providence 2.64.

[4] In addition to the familiar texts that form the Old Testa-ment/Hebrew Bible, the Mishnah (or rather the oral Jew-ish law, since the Mishnah was first redacted and writtendown in 220AD) and a range of non-canonical literature.

[5] Josephus, Antiquities viii. 8. 1.

[6] Antiquities of the Jews, xviii.8, § 1, Whiston’s translation(online)

[7] Embassy to Gaius, Chapter 28-31, Yonge’s translation(online)

[8] Flaccus, Chapters 6 - 9 (43, 53-56, 62, 66, 68, 71-72),Yonge’s translation (online)

[9] “De Agricultura Noë,” § 12 [i. 308]; “De Somniis,” i.681, ii. 25

[10] “De Specialibus Legibus,” §§ 2 et seq. [ii. 300 et seq.];“De Præmiis et Pœnis,” § 1 [ii. 408]

[11] “De Mutatione Nominum,” § 8 [i. 587]

[12] Moore, Edward (June 28, 2005). “Middle Platonism -Philo of Alexandria”. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philos-ophy. ISSN 2161-0002. Retrieved December 20, 2012.

[13] The Works of Philo. Translated by C.D. Yonke. Fore-word by David M. Scholer Yonge. 1993. ISBN9780943575933.

[14] On the Unchangeableness of God, XIII, 62

[15] Who is the Heir of Divine Things, XXXII, 160

[16] On the Confusion of Tongues, XIV, 61-62

[17] On the Confusion of Tongues, XI, 41

[18] On Flight and Finding, XX, 111

[19] On the Creation, XLIV, 129

[20] Allegorical Interpretation, I, VIII, 19

[21] On the Creation, VI, 24

[22] On Flight and Finding, XX, 112

[23] On the Posterity of Cain and His Exile, V, 14; On Dreams,XXXVII, 2.245

[24] Who is the Heir of Divine Things? XLII, 205-206

[25] On the Creation, LI, 145-146

[26] Every Good Man is Free, VII, 46-47]

[27] On the Unchageableness of God, XXXVII, 181-182

[28] “Philo Judaeus: His Knowledge of Hebrew”. Jewish En-cyclopedia. 1901–1906.

8 References

8.1 Works by Philo

• The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged.Translated by Charles Duke Yonge. 1854–1855.

• Cohn, Leopold; Wendland, Paul, eds. (1896).Philonis Alexandrini Opera quæ supersunt [TheBooks of Philo of Alexandria] (in Greek with Latincommentary) 1. Berlin: George Reimer.

• Cohn, Leopold; Wendland, Paul, eds. (1897).Philonis Alexandrini Opera quæ supersunt [TheBooks of Philo of Alexandria] (in Greek with Latincommentary) 2. Berlin: George Reimer.

• Cohn, Leopold; Wendland, Paul, eds. (1898).Philonis Alexandrini Opera quæ supersunt [TheBooks of Philo of Alexandria] (in Greek with Latincommentary) 3. Berlin: George Reimer.

• Cohn, Leopold; Wendland, Paul, eds. (1902).Philonis Alexandrini Opera quæ supersunt [TheBooks of Philo of Alexandria] (in Greek with Latincommentary) 4. Berlin: George Reimer.

• Cohn, Leopold; Wendland, Paul, eds. (1906).Philonis Alexandrini Opera quæ supersunt [TheBooks of Philo of Alexandria] (in Greek with Latincommentary) 5. Berlin: George Reimer.

• Cohn, Leopold; Wendland, Paul, eds. (1915).Philonis Alexandrini Opera quæ supersunt [TheBooks of Philo of Alexandria] (in Greek with Latincommentary) 6. Berlin: George Reimer.

• Cohn, Leopold; Wendland, Paul, eds. (1926).Philonis Alexandrini Opera quæ supersunt [TheBooks of Philo of Alexandria] (in Greek withLatin commentary) 7. Indexed by Hans Leisegang.Berlin: George Reimer.

• “Index of Philosophical Writings” (PDF). Docu-menta Catholica Omnia (in Greek). [Online Greektext of Volumes 1-7 above. Under “Graecum -Greco - Greek” section]

• Philo with an English Translation 1–10. Translatedby F.H. Colson. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Uni-versity Press. 1929–62.

• Terian, Abraham, ed. (1981). Philonis Alexandrinide animalibus: The Armenian Text with an Intro-duction, Translation, and Commentary. Chico, CA:Scholars Press. ISBN 9780891304722.

8.2 Secondary sources

• Runia, David T. (1990). Exegesis and Philosophy:Studies on Philo of Alexandria. Variorum. ISBN9780860782872.

5

• Runia, David T. (1993). Philo in Early ChristianLiterature: A Survey. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.ISBN 9789023227137.

• Sly, Dorothy I. (1996). Philo’s Alexandria. NewYork: Routledge. ISBN 9780415096799.

• Borgen, Peder (1997). Philo of Alexandria: AnExegete for His Time. Leiden: Brill. ISBN9789004103887.

• Hillar, Marian (2012). From Logos to Trinity: TheEvolution of Religious Beliefs from Pythagoras toTertullian. New York: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9781107013308.

9 External links• Lecture on Philo Judaeus of Alexandria: Jews in the

Greek World by Dr. Henry Abramson

• “Preface to the Original Edition of Yonge’s Transla-tion”. earlyjewishwritings.com. 1854–1855.

• “Philo Judæus”. Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901–1906.

• Bréhier, Emile (1911). “Philo Judæus”. TheCatholic Encyclopedia 12. New York: Robert Ap-pleton Company.

• Hillar, Marian (April 21, 2005). “Philo of Alexan-dria”. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

• “Philo Judaeus (Jewish philosopher)". EncyclopediaBritannica.

• “Studia Philonica Annual”. Society of Biblical Liter-ature.

• Bradshaw, Rob. “Philo of Alexandria”. Early-Church.org.uk.

• Seland, Torrey. “Philo Resource Page 3.1”. tor-reys.org.

• Seland, Torrey. “Philonica et Neotestamentica”.bibicalresources.wordpress.com.

• “Philo of Alexandria”. earlyjewishwritings.com.

• Open source XML versions of Philo’s works havebeen made available by the Open Greek and LatinProject at the University of Leipzig. English trans-lations of Philo’s writings are also available here.

• Works by Philo at Project Gutenberg

• Works by or about Philo at Internet Archive

6 10 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

10 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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