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PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA

Jewish statesman and philosopher (ca. 20 b.c.e.–ca. 50 c.e.). One of the more prolific writers of antiquity, his writings are the most important witnesses to the religious culture of Hellenistic Judaism. We know of only one event in his life: ca. 40 c.e. he led a Jewish delegation to Rome to complain to the emperor Caligula about gentile riots against the Jewish community of Alexandria. The embassy seems to have been modestly successful, and in any case it implies that Philo was an experienced political leader who was widely trusted by Alexandrian Jews.

Whatever his other involvements in public affairs, Philo found time to write a large number of commentaries on books of the Pentateuch (esp. Genesis and Exodus). Indeed, he composed three distinct series of exegetical treatises: the Allegorical Commentary (18 treatises survive), the Exposition of the Law (seven treatises extant), and the Questions and Answers on Genesis and Exodus (partially extant). All three series offer both literal and allegorical interpretations, though the latter are most fully developed in the first series. Philo refers quite often to exegetical predecessors and contemporaries, though never by name; clearly he worked within a tradition of Jewish biblical study, perhaps within some kind of “school” environment. His writings show rhetorical sophistication and a profound knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures and pagan learning. His allegorical explanations often blend Judaism with Middle Platonism. They give particular attention to the spiritual pilgrimage of the human individual from materialism to spiritual monotheism and from bodily passions to virtue through human reason yielding obedience to the divine Logos. Philo regards Moses as the supreme revealer of divine truth, but he does not seem to limit the highest spiritual and intellectual fulfillment to Jews.

Besides scriptural commentaries, Philo wrote a series of thematic treatises on philosophical and apologetic themes (one of the most famous, On the Contemplative Life, describes the Therapeutae, a group of Jewish ascetics living near Alexandria; another provides an invaluable account of Palestinian Essenes).

Philo’s works must have been appreciated and first preserved by Jews of his own time, but there is virtually no record of Jewish readers of his treatises until the 16th century. By contrast, Christian thinkers such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Ambrose, and Augustine read Philo and were heavily influenced by his philosophical theology and allegorical methods. It is not possible to prove that any NT writer knew Philo’s works, but some (esp. the authors of Colossians, Hebrews, and the Gospel of John) may have been influenced by Hellenistic Jewish traditions which are also attested by Philo.

Bibliography. Philo of Alexandria, The Contemplative Life, The Giants, and Selections, trans. D. Winston (New York, 1981).

David M. Hay

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PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)