A00016 - The Historical and Religious Backgrounds of Early Christianity: The Great Parties of Judaism: Pharisaic Schools: The Essenes

 As for the group known as the Essenes, though they are not mentioned in the Bible, nor for certain in the rabbinical literature, they are mentioned quite explicitly by Josephus and Philo. From these sources the Essenes appear to have been formed in small communities leading a religious and communistic on the shores of the Dead Sea.  They were organized in several grades and formed a closely knit brotherhood. 

The Essenes attached great importance to purity of life, practiced daily lustration and rejected animal sacrifices.  Ultimately, the Essenes were a small Jewish order of about four thousand individuals who comprised a league of virtue.  With their agricultural settlements, their quaint semi-ascetic practices, their strict novitiate, their silent meals, their white robes, their baths, their prayers, their simple but stringent socialism, their sacerdotal puritanism, their soothsaying, their passion for the mystical world of angels, their indifference to Messianic and nationalistic hopes, their esoteric beliefs, and their approximation to sacramental religion make it highly unlikely that the Essenes influenced early Christianity in any appreciable degree.

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Essenes, Essenians אִסִּיִים‎
Historical leader	Teacher of Righteousness
Founded	2nd century BCE
Dissolved	1st century CE
Headquarters	Qumran (proposed)[1]
Ideology	Asceticism Communality Daily Ritual Baptism Mysticism Predestination
Religion	Judaism

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Essene, member of a religious sect or brotherhood that flourished in Palestine from about the 2nd century bc to the end of the 1st century ad. The New Testament does not mention them and accounts given by Josephus, Philo of Alexandria, and Pliny the Elder sometimes differ in significant details, perhaps indicating a diversity that existed among the Essenes themselves.

The Essenes clustered in monastic communities that, generally at least, excluded women. Property was held in common and all details of daily life were regulated by officials. The Essenes were never numerous; Pliny fixed their number at some 4,000 in his day.

Like the Pharisees, the Essenes meticulously observed the Law of Moses, the sabbath, and ritual purity. They also professed belief in immortality and divine punishment for sin. But, unlike the Pharisees, the Essenes denied the resurrection of the body and refused to immerse themselves in public life. With few exceptions, they shunned Temple worship and were content to live ascetic lives of manual labour in seclusion. The sabbath was reserved for day-long prayer and meditation on the Torah (first five books of the Bible). Oaths were frowned upon, but once taken they could not be rescinded.

After a year’s probation, proselytes received their Essenian emblems but could not participate in common meals for two more years. Those who qualified for membership were called upon to swear piety to God, justice toward men, hatred of falsehood, love of truth, and faithful observance of all other tenets of the Essene sect. Thereafter new converts were allowed to take their noon and evening meals in silence with the others.

Following the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (late 1940s and 1950s) in the vicinity of Khirbat Qumrān, most scholars have agreed that the Qumrān (q.v.) community was Essenian.

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The Essenes (/ˈɛsiːnz, ɛˈsiːnz/; Hebrew: אִסִּיִים‎, ʾĪssīyīm; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi) or Essenians were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE.^[2]

The Essene movement likely originated as a distinct group among Jews during Jonathan Apphus' time, driven by disputes over Jewish law and the belief that Jonathan's high priesthood was illegitimate.^[3] Most scholars think the Essenes seceded from the Zadokite priests.^[4] They attributed their interpretation of the Torah to their early leader, the Teacher of Righteousness, possibly a legitimate high priest. Embracing a conservative approach to Jewish law, they observed a strict hierarchy favoring priests (the Sons of Zadok) over laypeople, emphasized ritual purity, and held a dualistic worldview.^[3]

According to Jewish writers Josephus and Philo, the Essenes numbered around four thousand, and resided in various settlements throughout Judaea. Conversely, Roman writer Pliny the Elder positioned them somewhere above Ein Gedi, on the west side of the Dead Sea.^[5][6] Pliny relates in a few lines that the Essenes possess no money, had existed for thousands of generations, and that their priestly class ("contemplatives") did not marry. Josephus gave a detailed account of the Essenes in The Jewish War (c. 75 CE), with a shorter description in Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94 CE) and The Life of Flavius Josephus (c. 97 CE). Claiming firsthand knowledge, he lists the Essenoi as one of the three sects of Jewish philosophy^[7] alongside the Pharisees and Sadducees. He relates the same information concerning piety, celibacy; the absence of personal property and of money; the belief in communality; and commitment to a strict observance of Sabbath. He further adds that the Essenes ritually immersed in water every morning (a practice similar to the use of the mikveh for daily immersion found among some contemporary Hasidim), ate together after prayer, devoted themselves to charity and benevolence, forbade the expression of anger, studied the books of the elders, preserved secrets, and were very mindful of the names of the angels kept in their sacred writings.

The Essenes have gained fame in modern times as a result of the discovery of an extensive group of religious documents known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are commonly believed to be the Essenes' library. The scrolls were found at Qumran, an archaeological site situated along the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, believed to have been the dwelling place of an Essene community. These documents preserve multiple copies of parts of the Hebrew Bible along with deuterocanonical and sectarian manuscripts, including writings such as the Community Rule, the Damascus Document, and the War Scroll, which provide valuable insights into the communal life, ideology and theology of the Essenes.

According to the conventional view, the Essenes disappeared after the First Jewish–Roman War, which also witnessed the destruction of the settlement at Qumran.^[3] Scholars have noted the absence of direct sources supporting this claim, raising the possibility of their endurance or the survival of related groups in the following centuries.^[8] Some researchers suggest that Essene teachings could have influenced other religious traditions, such as Mandaeism and Jewish Christianity.^[9][10]

Etymology

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Josephus uses the name Essenes in his two main accounts, The Jewish War 2.119, 158, 160 and Antiquities of the Jews, 13.171–2, but some manuscripts read here Essaion ("holding the Essenes in honour";^[11] "a certain Essene named Manaemus";^[12] "to hold all Essenes in honor";^[13] "the Essenes").^[14][15][16]

In several places, however, Josephus has Essaios, which is usually assumed to mean Essene ("Judas of the Essaios race";^[17] "Simon of the Essaios race";^[18] "John the Essaios";^[19] "those who are called by us Essaioi";^[20] "Simon a man of the Essaios race").^[21] Josephus identified the Essenes as one of the three major Jewish sects of that period.^[22]

Philo's usage is Essaioi, although he admits this Greek form of the original name, that according to his etymology signifies "holiness", to be inexact.^[23] Pliny's Latin text has Esseni.^[5][24]

Gabriele Boccaccini implies that a convincing etymology for the name Essene has not been found, but that the term applies to a larger group within Judea that also included the Qumran community.^[25]

It was proposed before the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered that the name came into several Greek spellings from a Hebrew self-designation later found in some Dead Sea Scrolls, ʻosey haTorah, "'doers' or 'makers' of Torah".^[26] Although dozens of etymology suggestions have been published, this is the only etymology published before 1947 that was confirmed by Qumran text self-designation references, and it is gaining acceptance among scholars.^[27] It is recognized as the etymology of the form Ossaioi (and note that Philo also offered an O spelling) and Essaioi and Esseni spelling variations have been discussed by VanderKam, Goranson, and others. In medieval Hebrew (e.g., Sefer Yosippon) Hassidim "the Pious" replaces "Essenes". While this Hebrew name is not the etymology of Essaioi/Esseni, the Aramaic equivalent Hesi'im known from Eastern Aramaic texts has been suggested.^[28] Others suggest that Essene is a transliteration of the Hebrew word ḥiṣonim (ḥiṣon "outside"), which the Mishnah (e.g., Megillah 4:8^[29]) uses to describe various sectarian groups. Another theory is that the name was borrowed from a cult of devotees to Artemis in Anatolia, whose demeanor and dress somewhat resembled those of the group in Judea.^[30]

Flavius Josephus in Chapter 8 of "The Jewish War" states:

2.(119)For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews. The followers of the first of which are the Pharisees; of the second, the Sadducees; and the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essenes. These last are Jews by birth, and seem to have a greater affection for each other than other sects have.^[31]

Location

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Remains of part of the main building at Qumran.

According to Josephus, the Essenes had settled "not in one city" but "in large numbers in every town".^[32] Philo speaks of "more than four thousand" Essaioi living in "Palestine and Syria",^[33] more precisely, "in many cities of Judaea and in many villages and grouped in great societies of many members".^[34]

Pliny locates them "on the west side of the Dead Sea, away from the coast... [above] the town of Engeda".^[24]

Some modern scholars and archeologists have argued that Essenes inhabited the settlement at Qumran, a plateau in the Judean Desert along the Dead Sea, citing Pliny the Elder in support and giving credence that the Dead Sea Scrolls are the product of the Essenes.^[35] This theory, though not yet conclusively proven, has come to dominate the scholarly discussion and public perception of the Essenes.^[36]

Rules, customs, theology, and beliefs

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The accounts by Josephus and Philo show that the Essenes led a strictly communal life—often compared to later Christian monasticism.^[37] Many of the Essene groups appear to have been celibate, but Josephus speaks also of another "order of Essenes" that observed the practice of being engaged for three years and then becoming married.^[38] According to Josephus, they had customs and observances such as collective ownership,^[39][40] electing a leader to attend to the interests of the group, and obedience to the orders from their leader.^[41] Also, they were forbidden from swearing oaths^[42] and from sacrificing animals.^[43] They controlled their tempers and served as channels of peace,^[42] carrying weapons only for protection against robbers.^[44] The Essenes chose not to possess slaves but served each other^[45] and, as a result of communal ownership, did not engage in trading.^[46] Josephus and Philo provide lengthy accounts of their communal meetings, meals, and religious celebrations. This communal living has led some scholars to view the Essenes as a group practicing social and material egalitarianism.^[47][48][49]

Despite their prohibition on swearing oaths, after a three-year probationary period,^[50] new members would take an oath that included a commitment to practice piety to God and righteousness toward humanity; maintain a pure lifestyle; abstain from criminal and immoral activities; transmit their rules uncorrupted; and preserve the books of the Essenes and the names of the angels.^[51] Their theology included belief in the immortality of the soul and that they would receive their souls back after death.^[15][52] Part of their activities included purification by water rituals which was supported by rainwater catchment and storage. According to the Community Rule, repentance was a prerequisite to water purification.^[53]

Ritual purification was a common practice among the peoples of Judea during this period and was thus not specific to the Essenes. A ritual bath or mikveh was found near many synagogues of the period continuing into modern times.^[54] Purity and cleanliness was considered so important to the Essenes that they would refrain from defecation on the Sabbath.^[55]

According to Joseph Lightfoot, the Church Father Epiphanius (writing in the 4th century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes:^[28] "Of those that came before his [Elxai, an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nasaraeans." Part 18^[56] Epiphanius describes each group as following:

The Nasaraean—they were Jews by nationality—originally from Gileaditis, Bashanitis and the Transjordan... They acknowledged Moses and believed that he had received laws—not this law, however, but some other. And so, they were Jews who kept all the Jewish observances, but they would not offer sacrifice or eat meat. They considered it unlawful to eat meat or make sacrifices with it. They claim that these Books are fictions, and that none of these customs were instituted by the fathers. This was the difference between the Nasaraean and the others...^[57]

After this Nasaraean sect in turn comes another closely connected with them, called the Ossaeans. These are Jews like the former... originally came from Nabataea, Ituraea, Moabitis, and Arielis, the lands beyond the basin of what sacred scripture called the Salt Sea... Though it is different from the other six of these seven sects, it causes schism only by forbidding the books of Moses like the Nasaraean.^[56]

We do not know much about the canon of the Essenes, and what their attitude was towards the apocryphal writings, however the Essenes perhaps did not esteem the book of Esther highly as manuscripts of Esther are completely absent in Qumran, likely because of their opposition to mixed marriages and the use of different calendars.^[58][59]

The Essenes were unique for their time for being against the practice of slave-ownership, and slavery, which they regarded as unjust and ungodly, regarding all men as having been born equal.^[60][61]

Involvement in the First Jewish–Roman War

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At the outset of the First Jewish–Roman War in 66 CE, as Roman advances were anticipated, command over parts of western Judea was assigned to John the Essene (or Essaean), who was placed in charge of the toparchy of Thamna. This region encompassed Lydda, Joppa, and Emmaus.^[62]

Scholarly discussion

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Josephus and Philo discuss the Essenes in detail. Most scholars^{[citation needed]} believe that the community at Qumran that most likely produced the Dead Sea Scrolls was an offshoot of the Essenes. However, this theory has been disputed by some; for example, Norman Golb argues that the primary research on the Qumran documents and ruins (by Father Roland de Vaux, from the École Biblique et Archéologique de Jérusalem) lacked scientific method, and drew wrong conclusions that comfortably entered the academic canon. For Golb, the number of documents is too extensive and includes many different writing styles and calligraphies; the ruins seem to have been a fortress, used as a military base for a very long period of time—including the 1st century—so they therefore could not have been inhabited by the Essenes; and the large graveyard excavated in 1870, just 50 metres (160 ft) east of the Qumran ruins, was made of over 1200 tombs that included many women and children; Pliny clearly wrote that the Essenes who lived near the Dead Sea "had not one woman, had renounced all pleasure... and no one was born in their race". Golb's book presents observations about de Vaux's premature conclusions and their uncontroverted acceptance by the general academic community. He states that the documents probably stemmed from various libraries in Jerusalem, kept safe in the desert from the Roman invasions.^[63] Other scholars refute these arguments—particularly since Josephus describes some Essenes as allowing marriage.^[64]

Another issue is the relationship between the Essaioi and Philo's Therapeutae and Therapeutrides. He regarded the Therapeutae as a contemplative branch of the Essaioi who, he said, pursued an active life.^[65]

One theory on the formation of the Essenes suggests that the movement was founded by a Jewish high priest, dubbed by the Essenes the Teacher of Righteousness, whose office had been usurped by Jonathan (of priestly but not of Zadokite lineage), labeled the "man of lies" or "false priest".^{[66][67][unreliable source?]} Others follow this line and a few argue that the Teacher of Righteousness was not only the leader of the Essenes at Qumran, but was also identical to the original Messianic figure about 150 years before the time of the Gospels.^[36] Fred Gladstone Bratton notes that

The Teacher of Righteousness of the Scrolls would seem to be a prototype of Jesus, for both spoke of the New Covenant; they preached a similar gospel; each was regarded as a Savior or Redeemer; and each was condemned and put to death by reactionary factions... We do not know whether Jesus was an Essene, but some scholars feel that he was at least influenced by them.^[68]

Lawrence Schiffman has argued that the Qumran community may be called Sadducean, and not Essene, since their legal positions retain a link with Sadducean tradition.^[69]

Connection to other religious traditions

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Mandaeism

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See also: Mandaeans § Origin

The Genesis Apocryphon, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Haran Gawaita uses the name Nasoraeans for the Mandaeans arriving from Jerusalem, meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge.^[70] Scholars such as Kurt Rudolph, Rudolf Macúch, Mark Lidzbarski and Ethel S. Drower connect the Mandaeans with the Nasaraeans described by Epiphanius, a group within the Essenes according to Joseph Lightfoot.^{[71][72]: xiv [73][74][75][76][28]} Epiphanius (29:6) says that they existed before Jesus. That is questioned by some, but others accept the pre-Christian origin of the Nasaraeans.^{[72]: xiv [77]}

Early religious concepts and terminologies recur in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Yardena (Jordan) has been the name of every baptismal water in Mandaeism.^[78]: 5 Mara ḏ-Rabuta (Mandaic for 'Lord of Greatness', which is One of the names for the Mandaean God Hayyi Rabbi) is found in the Genesis Apocryphon II, 4.^{[79]: 552–553} Another early self-appellation is bhiria zidqa, meaning 'elect of righteousness' or 'the chosen righteous', a term found in the Book of Enoch and Genesis Apocryphon II, 4.^{[79]: 552–553 [70][80]: 18 [81]} As Nasoraeans, Mandaeans believe that they constitute the true congregation of bnia nhura, meaning 'Sons of Light', a term used by the Essenes.^{[82]: 50 [83]} Mandaean scripture affirms that the Mandaeans descend directly from John the Baptist's original Nasoraean Mandaean disciples in Jerusalem.^{[84]: vi, ix} Similar to the Essenes, it is forbidden for a Mandaean to reveal the names of the angels to a gentile.^[85]: 94 Essene graves are oriented north–south^[86] and a Mandaean's grave must also be in the north–south direction so that if the dead Mandaean were stood upright, they would face north.^[85]: 184 Mandaeans have an oral tradition that some were originally vegetarian^[72]: 32 and also similar to the Essenes, they are pacifists.^{[87]: 47 [88]}

The bit manda (beth manda) is described as biniana rba ḏ-šrara ("the Great building of Truth") and bit tušlima ("house of Perfection") in Mandaean texts such as the Qulasta, Ginza Rabba, and the Mandaean Book of John. The only known literary parallels are in Essene texts from Qumran such as the Community Rule, which has similar phrases such as the "house of Perfection and Truth in Israel" (Community Rule 1QS VIII 9) and "house of Truth in Israel."^[89]

Christianity

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John the Baptist was possibly an Essene.^[90]

Rituals of the Essenes and Christianity have much in common; the Dead Sea Scrolls describe a meal of bread and wine that will be instituted by the messiah, both the Essenes and Christians were eschatological communities, where judgement on the world would come at any time.^[91] The New Testament also possibly quotes writings used by the Qumran community. Luke 1:31-35 states " And now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High...the son of God" which seems to echo 4Q 246, stating: "He will be called great and he will be called Son of God, and they will call him Son of the Most High...He will judge the earth in righteousness...and every nation will bow down to him".^[91]

Other similarities include high devotion to the faith even to the point of martyrdom, communal prayer, self denial and a belief in a captivity in a sinful world.^[92]

John the Baptist has also been argued to have been an Essene, as there are numerous parallels between John's mission and the Essenes, which suggests he perhaps was trained by the Essene community.^[90]

In the early church a book called the Odes of Solomon was written. The writer was likely a very early convert from the Essene community into Christianity. The book reflects a mixture of mystical ideas of the Essene community with Christian concepts.^[93]

Both the Essenes and Christians practiced voluntary celibacy and prohibited divorce.^[94] Both also used concepts of "light" and "darkness" for good and evil.^[95]

A few have claimed that the Essenes had an idea of a pierced Messiah based on 4Q285; however, the interpretation of the text is ambiguous. Some scholars interpreted it as the Messiah being killed himself, while modern scholars mostly interpret it as the Messiah executing the enemies of Israel in an eschatological war.^[96]

Both the Essenes and Christians practiced a ritual of immersion by water, however the Essenes had it as a regular practice instead of a one time event.^[10]

Magarites

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The Magharians or Magarites (Arabic: Al-Maghariyyah, 'people of the caves')^[97] were, according to Jacob Qirqisani, a Jewish sect founded in the 1st century BCE. Abraham Harkavy and others identify the Magharians with the Essenes, and their author referred to as the "Alexandrinian" with Philo (whose affinity for the Essenes is well-known), based on the following evidence:^[97][98]

• The sect's name, which, in his view, does not refer to its books but to its followers who lived in caves or desert areas—an established Essene lifestyle;
• The sect's founding date coinciding with that of the Essenes;
• The theory that God interacts with humans through an angel aligning with Essene beliefs, as well as Philo's concept of the Logos;
• Qirqisani's omission of the Essenes from his list of Jewish sects, which can be explained if he considered the Magharians to be synonymous with the Essenes.

See also

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• Hellenistic Judaism
• Jewish vegetarianism
• Sacred Mysteries
• Sons of Zadok

References

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1. ^ אשל, חנן, "תולדות התגליות הארכאולוגיות בקומראן", בתוך: מנחם קיסטר (עורך), מגילות קומראן: מבואות ומחקרים, כרך א', ירושלים: יד יצחק בן-צבי. 2009, עמ' 9. (Hebrew)
2. ^ Cyprus), Saint Epiphanius (Bishop of Constantia in (2009). The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book I (sects 1-46). BRILL. p. 32. ISBN 978-90-04-17017-9.
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Gurtner, Daniel M.; Stuckenbruck, Loren T., eds. (2020). T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism. Vol. 2. T&T Clark. pp. 250–252. ISBN 978-0-567-66144-9.
4. ^ F.F. Bruce, Second Thoughts on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Paternoster Press, 1956.
5. ^ Jump up to:^a b Pliny the Elder. Historia Naturalis. Vol. V, 17 or 29, in other editions V, (15).73. Ab occidente litora Esseni fugiunt usque qua nocent, gens sola et in toto orbe praeter ceteras mira, sine ulla femina, omni venere abdicata, sine pecunia, socia palmarum. in diem ex aequo convenarum turba renascitur, large frequentantibus quos vita fessos ad mores eorum fortuna fluctibus agit. ita per saeculorum milia—incredibile dictu—gens aeterna est, in qua nemo nascitur. tam fecunda illis aliorum vitae paenitentia est! infra hos Engada oppidum fuit, secundum ab Hierosolymis fertilitate palmetorumque nemoribus, nunc alterum bustum. inde Masada castellum in rupe, et ipsum haut procul Asphaltite. et hactenus Iudaea est. cf. English translation.
6. ^ Barthélemy, D.; Milik, J.T.; de Vaux, Roland; Crowfoot, G.M.; Plenderleith, Harold; Harding, G.L. (1997) [1955]. "Introductory: The Discovery". Qumran Cave 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 5. ISBN 0-19-826301-5. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
7. ^ Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews. 2.119.
8. ^ Goodman, M. (1994), "Sadducees and Essenes after 70 CE", Judaism in the Roman World, Brill, pp. 153–162, doi:10.1163/ej.9789004153097.i-275.38, ISBN 978-90-474-1061-4, retrieved 2 August 2023
9. ^ Hamidović, David (2010). "About the Links between the Dead Sea Scrolls and Mandaean Liturgy". ARAM Periodical. 22: 441–451. doi:10.2143/ARAM.22.0.2131048.
10. ^ Jump up to:^a b Charlesworth, James H. (2006). The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The scrolls and Christian origins. Baylor University Press. ISBN 978-1-932792-21-8.
11. ^ Josephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews. 15.372.
12. ^ Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. 15.373.
13. ^ Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. 15.378.
14. ^ Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. 18.11.
15. ^ Jump up to:^a b Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. 18.18.
16. ^ Josephus. The Life of Flavius Josephus. 10.
17. ^ Josephus. The Wars of the Jews. I.78.
18. ^ Josephus. The Wars of the Jews. 2.113.
19. ^ Josephus. The Wars of the Jews. 2.567; 3.11.
20. ^ Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. 15.371.
21. ^ Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. 17.346.
22. ^ And when I was about sixteen years old, I had a mind to make trial of the several sects that were among us. These sects are three: The first is that of the Pharisees, the second that Sadducees, and the third that of the Essenes, as we have frequently told you The Life of Josephus Flavius, 2.
23. ^ Philo. Quod Omnis Probus Liber. XII.75–87.
24. ^ Jump up to:^a b Pliny the Elder. Natural History. 5.73.
25. ^ Boccaccini, Gabriele (1998). Beyond the Essene hypothesis: the parting of the ways between Qumran and Enochic Judaism. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 47. ISBN 0-8028-4360-3. OCLC 37837643.
26. ^ Goranson, Stephen (1999). "Others and Intra-Jewish Polemic as Reflected in Qumran Texts". In Peter W. Flint; James C. VanderKam (eds.). The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment. Vol. 2. Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 534–551. ISBN 90-04-11061-5. OCLC 230716707.
27. ^ For example, James C. VanderKam, "Identity and History of the Community". In The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment, ed. Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam, 2:487–533. Leiden: Brill, 1999. The earliest known proposer of this etymology was P. Melanchthon, in Johann Carion, Chronica, 1532, folio 68 verso. Among the other proposers before 1947, e.g., 1839 Isaak Jost, "Die Essaer," Israelitische Annalen 19, 145–7.
28. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Lightfoot, Joseph Barber (1875). "On Some Points Connected with the Essenes". St. Paul's epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon: a revised text with introductions, notes, and dissertations. London: Macmillan Publishers. OCLC 6150927.
29. ^ "Mishnah Megillah 4:8". sefaria.org. Sefaria.
30. ^ Schiffman, Lawrence H. (27 July 2015). "Discovery and Acquisition, 1947–1956, Lawrence H. Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1994". Center for Online Judaic Studies. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
31. ^ Whiston and Maier, 1999, "The Jewish War", Chapter 8, p. 736
32. ^ Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews. 2.124.
33. ^ Philo (c. 20–54). Quod Omnis Probus Liber. XII.75.
34. ^ Philo. Hypothetica. 11.1. in Eusebius. Praeparatio Evangelica. VIII.
35. ^ Biblical Archeology Society Staff (8 May 2022). "Who Were the Essenes?". Biblical Archaeology Society. Biblical Archeology Society. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
36. ^ Jump up to:^a b Ellegård, Alvar; Jesus—One Hundred Years Before Christ: A Study in Creative Mythology, (London 1999).
37. ^ The suggestion apparently goes back to Flinders Petrie's Personal religion in Egypt before Christianity (1909), 62ff; see William Herbert Mackean, Christian Monasticism in Egypt to the Close of the Fourth Century (1920), p. 18.
38. ^ Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews. book II, chap. 8, para. 13.
39. ^ Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews. 2.122.
40. ^ Josephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews. 18.20.
41. ^ Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews. 2.123, 134.
42. ^ Jump up to:^a b Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews. 2.135.
43. ^ Philo, §75: ου ζωα καταθυοντες [= not sacrificing animals]
44. ^ Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews. 2.125.
45. ^ Philo of Alexandria, Every Good Man is Free, 75-79.
46. ^ Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews. 2.127.
47. ^ Service, Robert (2007). Comrades: A History of World Communism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 978-0674046993.
48. ^ "Essenes". Retrieved 12 December 2019.
49. ^ Kaufmann Kohler (1906). "Jewish Encyclopedia - Essenes".
50. ^ Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews. 2.137–138. Josephus' mention of the three-year duration of the Essene probation may be compared with the phased character of the entrance procedure in the Qumran Rule of the Community [1QS; at least two years plus an indeterminate initial catechetical phase, 1QS VI]. The provisional surrender of property required at the beginning of the last year of the novitiate derives from actual social experience of the difficulties of sharing property in a fully communitarian setting, cf. Brian J. Capper, 'The Interpretation of Acts 5.4', Journal for the Study of the New Testament 19 (1983) pp. 117–131; idem, '"In der Hand des Ananias." Erwägungen zu 1QS VI,20 und der urchristlichen Gütergemeinschaft', Revue de Qumran 12(1986) 223–236; Eyal Regev, "Comparing Sectarian Practice and Organization: The Qumran Sect in Light of the Regulations of the Shakers, Hutterites, Mennonites and Amish", Numen 51 (2004), pp. 146–181.
51. ^ Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews. 2.139–142.
52. ^ Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews. 2.153–158.
53. ^ Furstenberg, Yair (8 November 2016). "Initiation and the Ritual Purification from Sin: Between Qumran and the Apostolic Tradition". Dead Sea Discoveries. 23 (3): 365–394. doi:10.1163/15685179-12341409.
54. ^ Kittle, Gerhardt. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Volume 7. p. 814, note 99.
55. ^ Dundes, A. (2002). The Shabbat Elevator and other Sabbath Subterfuges: An Unorthodox Essay on Circumventing Custom and Jewish Character. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 109. ISBN 9781461645603. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
56. ^ Jump up to:^a b Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 378). Panarion. 1:19.
57. ^ Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 378). Panarion. 1:18.
58. ^ Mulder, Martin-Jan (1 January 1988). The Literature of the Jewish People in the Period of the Second Temple and the Talmud, Volume 1 Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-27510-2.
59. ^ Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (2009). The Impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Paulist Press. ISBN 978-0-8091-4615-4.
60. ^ Lim, Timothy (2021). Essenes in Judaean Society: The sectarians of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Oxford University Press's Academic Insights for the Thinking World.
61. ^ "Essenes in Judaean Society: The sectarians of the Dead Sea Scrolls". 17 January 2021.
62. ^ Rogers, Guy MacLean (2021). For the Freedom of Zion: the Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66-74 CE. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-300-24813-5.
63. ^ Golb, Norman (1996). Who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?: the search for the secret of Qumran. New York City: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-80692-4. OCLC 35047608.^{[page needed]}
64. ^ Josephus, Flavius. Jewish War, Book II. Chapter 8, Paragraph 13.
65. ^ Philo. De Vita Contemplativa. I.1.
66. ^ McGirk, Tim (16 March 2009). "Scholar Claims Dead Sea Scrolls 'Authors' Never Existed". Time. Archived from the original on 20 March 2009. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
67. ^ "Rachel Elior Responds to Her Critics". Jim West. 15 March 2009. Archived from the original on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
68. ^ Bratton, Fred Gladstone. 1967. A History of the Bible. Boston: Beacon Press, 79-80.
69. ^ James VanderKam and Peter Flint, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls, p. 251.
70. ^ Jump up to:^a b Rudolph, Kurt (7 April 2008). "Mandaeans ii. The Mandaean Religion". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
71. ^ Lidzbarski, Mark, Ginza, der Schatz, oder das Grosse Buch der Mandaer, Leipzig, 1925
72. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Drower, Ethel Stephana (1960). The secret Adam, a study of Nasoraean gnosis (PDF). London UK: Clarendon Press. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 March 2014.
73. ^ Rudolph 1977, p. 4.
74. ^ Thomas, Richard (29 January 2016). "The Israelite Origins of the Mandaean People". Studia Antiqua. 5 (2).
75. ^ Macuch, Rudolf A Mandaic Dictionary (with E. S. Drower). Oxford: Clarendon Press 1963.
76. ^ R. Macuch, "Anfänge der Mandäer. Versuch eines geschichtliches Bildes bis zur früh-islamischen Zeit", chap. 6 of F. Altheim and R. Stiehl, Die Araber in der alten Welt II: Bis zur Reichstrennung, Berlin, 1965.
77. ^ The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Book I (Sects 1–46) Frank Williams, translator, 1987 (E.J. Brill, Leiden) ISBN 90-04-07926-2
78. ^ Rudolph, Kurt (1977). "Mandaeism". In Moore, Albert C. (ed.). Iconography of Religions: An Introduction. Vol. 21. Chris Robertson. ISBN 9780800604882.
79. ^ Jump up to:^a b Rudolph, Kurt (April 1964). "War Der Verfasser Der Oden Salomos Ein "Qumran-Christ"? Ein Beitrag zur Diskussion um die Anfänge der Gnosis". Revue de Qumrân. 4 (16). Peeters: 523–555.
80. ^ Aldihisi, Sabah (2008). The story of creation in the Mandaean holy book in the Ginza Rba (PhD). University College London.
81. ^ Coughenour, Robert A. (December 1982). "The Wisdom Stance of Enoch's Redactor". Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period. 13 (1–2). Brill: 52.
82. ^ Brikhah S. Nasoraia (2012). "Sacred Text and Esoteric Praxis in Sabian Mandaean Religion" (PDF).
83. ^ "The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
84. ^ Drower, Ethel Stefana (1953). The Haran Gawaita and the Baptism of Hibil-Ziwa. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
85. ^ Jump up to:^a b Drower, Ethel Stefana (1937). The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran. Oxford at the Clarendon Press.
86. ^ Hachlili, Rachel (1988). Ancient Jewish Art and Archaeology in the Land of Israel. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill. p. 101. ISBN 9004081151.
87. ^ Newman, Hillel (2006). Proximity to Power and Jewish Sectarian Groups of the Ancient Period. Koninklijke Brill NV. ISBN 9789047408352.
88. ^ Deutsch, Nathaniel (6 October 2007). "Save the Gnostics". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
89. ^ Hamidović, David (2010). "About the Links between the Dead Sea Scrolls and Mandaean Liturgy". ARAM Periodical. 22: 441–451. doi:10.2143/ARAM.22.0.2131048.
90. ^ Jump up to:^a b "St. John the Baptist - Possible relationship with the Essenes | Britannica". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
91. ^ Jump up to:^a b "The Essenes and the origins of Christianity". The Jerusalem Post | Jpost.com. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
92. ^ "BBC - History - Ancient History in depth: Lost and Hidden Christianity". BBC. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
93. ^ Denzer, Pam. "Odes of Solomon: Early Hymns of the Jewish Christian Mystical Tradition".
94. ^ "The Essenes and the origins of Christianity". The Jerusalem Post | Jpost.com. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
95. ^ Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (2009). The Impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Paulist Press. ISBN 978-0-8091-4615-4.
96. ^ Stuckenbruck, Loren T.; Gurtner, Daniel M. (26 December 2019). T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism Volume One. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-567-65813-5.
97. ^ Jump up to:^a b Schiffman, Lawrence H.; VanderKam, James C., eds. (2000). "Magharians". Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-508450-4.
98. ^ Harkavy, Abraham. "Le-Ḳorot ha-Kittot be-Yisrael". In Grätz, Heinrich (ed.). Geschichte der Juden (in Hebrew). Vol. iii. p. 496.

Further reading

[edit]

• Alexander, David; Alexander, Pat (1983). The Lion handbook to the Bible. Tring: Lion Hudson. ISBN 0-86760-271-6.
• Baldwin, James (1995) [1963]. The fire next time. New York City: Modern Library. ISBN 0-679-60151-1.
• Bauer, Walter; Kraft, Robert A. (1996) [1971]. Orthodoxy and heresy in earliest Christianity. Mifflintown, Pennsylvania: Sigler Press. ISBN 0-9623642-7-4.
• Bennett, Chris; Osburn, Lynn; Osburn, Judy (1995). Green gold the tree of life: marijuana in magic & religion. Frazier Park, California: Access Unlimited. ISBN 0-9629872-2-0.
• Bergmeier, Roland (1993). Die Essener-Berichte des Flavius Josephus: Quellenstudien zu den Essenertexten im Werk des judischen Historiographen. Kampen, Germany: Kok Pharos Publishing House. ISBN 90-390-0014-X.
• Bultmann, Rudolf (1987). "Significance of the Historical Jesus for the Theology of Paul". Faith and understanding. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress. ISBN 0-8006-3202-8.
• Burns, Joshua Ezra (2006). "Essene Sectarianism and Social Differentiation in Judaea After 70 C.E". Harvard Theological Review. 99 (3): 247–74. doi:10.1017/S0017816006001246. S2CID 162491248.
• Durant, Will (1993). Caesar and Christ. MJF Books. ISBN 5-552-12435-9.
• Eisenman, Robert H. (1997). James, the brother of Jesus: the key to unlocking the secrets of early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York City: Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-86932-5.
• Ewing, Upton Clary (1994) [1963]. The prophet of the Dead Sea Scrolls: the Essenes and the Early Christians, one and the same holy people: their seven devout practices. Tree of Life Publications. ISBN 0-930852-26-5. OCLC 30358890.
• Ewing, Upton Clary (1961). The Essene Christ. New York City: Philosophical Library. OCLC 384703.
• Legge, Francis (1964). Forerunners and rivals of Christianity, from 330 B.C. to 330 A.D.. New Hyde Park, New York: University Books. LCCN 64024125. OCLC 381558.
• Golb, Norman (1995). Who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?: the search for the secret of Qumran. New York City: Scribner. ISBN 0-02-544395-X. OCLC 31009916.
• Lewis, Harvey Spencer (1997) [1929]. Mystical Life of Jesus. San Jose, California: Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis. ISBN 0-912057-46-7. OCLC 43629126.
• Koester, Helmut (1971). "The Theological Aspects of Primitive Christian Heresy". In James McConkey Robinson (ed.). The Future of our religious past: essays in honour of Rudolf Bultmann. New York City: Harper & Row. OCLC 246558.
• Kosmala, Hans (1959). Hebräer-Essener-Christen: Studien zur Vorgeschichte der frühchristlichen Verkündigung. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-02135-8.
• Larson, Martin Alfred (1977). The story of Christian origins: or, The sources and establishment of Western religion. Washington: J.J. Binns. ISBN 0-88331-090-2. OCLC 2810217.
• Larson, Martin Alfred (1967). The Essene heritage: or, The teacher of the scrolls and the gospel Christ. New York City: Philosophical Library. OCLC 712416.
• Lillie, Arthur (1887). Buddhism in Christendom, or, Jesus, the Essene. 1 Paternoster Square, London: Kegan Paul & Co.
• Sanders, E. P. (1992). Judaism: practice and belief, 63 BCE–66 CE. London: SCM Press. ISBN 1-56338-015-3. OCLC 243725142.^{[page needed]}
• Savoy, Gene (1980) [1978]. The Essaei Document: Secrets of an Eternal Race: Codicil to The Decoded New Testament. Reno, Nevada: International Community of Christ. ISBN 0-936202-03-3. OCLC 13952564.
• Schiffman, Lawrence H. (1991). From text to tradition: a history of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism. New York City: Ktav Pub. House. pp. 113–116. ISBN 0-88125-372-3. OCLC 23733614.
• Schonfield, Hugh J. (1984). The Essene Odyssey: The Mystery of the True Teacher and the Essene Impact on the Shaping of Human Destiny. Tisbury: Element Books. ISBN 0-906540-49-6. OCLC 12223220.
• Schonfield, Hugh J. (1991) [1968]. Those Incredible Christians. Tisbury: Element Books. ISBN 0-906540-71-2. OCLC 13536522.
• Shaw, George Bernard (2004) [1912]. Androcles and The Lion. Fairfield, Iowa: 1st World Library – Literary Society. ISBN 1-59540-237-3. OCLC 63203922.
• Smith, Enid S. (October 1959). "The Essenes Who Changed Churchianity". Rays from the Rose Cross.
• Vaclavik, Charles P. (1986). The vegetarianism of Jesus Christ. Three Rivers, California: Kaweah Publishing Company. ISBN 0-945146-00-0. OCLC 26054343.
• Vermes, Geza; Goodman, Martin. The Essenes According to the Classical Sources. JSOT on behalf of the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies: Sheffield, 1989.

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Flavius Josephus
Imaginary portrait by Thomas Addis Emmet, 1880
Born	Yosef ben Matityahu[2] c. AD 37[3] Jerusalem, Roman Judea
Died	c. AD 100[3] (aged 62–63)
Children	5 sons, including:[4]
Academic background
Influences	Philo of Alexandria[1] Pharisees Greco-Roman world
Academic work
Era	Hellenistic Judaism
Main interests	Jewish history Maccabean Revolt Jewish–Roman wars Herodian dynasty Hasmonean dynasty
Notable works	The Jewish War Antiquities of the Jews
Influenced	Early Christianity Josephus problem

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Flavius Josephus (born ad 37/38, Jerusalem—died ad 100, Rome) was a Jewish priest, scholar, and historian who wrote valuable works on the Jewish revolt of 66–70 and on earlier Jewish history. His major books are History of the Jewish War (75–79), The Antiquities of the Jews (93), and Against Apion.

Early life.

Flavius Josephus was born of an aristocratic priestly family in Jerusalem. According to his own account, he was a precocious youth who by the age of 14 was consulted by high priests in matters of Jewish law. At age 16 he undertook a three-year sojourn in the wilderness with the hermit Bannus, a member of one of the ascetic Jewish sects that flourished in Judaea around the time of Christ.

Returning to Jerusalem, he joined the Pharisees—a fact of crucial importance in understanding his later collaboration with the Romans. The Pharisees, despite the unflattering portrayal of them in the New Testament, were for the most part intensely religious Jews and adhered to a strict though nonliteral observance of the Torah. Politically, however, the Pharisees had no sympathy with the intense Jewish nationalism of such sects as the military patriotic Zealots and were willing to submit to Roman rule if only the Jews could maintain their religious independence.

In ad 64 Josephus was sent on an embassy to Rome to secure the release of a number of Jewish priests of his acquaintance who were held prisoners in the capital. There, he was introduced to Poppaea Sabina, Emperor Nero’s second wife, whose generous favour enabled him to complete his mission successfully. During his visit, Josephus was deeply impressed with Rome’s culture and sophistication—and especially its military might.

Military career.

He returned to Jerusalem on the eve of a general revolt against Roman rule. In ad 66 the Jews of Judaea, urged on by the fanatical Zealots, ousted the Roman procurator and set up a revolutionary government in Jerusalem. Along with many others of the priestly class, Josephus counselled compromise but was drawn reluctantly into the rebellion. Despite his moderate stance, he was appointed military commander of Galilee, where (if his own untrustworthy account may be believed) he was obstructed in his efforts at conciliation by the enmity of the local partisans led by John of Giscala. Though realizing the futility of armed resistance, he nevertheless set about fortifying the towns of the north against the forthcoming Roman juggernaut.

The Romans, under the command of the future emperor Vespasian, arrived in Galilee in the spring of ad 67 and quickly broke the Jewish resistance in the north. Josephus managed to hold the fortress of Jotapata for 47 days, but after the fall of the city he took refuge with 40 diehards in a nearby cave. There, to Josephus’ consternation, the beleaguered party voted to perish rather than surrender. Josephus, arguing the immorality of suicide, proposed that each man, in turn, should dispatch his neighbour, the order to be determined by casting lots. Josephus contrived to draw the last lot, and, as one of the two surviving men in the cave, he prevailed upon his intended victim to surrender to the Romans.

Led in chains before Vespasian, Josephus assumed the role of a prophet and foretold that Vespasian would soon be emperor—a prediction that gained in credibility after the death of Nero in ad 68. The stratagem saved his life, and for the next two years he remained a prisoner in the Roman camp. Late in ad 69 Vespasian was proclaimed emperor by his troops: Josephus’ prophecy had come true, and the agreeable Jewish prisoner was given his freedom. From that time on, Josephus attached himself to the Roman cause. He adopted the name Flavius (Vespasian’s family name), accompanied his patron to Alexandria, and there married for the third time. (Josephus’ first wife had been lost at the siege of Jotapata, and his second had deserted him in Judaea.) Josephus later joined the Roman forces under the command of Vespasian’s son and later successor, Titus, at the siege of Jerusalem in ad 70. He attempted to act as mediator between the Romans and the rebels, but, hated by the Jews for his apostasy and distrusted by the Romans as a Jew, he was able to accomplish little. Following the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, Josephus took up residence in Rome, where he devoted the remainder of his life to literary pursuits under imperial patronage.

Josephus as historian.

Josephus’ first work, Bellum Judaicum (History of the Jewish War), was written in seven books between ad 75 and 79, toward the end of Vespasian’s reign. The original Aramaic has been lost, but the extant Greek version was prepared under Josephus’ personal direction. After briefly sketching Jewish history from the mid-2nd century bc, Josephus presents a detailed account of the great revolt of ad 66–70. He stressed the invincibility of the Roman legions, and apparently one of his purposes in the works was to convince the Diasporan Jews in Mesopotamia, who may have been contemplating revolt, that resistance to Roman arms was pure folly. The work has much narrative brilliance, particularly the description of the siege of Jerusalem; its fluent Greek contrasts sharply with the clumsier idiom of Josephus’ later works and attests the influence of his Greek assistants. In this work, Josephus is extremely hostile to the Jewish patriots and remarkably callous to their fate. The Jewish War not only is the principal source for the Jewish revolt but is especially valuable for its description of Roman military tactics and strategy.

In Rome, Josephus had been granted citizenship and a pension. He was a favourite at the courts of the emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, and he enjoyed the income from a tax-free estate in Judaea. He had divorced his third wife, married an aristocratic heiress from Crete, and given Roman names to his children. He had written an official history of the revolt and was loathed by the Jews as a turncoat and traitor. Yet despite all of this, Josephus had by no means abandoned his Judaism. His greatest work, Antiquitates Judaicae (The Antiquities of the Jews), completed in 20 books in ad 93, traces the history of the Jews from creation to just before the outbreak of the revolt of ad 66–70. It was an attempt to present Judaism to the Hellenistic world in a favourable light. By virtually ignoring the Prophets, by embellishing biblical narratives, and by stressing the rationality of Judaic laws and institutions, he stripped Judaism of its fanaticism and made it appealing to the cultivated and reasonable man. Historically, the coverage is patchy and shows the fatigue of the author, then in his middle 50s. But throughout, sources are preserved that otherwise would have been lost, and, for Jewish history during the period of the Second Commonwealth, the work is invaluable.

The Antiquities contains two famous references to Jesus Christ: the one in Book XX calls him the “so-called Christ.” The implication in the passage in Book XVIII of Christ’s divinity could not have come from Josephus and undoubtedly represents the tampering (if not invention) of a later Christian copyist.

Appended to the Antiquities was a Vita (Life), which is less an autobiography than an apology for Josephus’ conduct in Galilee during the revolt. It was written to defend himself against the charges of his enemy Justus of Tiberias, who claimed that Josephus was responsible for the revolt. In his defense, he contradicted the account given in his more trustworthy Jewish War, presenting himself as a consistent partisan of Rome and thus a traitor to the rebellion from the start. Josephus appears in a much better light in a work generally known as Contra Apionem (Against Apion, though the earlier titles Concerning the Antiquity of the Jews and Against the Greeks are more apposite). Of its two books, the first answers various anti-Semitic charges leveled at the Jews by Hellenistic writers, while the second provides an argument for the ethical superiority of Judaism over Hellenism and shows Josephus’ commitment to his religion and his culture.

Since Against Apion mentions the death of Agrippa II, it is probable that Josephus lived into the 2nd century; but Agrippa’s death date is uncertain, and it is possible that Josephus died earlier, in the reign of Domitian, sometime after ad 93.

Legacy

As a historian, Josephus shares the faults of most ancient writers: his analyses are superficial, his chronology faulty, his facts exaggerated, his speeches contrived. He is especially tendentious when his own reputation is at stake. His Greek style, when it is truly his, does not earn for him the epithet “the Greek Livy” that often is attached to his name. Yet he unites in his person the traditions of Judaism and Hellenism, provides a connecting link between the secular world of Rome and the religious heritage of the Bible, and offers many insights into the mentality of subject peoples under the Roman Empire.

Personally, Josephus was vain, callous, and self-seeking. There was not a shred of heroism in his character, and for his toadyism he well deserved the scorn heaped upon him by his countrymen. But it may be said in his defense that he remained true to his Pharisee beliefs and, being no martyr, did what he could for his people.

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Flavius Josephus^[a] (/dʒoʊˈsiːfəs/;^[9] Ancient Greek: Ἰώσηπος, Iṓsēpos; c. AD 37 – c. 100) or Yosef ben Mattityahu (Hebrew: יוֹסֵף בֵּן מַתִּתְיָהוּ) was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing The Jewish War, he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry.

He initially fought against the Roman Empire during the First Jewish–Roman War as general of the Jewish forces in Galilee, until surrendering in AD 67 to the Roman army led by military commander Vespasian after the six-week siege of Yodfat. Josephus claimed the Jewish messianic prophecies that initiated the First Jewish–Roman War made reference to Vespasian becoming Roman emperor. In response, Vespasian decided to keep him as a slave and presumably interpreter. After Vespasian became emperor in AD 69, he granted Josephus his freedom, at which time Josephus assumed the Emperor's family name of Flavius.^[10]

Flavius Josephus fully defected to the Roman side and was granted Roman citizenship. He became an advisor and close associate of Vespasian's son Titus, serving as his translator during Titus's protracted siege of Jerusalem in AD 70, which resulted in the near-total razing of the city and the destruction of the Second Temple.

Josephus recorded the Great Jewish Revolt (AD 66–70), including the siege of Masada. His most important works were The Jewish War (c. 75) and Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94).^[11] The Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation. Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an ostensibly Greek and Roman audience. These works provide insight into first-century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity.^[11] Josephus's works are the chief source next to the Bible for the history and antiquity of ancient Israel, and provide an independent extra-biblical account of such figures as Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, John the Baptist, James, brother of Jesus, and Jesus of Nazareth.^[12]

Biography

[edit]

Galilee, site of Josephus's governorship, before the First Jewish–Roman War

Josephus was born into one of Jerusalem's elite families.^[13] He was the second-born son of Matthias, a Jewish priest. His older full-blooded brother was also, like his father, called Matthias.^[14] Their mother was an aristocratic woman who was descended from the royal and formerly ruling Hasmonean dynasty.^[15] Josephus's paternal grandparents were a man also named Joseph(us) and his wife—an unnamed Hebrew noblewoman—distant relatives of each other.^[16] Josephus's family was wealthy. He descended through his father from the priestly order of the Jehoiarib, which was the first of the 24 orders of priests in the Temple in Jerusalem.^[17] Josephus calls himself a fourth-generation descendant of "High Priest Jonathan", referring to either Jonathan Apphus or Alexander Jannaeus.^[17] He was raised in Jerusalem and educated alongside his brother.^[18]

In his mid twenties, he traveled to negotiate with Emperor Nero for the release of some Jewish priests.^[19] Upon his return to Jerusalem, at the outbreak of the First Jewish–Roman War, Josephus was appointed the military governor of Galilee.^[20] His arrival in Galilee, however, was fraught with internal division: the inhabitants of Sepphoris and Tiberias opted to maintain peace with the Romans; the people of Sepphoris enlisted the help of the Roman army to protect their city,^[21] while the people of Tiberias appealed to King Agrippa's forces to protect them from the insurgents.^[22] Josephus trained 65,000 troops in the region.^[12]

Josephus also contended with John of Gischala who had also set his sight over the control of Galilee. Like Josephus, John had amassed to himself a large band of supporters from Gischala (Gush Halab) and Gabara,^[b] including the support of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.^[26] Meanwhile, Josephus fortified several towns and villages in Lower Galilee, among which were Tiberias, Bersabe, Selamin, Japha, and Tarichaea, in anticipation of a Roman onslaught.^[27] In Upper Galilee, he fortified the towns of Jamnith, Seph, Mero, and Achabare, among other places.^[27] Josephus, with the Galileans under his command, managed to bring both Sepphoris and Tiberias into subjection,^[21] but was eventually forced to relinquish his hold on Sepphoris by the arrival of Roman forces under Placidus the tribune and later by Vespasian himself. Josephus first engaged the Roman army at a village called Garis, where he launched an attack against Sepphoris a second time, before being repulsed.^[28] At length, he resisted the Roman army in its siege of Yodfat (Jotapata) until it fell to the Roman army in the lunar month of Tammuz, in the thirteenth year of Nero's reign.

After the Jewish garrison of Yodfat fell under siege, the Romans invaded, killing thousands; the survivors committed suicide. According to Josephus, he was trapped in a cave with 40 of his companions in July 67 AD. The Romans (commanded by Flavius Vespasian and his son Titus, both subsequently Roman emperors) asked the group to surrender, but they refused. According to Josephus's account, he suggested a method of collective suicide;^[29] they drew lots and killed each other, one by one, and Josephus happened to be one of two men that were left who surrendered to the Roman forces and became prisoners.^[c] In 69 AD, Josephus was released.^[31] According to his account, he acted as a negotiator with the defenders during the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, during which time his parents were held as hostages by Simon bar Giora.^[32]

While being confined at Yodfat (Jotapata), Josephus claimed to have experienced a divine revelation that later led to his speech predicting Vespasian would become emperor. After the prediction came true, he was released by Vespasian, who considered his gift of prophecy to be divine. Josephus wrote that his revelation had taught him three things: that God, the creator of the Jewish people, had decided to "punish" them; that "fortune" had been given to the Romans; and that God had chosen him "to announce the things that are to come".^[33][34][35] To many Jews, such claims were simply self-serving.^[36]

In 71 AD, he went to Rome as part of the entourage of Titus. There, he became a Roman citizen and client of the ruling Flavian dynasty. In addition to Roman citizenship, he was granted accommodation in the conquered Judaea and a pension. While in Rome and under Flavian patronage, Josephus wrote all of his known works. Although he only ever calls himself "Josephus" in his writings, later historians refer to him as "Flavius Josephus", confirming that he adopted the nomen Flavius from his patrons, as was the custom amongst freedmen.^[5][6]

Vespasian arranged for Josephus to marry a captured Jewish woman, whom he later divorced. Around the year 71, Josephus married an Alexandrian Jewish woman as his third wife. They had three sons, of whom only Flavius Hyrcanus survived childhood. Josephus later divorced his third wife. Around 75, he married his fourth wife, a Greek Jewish woman from Crete, who was a member of a distinguished family. They had two sons, Flavius Justus and Flavius Simonides Agrippa.

Josephus's life story remains ambiguous. He was described by Harris in 1985 as a law-observant Jew who believed in the compatibility of Judaism and Graeco-Roman thought, commonly referred to as Hellenistic Judaism.^[11] Josippon, the Hebrew version of Josephus, contains changes.^[37] His critics were never satisfied as to why he failed to commit suicide in Galilee, and after his capture, accepted the patronage of Romans.

Scholarship and impact on history

[edit]

The works of Josephus provide information about the First Jewish–Roman War and also represent literary source material for understanding the context of the Dead Sea Scrolls and late Temple Judaism.

Josephan scholarship in the 19th and early 20th centuries took an interest in Josephus's relationship to the sect of the Pharisees.^{[citation needed]} Some^[who?] portrayed him as a member of the sect and as a traitor to the Jewish nation—a view which became known as the classical concept of Josephus.^[38] In the mid-20th century, a new generation of scholars^[who?] challenged this view and formulated the modern concept of Josephus. They consider him a Pharisee but describe him in part as patriot and a historian of some standing. In his 1991 book, Steve Mason argued that Josephus was not a Pharisee but an orthodox Aristocrat-Priest who became associated with the philosophical school of the Pharisees as a matter of deference, and not by willing association.^[39]

Impact on history and archaeology

[edit]

The works of Josephus include useful material for historians about individuals, groups, customs, and geographical places. However, modern historians have been cautious of taking his writings at face value. For example, Carl Ritter, in his highly influential Erdkunde in the 1840s, wrote in a review of authorities on the ancient geography of the region:

Outside of the Scriptures, Josephus holds the first and the only place among the native authors of Judaea; for Philo of Alexandria, the later Talmud, and other authorities, are of little service in understanding the geography of the country. Josephus is, however, to be used with great care. As a Jewish scholar, as an officer of Galilee, as a military man, and a person of great experience in everything belonging to his own nation, he attained to that remarkable familiarity with his country in every part, which his antiquarian researches so abundantly evince. But he was controlled by political motives: his great purpose was to bring his people, the despised Jewish race, into honour with the Greeks and Romans; and this purpose underlay every sentence, and filled his history with distortions and exaggerations.^[40]

Josephus mentions that in his day there were 240 towns and villages scattered across Upper and Lower Galilee,^[41] some of which he names. Josephus's works are the primary source for the chain of Jewish high priests during the Second Temple period. A few of the Jewish customs named by him include the practice of hanging a linen curtain at the entrance to one's house,^[42] and the Jewish custom to partake of a Sabbath-day's meal around the sixth-hour of the day (at noon).^[43] He notes also that it was permissible for Jewish men to marry many wives (polygamy).^[44] His writings provide a significant, extra-Biblical account of the post-Exilic period of the Maccabees, the Hasmonean dynasty, and the rise of Herod the Great. He also describes the Sadducees, the Pharisees and Essenes, the Herodian Temple, Quirinius's census and the Zealots, and such figures as Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, Agrippa I and Agrippa II, John the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus, and Jesus.^[45] Josephus represents an important source for studies of immediate post-Temple Judaism and the context of early Christianity.

A careful reading of Josephus's writings and years of excavation allowed Ehud Netzer, an archaeologist from Hebrew University, to discover what he considered to be the location of Herod's Tomb, after searching for 35 years.^[46] It was above aqueducts and pools, at a flattened desert site, halfway up the hill to the Herodium, 12 km south of Jerusalem—as described in Josephus's writings.^[47] In October 2013, archaeologists Joseph Patrich and Benjamin Arubas challenged the identification of the tomb as that of Herod.^[48] According to Patrich and Arubas, the tomb is too modest to be Herod's and has several unlikely features.^[48] Roi Porat, who replaced Netzer as excavation leader after the latter's death, stood by the identification.^[48]

Josephus's writings provide the first-known source for many stories considered as Biblical history, despite not being found in the Bible or related material. These include Ishmael as the founder of the Arabs,^[49] the connection of "Semites", "Hamites" and "Japhetites" to the classical nations of the world, and the story of the siege of Masada.^[50]

Josephus's original audience

[edit]

Scholars debate about Josephus's intended audience. For example, Antiquities of the Jews could be written for Jews—"a few scholars from Laqueur onward have suggested that Josephus must have written primarily for fellow Jews (if also secondarily for Gentiles). The most common motive suggested is repentance: in later life he felt so bad about the traitorous War that he needed to demonstrate … his loyalty to Jewish history, law and culture."^[51] However, Josephus's "countless incidental remarks explaining basic Judean language, customs and laws … assume a Gentile audience. He does not expect his first hearers to know anything about the laws or Judean origins."^[52] The issue of who would read this multi-volume work is unresolved. Other possible motives for writing Antiquities could be to dispel the misrepresentation of Jewish origins^[53] or as an apologetic to Greek cities of the Diaspora in order to protect Jews and to Roman authorities to garner their support for the Jews facing persecution.^[54]

Literary influence and translations

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Josephus was a very popular writer with Christians in the 4th century and beyond as an independent source to the events before, during, and after the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Josephus was always accessible in the Greek-reading Eastern Mediterranean. His works were translated into Latin, but often in abbreviated form such as Pseudo-Hegesippus's 4th century Latin version of The Jewish War (Bellum Judaicum). Christian interest in The Jewish War was largely out of interest in the downfall of the Jews and the Second Temple, which was widely considered divine punishment for the crime of killing Jesus. Improvements in printing technology (the Gutenberg Press) led to his works receiving a number of new translations into the vernacular languages of Europe, generally based on the Latin versions. Only in 1544 did a version of the standard Greek text become available in French, edited by the Dutch humanist Arnoldus Arlenius. The first English translation, by Thomas Lodge, appeared in 1602, with subsequent editions appearing throughout the 17th century. The 1544 Greek edition formed the basis of the 1732 English translation by William Whiston, which achieved enormous popularity in the English-speaking world. It was often the book—after the Bible—that Christians most frequently owned. Whiston claimed that certain works by Josephus had a similar style to the Epistles of St. Paul.^[55][56] Later editions of the Greek text include that of Benedikt Niese, who made a detailed examination of all the available manuscripts, mainly from France and Spain. Henry St. John Thackeray and successors such as Ralph Marcus used Niese's version for the Loeb Classical Library edition widely used today.

On the Jewish side, Josephus was far more obscure, as he was perceived as a traitor. Rabbinical writings for a millennium after his death (e.g. the Mishnah) almost never call out Josephus by name, although they sometimes tell parallel tales of the same events that Josephus narrated. An Italian Jew writing in the 10th century indirectly brought Josephus back to prominence among Jews: he authored the Yosippon, which paraphrases Pseudo-Hegesippus's Latin version of The Jewish War, a Latin version of Antiquities, as well as other works. The epitomist also adds in his own snippets of history at times. Jews generally distrusted Christian translations of Josephus until the Haskalah ("Jewish Enlightenment") in the 19th century, when sufficiently "neutral" vernacular language translations were made. Kalman Schulman finally created a Hebrew translation of the Greek text of Josephus in 1863, although many rabbis continued to prefer the Yosippon version. By the 20th century, Jewish attitudes toward Josephus had softened, as he gave the Jews a respectable place in classical history. Various parts of his work were reinterpreted as more inspiring and favorable to the Jews than the Renaissance translations by Christians had been. Notably, the last stand at Masada (described in The Jewish War), which past generations had deemed insane and fanatical, received a more positive reinterpretation as an inspiring call to action in this period.^[56][57]

The standard editio maior of the various Greek manuscripts is that of Benedictus Niese, published 1885–95. The text of Antiquities is damaged in some places. In the Life, Niese follows mainly manuscript P, but refers also to AMW and R. Henry St. John Thackeray for the Loeb Classical Library has a Greek text also mainly dependent on P. André Pelletier edited a new Greek text for his translation of Life. The ongoing Münsteraner Josephus-Ausgabe of Münster University will provide a new critical apparatus. Late Old Slavonic translations of the Greek also exist, but these contain a large number of Christian interpolations.^[58]

Evaluation as a military commander

[edit]

Author Joseph Raymond calls Josephus "the Jewish Benedict Arnold" for betraying his own troops at Jotapata,^[59] while historian Mary Smallwood, in the introduction to the translation of The Jewish War by G. A. Williamson, writes:

[Josephus] was conceited, not only about his own learning, but also about the opinions held of him as commander both by the Galileans and by the Romans; he was guilty of shocking duplicity at Jotapata, saving himself by sacrifice of his companions; he was too naive to see how he stood condemned out of his own mouth for his conduct, and yet no words were too harsh when he was blackening his opponents; and after landing, however involuntarily, in the Roman camp, he turned his captivity to his own advantage, and benefited for the rest of his days from his change of side.^[60]

Historiography and Josephus

[edit]

Josephus in the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493

In the Preface to Jewish Wars, Josephus criticizes historians who misrepresent the events of the Jewish–Roman War, writing that "they have a mind to demonstrate the greatness of the Romans, while they still diminish and lessen the actions of the Jews."^[61] Josephus states that his intention is to correct this method but that he "will not go to the other extreme ... [and] will prosecute the actions of both parties with accuracy."^[62] Josephus confesses he will be unable to contain his sadness in transcribing these events; to illustrate this will have little effect on his historiography, Josephus suggests, "But if any one be inflexible in his censures of me, let him attribute the facts themselves to the historical part, and the lamentations to the writer himself only."^[62]

His preface to Antiquities offers his opinion early on, saying, "Upon the whole, a man that will peruse this history, may principally learn from it, that all events succeed well, even to an incredible degree, and the reward of felicity is proposed by God."^[63] After inserting this attitude, Josephus contradicts Berossus: "I shall accurately describe what is contained in our records, in the order of time that belongs to them ... without adding any thing to what is therein contained, or taking away any thing therefrom."^[63] He notes the difference between history and philosophy by saying, "[T]hose that read my book may wonder how it comes to pass, that my discourse, which promises an account of laws and historical facts, contains so much of philosophy."^[64]

In both works, Josephus emphasizes that accuracy is crucial to historiography. Louis H. Feldman notes that in Wars, Josephus commits himself to critical historiography, but in Antiquities, Josephus shifts to rhetorical historiography, which was the norm of his time.^[65] Feldman notes further that it is significant that Josephus called his later work "Antiquities" (literally, archaeology) rather than history; in the Hellenistic period, archaeology meant either "history from the origins or archaic history."^[66] Thus, his title implies a Jewish peoples' history from their origins until the time he wrote. This distinction is significant to Feldman, because "in ancient times, historians were expected to write in chronological order," while "antiquarians wrote in a systematic order, proceeding topically and logically" and included all relevant material for their subject.^[66] Antiquarians moved beyond political history to include institutions and religious and private life.^[67] Josephus does offer this wider perspective in Antiquities.

Works

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The works of Josephus translated by Thomas Lodge (1602)

The works of Josephus are major sources of our understanding of Jewish life and history during the first century.^[68]

• (c. 75) War of the Jews, The Jewish War, Jewish Wars, or History of the Jewish War (commonly abbreviated JW, BJ or War)
• (c. 94) Antiquities of the Jews, Jewish Antiquities, or Antiquities of the Jews/Jewish Archeology (frequently abbreviated AJ, AotJ or Ant. or Antiq.)
• (c. 97) Flavius Josephus Against Apion, Against Apion, Contra Apionem, or Against the Greeks, on the antiquity of the Jewish people (usually abbreviated CA)
• (c. 99) Life of Josephus, or Autobiography of Josephus (abbreviated Life or Vita)

The Jewish War

[edit]

Main article: The Jewish War

His first work in Rome was an account of the Jewish War, addressed to certain "upper barbarians"—usually thought to be the Jewish community in Mesopotamia—in his "paternal tongue" (War I.3), arguably the Western Aramaic language. In AD 78 he finished a seven-volume account in Greek known as the Jewish War (Latin Bellum Judaicum or De Bello Judaico). It starts with the period of the Maccabees and concludes with accounts of the fall of Jerusalem, and the subsequent fall of the fortresses of Herodion, Macharont and Masada and the Roman victory celebrations in Rome, the mopping-up operations, Roman military operations elsewhere in the empire and the uprising in Cyrene. Together with the account in his Life of some of the same events, it also provides the reader with an overview of Josephus's own part in the events since his return to Jerusalem from a brief visit to Rome in the early 60s (Life 13–17).^[69]

1581 German translation of Josephus's The Jewish War in the collection of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland

In the wake of the suppression of the Jewish revolt, Josephus would have witnessed the marches of Titus's triumphant legions leading their Jewish captives, and carrying treasures from the despoiled Temple in Jerusalem. It was against this background that Josephus wrote his War. He blames the Jewish War on what he calls "unrepresentative and over-zealous fanatics" among the Jews, who led the masses away from their traditional aristocratic leaders (like himself), with disastrous results. For example, Josephus writes that "Simon [bar Giora] was a greater terror to the people than the Romans themselves."^[70] Josephus also blames some of the Roman governors of Judea, representing them as corrupt and incompetent administrators.

Jewish Antiquities

[edit]

Main article: Antiquities of the Jews

The next work by Josephus is his 21-volume Antiquities of the Jews, completed during the last year of the reign of the Emperor Flavius Domitian, around 93 or 94 AD. In expounding Jewish history, law and custom, he is entering into many philosophical debates current in Rome at that time. Again he offers an apologia for the antiquity and universal significance of the Jewish people. Josephus claims to be writing this history because he "saw that others perverted the truth of those actions in their writings",^[71] those writings being the history of the Jews. In terms of some of his sources for the project, Josephus says that he drew from and "interpreted out of the Hebrew Scriptures"^[72] and that he was an eyewitness to the wars between the Jews and the Romans,^[71] which were earlier recounted in Jewish Wars.

He outlines Jewish history beginning with the creation, as passed down through Jewish historical tradition. Abraham taught science to the Egyptians, who, in turn, taught the Greeks.^[73] Moses set up a senatorial priestly aristocracy, which, like that of Rome, resisted monarchy. The great figures of the Tanakh are presented as ideal philosopher-leaders. He includes an autobiographical appendix defending his conduct at the end of the war when he cooperated with the Roman forces.

Louis H. Feldman outlines the difference between calling this work Antiquities of the Jews instead of History of the Jews. Although Josephus says that he describes the events contained in Antiquities "in the order of time that belongs to them,"^[63] Feldman argues that Josephus "aimed to organize [his] material systematically rather than chronologically" and had a scope that "ranged far beyond mere political history to political institutions, religious and private life."^[67]

Life of Flavius Josephus

[edit]

Main article: The Life of Flavius Josephus

An autobiographical text written by Josephus in approximately 94–99 CE – possibly as an appendix to his Antiquities of the Jews (cf. Life 430) – where the author for the most part re-visits the events of the War and his tenure in Galilee as governor and commander, apparently in response to allegations made against him by Justus of Tiberias (cf. Life 336).

Against Apion

[edit]

Main article: Against Apion

Josephus's Against Apion is a two-volume defence of Judaism as classical religion and philosophy, stressing its antiquity, as opposed to what Josephus claimed was the relatively more recent tradition of the Greeks. Some anti-Judaic allegations ascribed by Josephus to the Greek writer Apion and myths accredited to Manetho are also addressed.

Spurious works

[edit]

• (date unknown) Josephus's Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades (spurious; adaptation of "Against Plato, on the Cause of the Universe" by Hippolytus of Rome)

See also

[edit]

• Josephus on Jesus
• Josephus problem – a mathematical problem named after Josephus
• Josippon
• Pseudo-Philo

Notes and references

[edit]

Explanatory notes

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1. ^ Some modern authors give his birth name, including patronymic, which was "Yosef ben Mattityahu", “Yoseph bar Mattityahu" or "Yosef ben Matityahu",^[5][6][7][8] literally meaning "Joseph son of Matthias". That is what he calls himself at the start of The Jewish War (Ἰώσηπος Ματθίου παῖς, Iósipos Matthíou país). "Flavius" was not part of his birth name, and was only adopted later.^[5]
2. ^ A large village in Galilee during the 1st century AD, located to the north of Nazareth. In antiquity, the town was called "Garaba", but in Josephus's historical works of antiquity, the town is mentioned by its Greek corruption, "Gabara".^[23][24][25]
3. ^ This method as a mathematical problem is referred to as the Josephus problem, or Roman roulette.^[30]

Citations

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1. ^ Josephus 1737, 18.8.1.
2. ^ "Flavius Josephus".
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b Mason 2000.
4. ^ Schürer 1973, p. 46.
5. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Hollander, William den (2014). Josephus, the Emperors, and the City of Rome: From Hostage to Historian. BRILL. pp. 1–4. ISBN 978-90-04-26683-4.
6. ^ Jump up to:^a b Collins, John J.; Harlow, Daniel C. (2012). "Josephus". Early Judaism: A Comprehensive Overview. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4674-3739-4.
7. ^ Ben-Ari, Nitsa (2003). "The double conversion of Ben-Hur: a case of manipulative translation" (PDF). Target. 14 (2): 263–301. doi:10.1075/target.14.2.05ben. Retrieved 28 November 2011. The converts themselves were banned from society as outcasts and so was their historiographic work or, in the more popular historical novels, their literary counterparts. Josephus Flavius, formerly Yosef Ben Matityahu (34–95), had been shunned, then banned as a traitor.
8. ^ Goodman 2019, p. 186.
9. ^ "Josephus". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins Publishers.
10. ^ Mimouni 2012, p. 133.
11. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Harris 1985.
12. ^ Jump up to:^a b Josephus, Flavius; Whiston, William; Maier, Paul L. (1999). The New Complete Works of Josephus. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications. p. 7-8. ISBN 9780825429484.
13. ^ Goodman 2007, p. 8: "Josephus was born into the ruling elite of Jerusalem"
14. ^ Mason 2000, pp. 12–13.
15. ^ Nodet 1997, p. 250.
16. ^ "Josephus Lineage" (PDF). History of the Daughters (Fourth ed.). Sonoma, California: L P Publishing. December 2012. pp. 349–350.
17. ^ Jump up to:^a b Schürer 1973, pp. 45–46.
18. ^ Mason 2000, p. 13.
19. ^ Josephus, Vita § 3
20. ^ Goldberg, G. J. "The Life of Flavius Josephus". Josephus.org. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
21. ^ Jump up to:^a b Josephus, Vita, § 67
22. ^ Josephus, Vita, § 68
23. ^ Klausner, J. (1934). "Qobetz". Journal of the Jewish Palestinian Exploration Society (in Hebrew). 3: 261–263.
24. ^ Rappaport 2006, p. 44 [note 2].
25. ^ Safrai 1985, pp. 59–62.
26. ^ Josephus, Vita, § 25; § 38; Josephus, Flavius (1926). The Life of Josephus. doi:10.4159/DLCL.josephus-life.1926. Retrieved 31 May 2016.  – via digital Loeb Classical Library (subscription required)
27. ^ Jump up to:^a b Josephus, Vita, § 37
28. ^ Josephus, Vita, § 71
29. ^ Josephus, The Jewish War. Book 3, Chapter 8, par. 7
30. ^ Cf. this example, Roman Roulette. Archived February 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
31. ^ Jewish War IV.622–629
32. ^ Josephus, The Jewish War (5.13.1. and 5.13.3.)
33. ^ Gray 1993, pp. 35–38.
34. ^ Aune 1991, p. 140.
35. ^ Gnuse 1996, pp. 136–142.
36. ^ Goodman 2007, p. 9: "Later generations of Jews have been inclined to treat such claims as self-serving"
37. ^ Neuman, Abraham A. (1952). "Josippon and the Apocrypha". The Jewish Quarterly Review. 43 (1): 1–26. doi:10.2307/1452910. ISSN 0021-6682. JSTOR 1452910.
38. ^ Millard 1997, p. 306.
39. ^ Mason, Steve (April 2003). "Flavius Josephus and the Pharisees". The Bible and Interpretation. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
40. ^ Ritter, C. (1866). The Comparative Geographie of Palestine and the Sinaitic Peninsula. T. & T. Clark.
41. ^ Josephus, Vita § 45
42. ^ Josephus 1737, 3.6.4: After describing the curtain that hung in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, Josephus adds: "Whence that custom of ours is derived, of having a fine linen veil, after the temple has been built, to be drawn over the entrances."
43. ^ Josephus, Vita § 54
44. ^ Flavius Josephus, The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by William Whiston, A. M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley: 1895, s.v. The Jewish War 1.24.2 (end) (1.473).
45. ^ Whealey, Alice (2003). Josephus on Jesus: The Testimonium Flavianum Controversy from Late Antiquity to Modern Times. Peter Lang Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8204-5241-8. In the sixteenth century the authenticity of the text [Testimonium Flavianum] was publicly challenged, launching a controversy that has still not been resolved today
46. ^ Kraft, Dina (9 May 2007). "Archaeologist Says Remnants of King Herod's Tomb Are Found". NY Times. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
47. ^ Murphy 2008, p. 99.
48. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Hasson, Nir (11 October 2013). "Archaeological stunner: Not Herod's Tomb after all?". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
49. ^ Millar 2011, Chapter 14: "Hagar, Ishmael, Josephus, and the origins of Islam": "Josephus is thus alluding to a proposition, not yet established in his narrative, that Ishmael was the founder (ktistēs) of the race (ethnos) of the 'Arabes' and offers this as his explanation of a custom currently observed by them."
50. ^ Gilad, Elon (17 June 2019). "The Myth of Masada: How Reliable Was Josephus, Anyway?". Haaretz. Retrieved 28 September 2023. The only source we have for the story of Masada, and numerous other reported events from the time, is the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, author of the book 'The Jewish War'.
51. ^ Mason 1998, p. 66.
52. ^ Mason 1998, p. 67.
53. ^ Mason 1998, p. 68.
54. ^ Mason 1998, p. 70.
55. ^ Maier 1999, p. 1070.
56. ^ Jump up to:^a b Josephus, Flavius (2017) [c. 75]. The Jewish War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. xxix–xxxv.. Information is from the Introduction, by Martin Goodman.
57. ^ Rajak, Tessa (2016). "Josephus, Jewish Resistance, and the Masada Myth". In Collins, John J.; Manning, J. G. (eds.). Revolt and Resistance in the Ancient Classical World and the Near East: In the Crucible of Empire. Brill. pp. 221–223, 230–233. doi:10.1163/9789004330184_015. ISBN 978-90-04-33017-7.
58. ^ Bowman 1987, p. 373.
59. ^ Raymond 2010, p. 222.
60. ^ Josephus, Flavius (1981). The Jewish War. Translated by Williamson, G. A. Introduction by E. Mary Smallwood. New York: Penguin. p. 24.
61. ^ JW preface. 3.
62. ^ Jump up to:^a b JW preface. 4.
63. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Josephus 1737, preface §3.
64. ^ Josephus 1737, preface §4.
65. ^ Feldman 1998, p. 9.
66. ^ Jump up to:^a b Feldman 1998, p. 10.
67. ^ Jump up to:^a b Feldman 1998, p. 13.
68. ^ Ehrman 1999, pp. 848–849.
69. ^ "Josephus: The Life of Flavius Josephus". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
70. ^ Josephus. The War of the Jews.
71. ^ Jump up to:^a b Josephus 1737, preface §1.
72. ^ Josephus 1737, preface §2.
73. ^ Feldman 1998, p. 232.

General and cited sources

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• Aune, David Edward (1991) [first published 1983]. Prophecy In Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8028-0635-X.
• Bowman, Steven (1987). "Josephus in Byzantium". In Feldman, Louis H.; Hata, Gōhei (eds.). Josephus, Judaism and Christianity. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 90-04-08554-8.
• Ehrman, Bart D. (1999). Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (Kindle ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512474-3.
• Eisler, Robert; Krappe, Alexander Haggerty (1931). The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist according to Flavius Josephus' recently rediscovered 'Capture of Jerusalem' and other Jewish and Christian sources. New York: L. MacVeagh, The Dial Press. OCLC 839607. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
• Feldman, Louis H. (1998). Josephus's Interpretation of the Bible. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20853-7.
• Gnuse, Robert Karl (1996). Dreams & Dream Reports in the Writings of Josephus: A Traditio-Historical Analysis. E. J. Brill. ISBN 90-04-10616-2.
• Goodman, Martin (2007). Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilisations. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-7139-9447-6.
• Goodman, Martin (15 October 2019). Josephus's The Jewish War: A Biography. Vol. 33. Princeton University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctvg252gj. ISBN 978-0-691-13739-1. JSTOR j.ctvg252gj. S2CID 242695900.
• Gray, Rebecca (1993). Prophetic Figures in Late Second Temple Jewish Palestine: The Evidence from Josephus. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507615-X.
• Harris, Stephen L. (1985). Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. ISBN 978-0-87484-696-6.
• Josephus, Flavius (1737). The Antiquities of the Jews . Translated by Whiston, William – via Wikisource.
• Maier, Paul L., ed. (1999). "Appendix: Dissertation 6 (by Whiston)". The New Complete Works of Josephus. Kregel Academic. p. 1070. ISBN 978-0-8254-9692-9. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
• Mason, Steve, ed. (1998). "Should Any Wish to Enquire Further (Ant. 1.25): The Aim and Audience of Josephus's Judean Antiquities/Life". Understanding Josephus: Seven Perspectives. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. pp. 64–103. ISBN 1-85075-878-6.
• Mason, Steve, ed. (2000). Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary (10 vols. in 12 ed.). Leiden: Brill.^{[ISBN missing]}
• Millar, Fergus (1 May 2011). Cotton, Hannah M.; Rogers, Guy M. (eds.). Rome, the Greek World, and the East: Volume 3: The Greek World, the Jews, and the East. The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-7665-7. OCLC 646793155. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
• Millard, Alan Ralph (1997). Discoveries From Bible Times: Archaeological Treasures Throw Light on The Bible. Lion Publishing. ISBN 0-7459-3740-3.
• Mimouni, Simon Claude (2012). Le judaïsme ancien du VIe siècle avant notre ère au IIIe siècle de notre ère: des prêtres aux rabbins [Ancient Judaism from the 6th century BCE to the 3rd century CE: from priests to rabbis] (Report) (in French). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
• Murphy, Catherine M. (2008). The Historical Jesus For Dummies. Wiley Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-0-470-16785-4.
• Nodet, Etienne (1997). A Search for the Origins of Judaism: From Joshua to the Mishnah. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-615-35508-5.
• Rappaport, Uriel (2006). יוחנן מגוש חלב : מהרי הגליל אל חומות ירושלים (Yoḥanan mi-Gush ḥalav : me-hare ha-Galil el ḥomot Yerushalayim) [John of Gischala, from the mountains of Galilee to the walls of Jerusalem]. (see https://www.academia.edu/2383453 for unofficial translation )
• Raymond, Joseph (2010). Herodian Messiah: Case For Jesus As Grandson of Herod. Tower Grover Publishing. ISBN 978-0-615-35508-5.
• Safrai, Ze'ev (1985). פרקי גליל בתקופת המשנה והתלמוד, מעלות [The Galilee in the time of the Mishna and Talmud] (in Hebrew) (2nd ed.). Jerusalem.
• Schürer, Emil (1973) [1891]. Vermes, Géza; Millar, Fergus; Black, Matthew (eds.). The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. – A.D. 135). Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 9780567022424. OCLC 912175.

Further reading

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Library resources about
Josephus

---

• Online books
• Resources in your library
• Resources in other libraries

• Bilde, Per. Flavius Josephus between Jerusalem and Rome: his life, his works and their importance. Sheffield: JSOT, 1988.
• Chapman, Honora and Zuleika Rodgers: A Companion to Josephus, edited by (Oxford, 2016).
• Cohen, Shaye J. D.: Josephus in Galilee and Rome: his vita and development as a historian. (Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition; 8). Leiden: Brill, 1979.
• Feldman, Louis. "Flavius Josephus revisited: the man, his writings, and his significance". In: Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt 21.2 (1984).
• Feldman, Louis H. and Gohei Hata: Josephus, the Bible, and History, edited by (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1988).
• Hadas-lebel, Mireille: Flavius Josephus Eyewitness to Rome's first-century conquest of Judea, Macmillan 1993, Simon and Schuster 2001
• den Hollander, William: Josephus, the Emperors, and the City of Rome: From Hostage to Historian (Boston: Brill, 2014).
• Hillar, Marian (2005). "Flavius Josephus and His Testimony Concerning the Historical Jesus". Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism. 13. Washington, DC: American Humanist Association: 66–103.
• Kókai-Nagy, Viktor; Vér, Ádám (2023). Peace and war in Josephus. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter. ISBN 9783111146034.
• O'Rourke, P. J. (1993). "The 2000 Year Old Middle East Policy Expert". Give War A Chance. Vintage. ISBN 978-0-679-74201-2.
• Pastor, Jack; Stern, Pnina; Mor, Menahem, eds. (2011). Flavius Josephus: Interpretation and History. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-19126-6. ISSN 1384-2161.
• Mason, Steve: Flavius Josephus on the Pharisees: a composition-critical study. Leiden: Brill, 1991.
• Mason, Steve: Josephus and the New Testament: Second Edition, Hendrickson Publishers, 2003.
• Rajak, Tessa: Josephus: the Historian and His Society. 2nd ed. London: 2002. (Oxford D.Phil. thesis, 2 vols. 1974.)
• Raphael, Frederic: A Jew Among Romans: The Life and Legacy of Flavius Josephus (New York: Pantheon Books, 2013).
• Rodgers, Zuleika: Making History: Josephus and Historical Method (Boston: Brill, 2007).
• St. John Thackeray, H.: Josephus: The Man and the Historian, by (New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1967).
• The Works of Josephus, Complete and Unabridged New Updated Edition. Translated by Whiston, William; Peabody, A. M. (Hardcover ed.). M. A. Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. 1987. ISBN 0-913573-86-8. (Josephus, Flavius (1987). The Works of Josephus, Complete and Unabridged New Updated Edition (Paperback ed.). Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN 1-56563-167-6.)

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Philo
Imaginative illustration of Philo made in 1584 by the French portrait artist André Thevet
Born	c. 20 BCE Alexandria, Roman Egypt
Died	c. 50 CE
Era	Ancient philosophy
Region	Roman Egypt
School	Middle Platonism Hellenistic Judaism
Main interests	Cosmology, philosophy of religion
Notable ideas	Allegorical interpretation of the Torah

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Philo Judaeus (born 15–10 bce, Alexandria—died 45–50 ce, Alexandria) was a Greek-speaking Jewish philosopher, the most important representative of Hellenistic Judaism. His writings provide the clearest view of this development of Judaism in the Diaspora. As the first to attempt to synthesize revealed faith and philosophic reason, he occupies a unique position in the history of philosophy. He is also regarded by Christians as a forerunner of Christian theology.

Life and background

Little is known of the life of Philo. Josephus, the historian of the Jews who also lived in the 1st century, says that Philo’s family surpassed all others in the nobility of its lineage. His father had apparently played a prominent role in Palestine before moving to Alexandria. Philo’s brother Alexander Lysimachus, who was a general tax administrator in charge of customs in Alexandria, was the richest man in the city and indeed must have been one of the richest men in the Hellenistic world, because Josephus says that he gave a huge loan to the wife of the Jewish king Agrippa I and that he contributed the gold and silver with which nine huge gates of the Temple in Jerusalem were overlaid. Alexander was also extremely influential in Roman imperial circles, being an old friend of the emperor Claudius and having acted as guardian for the emperor’s mother.

Philo was born between 15 and 10 bce. The community of Alexandria, to judge from the language of the Jewish papyri and inscriptions, had for nearly three centuries been almost exclusively Greek-speaking and indeed regarded the Septuagint (the 3rd-century-bce translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek) as divinely inspired. During the century and a half before Philo’s birth, Alexandria had been the home of a number of Jewish writers whose works exist now only in fragments. These men were often influenced by the Greek culture in which they lived and wrote apologies for Judaism.

The Alexandrian Jews were eager to enroll their children of secondary school age in Greek gymnasiums, institutions with religious associations dedicated to the liberal arts and athletics; in them, Jews were certainly called upon to make compromises with their traditions. It may be assumed that Philo was a product of such an education: he mentions a wide range of Greek writers, especially the epic and dramatic poets; he was intimately acquainted with the techniques of the Greek rhetorical schools; and he praises the gymnasium. Philo’s education, like that which he ascribes to Moses, most probably consisted of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, harmonics, philosophy, grammar, rhetoric, and logic.

Like the cultured Greeks of his day, Philo often attended the theatre, though it had distinctly religious connotations, and he noted the different effects of the same music on various members of the audience and the enthusiasm of the audience for a tragedy of Euripides. He was a keen observer of boxing contests and attended chariot races as well. He also mentions the frequency with which he attended costly suppers with their lavish entertainment.

Philo says nothing of his own Jewish education. The only mention of Jewish education in his work indicates how relatively weak it must have been, because he speaks only of Jewish schools that met on the Sabbath for lectures on ethics. That he was far from the Palestinian Hellenizers and that he regarded himself as an observant Jew is clear, however, from his statement that one should not omit the observance of any of the Jewish customs that have been divinely ordained. Philo is critical both of those who took the Bible too literally and thus encountered theological difficulties, particularly anthropomorphisms (i.e., describing God in terms of human characteristics), and those who went to excesses in their allegorical interpretation of the laws, with the resulting conclusion, anticipating Paul’s antinomianism, that because the ceremonial laws were only a parable, they need no longer be obeyed. Philo says nothing of his own religious practices, except that he made a festival pilgrimage to Jerusalem, though he nowhere indicates whether he made more than one such visit.

In the eyes of the Palestinian rabbis the Alexandrian Jews were particularly known for their cleverness in posing puzzles and for their sharp replies. As the largest repository of Jewish law apart from the Talmud before the Middle Ages, Philo’s work is of special importance to those who wish to discern the relationship of Palestine and the Diaspora in the realm of law (halakah) and ritual observance. Philo’s exposition of the law may represent either an academic discussion giving an ideal description of Jewish law or the actual practice in the Jewish courts in Egypt. On the whole, Philo is in accord with the prevailing Palestinian point of view; nonetheless he differs from it in numerous details and is often dependent upon Greek and Roman law.

That Philo experienced some sort of identity crisis is indicated by a passage in his On the Special Laws. In this work, he describes his longing to escape from worldly cares to the contemplative life, his joy at having succeeded in doing so (perhaps with the Egyptian Jewish ascetic sect of the Therapeutae described in his treatise On the Contemplative Life), and his renewed pain at being forced once again to participate in civic turmoil. Philo appears to have been dissatisfied with his life in the bustling metropolis of Alexandria: He praises the Essenes—a Jewish sect who lived in monastic communities in the Dead Sea area—for avoiding large cities because of the iniquities that had become inveterate among city dwellers, for living an agricultural life, and for disdaining wealth.

The one identifiable event in Philo’s life occurred in the year 39 or 40, when, after a pogrom against the Jews in Alexandria, he headed an embassy to the emperor Caligula asking him to reassert Jewish rights granted by the Ptolemies (rulers of Egypt) and confirmed by the emperor Augustus. Philo was prepared to answer the charge of disloyalty levelled against the Jews by the notorious anti-Semite Apion, a Greek grammarian, when the Emperor cut him short. Thereupon Philo told his fellow delegates not to be discouraged because God would punish Caligula, who, shortly thereafter, was indeed assassinated.

Works

Philo’s genuine works may be classified into three groups:

1. Scriptural essays and homilies based on specific verses or topics of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), especially Genesis. The most important of the 25 extant treatises in this group are Allegories of the Laws, commentary on Genesis, and On the Special Laws, an exposition of the laws in the Pentateuch.

2. General philosophical and religious essays. These include That Every Good Man Is Free, proving the Stoic paradox that only the wise man is free; On the Eternity of the World, perhaps not genuine, proving, particularly in opposition to the Stoics, that the world is uncreated and indestructible; On Providence, extant in Armenian, a dialogue between Philo, who argues that God is providential in his concern for the world, and Alexander, presumably Philo’s nephew Tiberius Julius Alexander, who raises doubts; and On Alexander, extant in Armenian, concerning the irrational souls of animals.

3. Essays on contemporary subjects. These include On the Contemplative Life, a eulogy of the Therapeutae sect; the fragmentary Hypothetica (“Suppositions”), actually a defense of the Jews against anti-Semitic charges to which Josephus’ treatise Against Apion bears many similarities; Against Flaccus, on the crimes of Aulus Avillius Flaccus, the Roman governor of Egypt, against the Alexandrian Jews and on his punishment; and On the Embassy to Gaius, an attack on the Emperor Caligula (i.e., Gaius) for his hostility toward the Alexandrian Jews and an account of the unsuccessful embassy to the Emperor headed by Philo.

A number of works ascribed to Philo are almost certainly spurious. Most important of these is Biblical Antiquities, an imaginative reconstruction of Jewish history from Adam to the death of Saul, the first king of Israel.

Philo’s works are rambling, having little sense of form; repetitious; artificially rhetorical; and almost devoid of a sense of humour. His style is generally involved, allusive, strongly tinged with mysticism, and often obscure; this may be a result of a deliberate attempt on his part to discourage all but the initiated few.

Originality of his thought

The key influences on Philo’s philosophy were Plato, Aristotle, the Neo-Pythagoreans, the Cynics, and the Stoics. Philo’s basic philosophic outlook is Platonic, so much so that Jerome and other Church Fathers quote the apparently widespread saying: “Either Plato philonizes or Philo platonizes.” Philo’s reverence for Plato, particularly for the Symposium and the Timaeus, is such that he never took open issue with him, as he did with the Stoics and other philosophers. But Philo is hardly a plagiarist; he made modifications in Plato’s theories. To Aristotle he was indebted primarily in matters of cosmology and ethics. To the Neo-Pythagoreans, who had grown in importance during the century before Philo, he was particularly indebted for his views on the mystic significance of numbers, especially the number seven, and the scheme of a peculiar, self-disciplined way of life as a preparation for immortality. The Cynics, with their diatribes, influenced him in the form of his sermons. Though Philo more often employed the terminology of the Stoics than that of any other school, he was critical of their thoughts.

In the past, scholars attempted to diminish Philo’s importance as a theological thinker and to present him merely as a preacher, but in the mid-20th century H.A. Wolfson, an American scholar, demonstrated Philo’s originality as a thinker. In particular, Philo was the first to show the difference between the knowability of God’s existence and the unknowability of his essence. Again, in his view of God, Philo was original in insisting on an individual Providence able to suspend the laws of nature in contrast to the prevailing Greek philosophical view of a universal Providence who is himself subject to the unchanging laws of nature. As a Creator, God made use of assistants: hence the plural “Let us make man” in Genesis, chapter 1. Philo did not reject the Platonic view of a preexistent matter but insisted that this matter too was created. Similarly, Philo reconciled his Jewish theology with Plato’s theory of Ideas in an original way: he posited the Ideas as God’s eternal thoughts, which God then created as real beings before he created the world.

Philo saw the cosmos as a great chain of being presided over by the Logos, a term going back to pre-Socratic philosophy, which is the mediator between God and the world, though at one point he identifies the Logos as a second God. Philo departed from Plato principally in using the term Logos for the Idea of Ideas and for the Ideas as a whole and in his statement that the Logos is the place of the intelligible world. In anticipation of Christian doctrine he called the Logos the first-begotten Son of God, the man of God, the image of God, and second to God.

Philo was also novel in his exposition of the mystic love of God that God has implanted in man and through which man becomes Godlike. According to some scholars, Philo used the terminology of the pagan religions and mystery cults, including the term enthousiasmos (“having God within one”), merely because it was part of the common speech of the day; but there is nothing inherently contradictory in Judaism in the combination of mysticism and legalism in the same thinker. The influence of the mystic notions of Platonism, especially of the Symposium, and of the popular mystery cults on Philo’s attempt to present Judaism as the one true mystery is hardly superficial; indeed, Philo is a major source of knowledge of the doctrines of these mystery cults, notably that of rebirth. Perhaps, through his mystic presentation of Judaism, Philo hoped to enable Judaism in the Diaspora to compete with the mystery religions in its proselyting efforts, as well as in its attempts to hold on to its adherents. That he was essentially in the mainstream of Judaism, however, is indicated by his respect for the literal interpretation of the Bible, his denunciation of the extreme allegorists, and his failure to mention any specific rites of initiation for proselytes, as well as the lack of evidence that he was himself a devotee of a particular mystery cult.

The purpose of what Philo called mystic “sober intoxication” was to lead one out of the material into the eternal world. Like Plato, Philo regarded the body as the prison house of the soul, and in his dualism of body and soul, as in his description of the flight from the self, the contrast between God and the world, and the yearning for a direct experience of God, he anticipated much of Gnosticism, a dualistic religion that became important in the 2nd century ce. But unlike all the Greek philosophers, with the exception of the Epicureans, who believed in limited freedom of will, Philo held that man is completely free to act against all the laws of his own nature.

In his ethical theory Philo described two virtues, under the heading of justice, that are otherwise unknown in Greek philosophic literature—religious faith and humanity. Again, for him repentance was a virtue, whereas for other Greek philosophers it was a weakness. Perfect happiness comes, however, not through men’s own efforts to achieve virtue but only through the grace of God.

In his political theory Philo often said that the best form of government is democracy, but for him democracy was far from mob rule, which he denounced as the worst of polities, perhaps because he saw the Alexandrian mob in action. For Philo democracy meant not a particular form of government but due order under any form of government in which all men are equal before the law. From this point of view, the Mosaic constitution, which embodies the best elements of all forms of government, is the ideal. Indeed, the ultimate goal of history is that the whole world be a single state under a democratic constitution.

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Philo of Alexandria (/ˈfaɪloʊ/; Ancient Greek: Φίλων, romanized: Phílōn; Hebrew: יְדִידְיָה, romanized: Yəḏīḏyāh; c. 20 BCE – c.  50 CE), also called Philō Judæus,^[a] was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.

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.^[1][2][3]

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 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 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.^[4] Philo often advocated a literal understanding of the Torah and the historicity of such described events, while at other times favoring allegorical readings.^[5]

Life

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Philo's dates of birth and death are unknown but can be judged by Philo's description of himself as "old" when he 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.^[6] Philo also recounts that he visited the Second Temple in Jerusalem at least once in his lifetime.^[7]

Family

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Although the names of his parents are unknown, it 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).^[8][6] His ancestors and family had social ties and connections to the priesthood in Judea, the Hasmonean dynasty, 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 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.^[9] 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 the Alexander referenced in the Book of Acts, who presided over the Sanhedrin trial of John and Peter.^[10]

Diplomacy

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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 the Roman province of Judaea.^[11][6] 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 was brother to the alabarch Alexander.^[12] 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, and 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 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 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 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.^[13]

This event is also described in Book 2, Chapter 5 of Eusebius's Historia Ecclesiae^[14]

Education

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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 the Stoics, but also poets and orators, especially Homer, Euripides, and Demosthenes.^[15][16] 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.^[16]

The extent of Philo's knowledge of Hebrew, however, is debated. Philo was more fluent in Greek than in Hebrew and read the Jewish Scriptures chiefly from the Septuagint, a Koine Greek translation of Hebraic texts later compiled as the Hebrew Bible and the deuterocanonical books.^[17] 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.^[18] Philo offers for some names three or four etymologies, sometimes including the correct Hebrew root (e.g., Hebrew: י־ר־ד, romanized: y-r-d, lit. 'descend' 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.^{[17] [19][b]}.^[20]

Philo identified the angel of the Lord (in the singular) with the Logos.^[21][22] In the text attributed to Philo, he "consistently uses Κύριος as a designation for God".^[23] 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 the word Κύριος when making a secondary reference to the divine name in his exposition".^[24]

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."^[24]

Philosophy

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See also: Hellenistic Judaism

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Philo represents the apex of Jewish-Hellenistic syncretism. His work attempts to combine Plato and Moses into one philosophical system.^[25]

Allegorical interpretation

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See also: Allegorical interpretations of Plato

Philo bases his doctrines on the Hebrew Bible, which he considers the source and standard not only of religious truth but of all truth.^[c] Its pronouncements are the ἱερὸς λόγος, θεῖος λόγος, and ὀρθὸς λόγος (holy word, godly word, righteous word),^[26] uttered sometimes directly and sometimes through 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).^[27]

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 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 is Free, § 8 [ii. 454].^[28] 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 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.^[29] According to Josephus, Philo was inspired mainly in this by Aristobulus of Alexandria and the Alexandrian school.^[30][31]

Numerology

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Philo frequently engaged in Pythagorean-inspired numerology, explaining at length the importance of the first 10 numerals:^[32]

1. One is God’s number and the basis for all numbers.^[33]
2. Two is the number of schism, that which has been created, and death.^[34]
3. Three is the number of the body ("De Allegoriis Legum," i. 2 [i. 44]) or of the Divine Being in connection with its fundamental powers ("De Sacrificiis Abelis et Caini," § 15 [i. 173]).
4. Four is potentially what ten is actually: the perfect number ("De Opificio Mundi," §§ 15, 16 [i. 10, 11], etc.); but in an evil sense, four is the number of the passions, πάθη ("De Congressu Quærendæ Eruditionis Gratia." § 17 [i. 532]).
5. Five is the number of the senses and of sensibility ("De Opificio Mundi," § 20 [i. 14], etc.).
6. Six, the product of the masculine and feminine numbers 3×2 and in its parts equal to 3+3, is the symbol of the movement of organic beings ("De Allegoriis Legum," i. 2 [i. 44]).
7. Seven has the most various attributes ("De Opiticio Mundi," §§ 30-43 [i. 21 et seq.]; comp. I. G. Müller, "Philo und die Weltschöpfung," 1841, p. 211).
8. Eight, the number of the cube, has many of the attributes determined by the Pythagoreans ("Quæstiones in Genesin," iii. 49 [i. 223, Aucher]).
9. Nine is the number of strife, according to Gen. xiv. ("De Congressu Qu. Eruditionis Gratia," § 17 [i. 532]).
10. Ten is the number of perfection ("De Plantatione Noë," § 29 [i. 347]).

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.^[35]

Theology

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Philo stated his theology both through the negation of opposing ideas and through detailed, positive explanations of 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.^[36] Only God's existence is specific; no appropriate predicates can be conceived.^[37] 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,^[specify] including God's transcendence,^[38] and humankind's inability to behold an ineffable God.^[39] 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 is always the same (ἀΐδιος). God needs no other being (χρῄζει γὰρ οὐδενὸς τὸ παράπαν) for self-existence or the creation of material things,^[40] and God is self-sufficient (ἑαυτῷ ἱκανός).^[41] 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).^[42]

Anthropomorphism

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Philo considered the anthropomorphism of the Bible to be an impiety that 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.^[43] In Philo's interpretation, Hebrew scripture adapts itself to human conceptions, and so God is occasionally represented as a man for pedagogic reasons.^[44] The same holds true for God's anthropopathic attributes. God, as such, is untouched by unreasonable emotions, as appears in Exodus 32:12, wherein Moses, torn by his feelings, perceives God alone to be calm.^[45] 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 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.^[46] God as such is motionless, as the Bible indicates by the phrase "God stands".^[47]

Divine attributes

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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 the efficient causes that not only represent the types of things, but also produce and maintain them.^[48] Philo endeavored to harmonize this conception with the Bible by designating these powers as angels.^[49] 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 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.^[50][d]

Logos

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Philo also treats the divine powers of God as a single independent being, or demiurge,^[51] which he designates "Logos". Philo's conception of the Logos 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 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.^[52] The Logos was the highest of these intermediary beings and was called by Philo "the first-born of God."^[52][53]

Philo also adapted Platonic elements in designating the Logos as the "idea of ideas" and the "archetypal idea".^[54] 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.^[55] Logos resembles a book with creature paradigms.^[56] An Architect's design before the construction of a city serves to Philo as another simile of Logos.^[57] Since creation, Logos binds things together.^[58] As the receptacle and holder of ideas, Logos is distinct from the material world. At the same time, Logos pervades the world, supporting it.^[59] 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.^[60][61][62] He calls the Logos "second god [deuteros theos]"^[63] the "name of God," ^[64]

There are, in addition, Biblical elements: Philo connects his doctrine of 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.^[65] 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 the high priest, is the expiator of the Jews' sins and the mediator and advocate for humankind before, and envoy to, God: ἱκέτης,^[66] and παράκλητος.^[67][68] He puts human minds in order.^[69] The right reason is an infallible law, the source of any other laws. ^{[non sequitur][70]} 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.^[71] As such, the Logos becomes the aspect of the divine that operates in the world through whom the world is created and sustained.^[72]

Peter Schäfer argues that Philo's Logos was derived from his understanding of the "postbiblical Wisdom literature, in particular the Wisdom of Solomon".^[73] The Wisdom of Solomon is a Jewish work composed in Alexandria, Egypt, around the 1st century BCE, to bolster the faith of the Jewish community in a hostile Greek world. It is one of the seven Sapiential or Wisdom books included in the Septuagint.

Soul

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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.^[74] The soul is the type; man is the copy.^[jargon] 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. ^[jargon] 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 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.^{[citation needed]}

Ethics and politics

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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".^[75] Commentators can also infer from his mission to Caligula that Philo was involved in politics. However, the nature of his political beliefs, especially his viewpoint on the Roman Empire, is a matter of debate.^[76][77]

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 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 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^[78]

Works

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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 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.^[79]

Commentaries on the Pentateuch

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Most of Philo's surviving work deals with the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). Within this corpus are three categories:^[79]

• Quaestiones ("Inquiries") – short verse-by-verse exposition: four books on the Book of Genesis and two on the Book of Exodus. All six books are preserved through an Armenian translation published by Jean-Baptiste Aucher in 1826. A comparison with surviving Greek and Latin fragments recommends the translation as literal and accurate as it goes, but it suggests that some original content is missing. There are thought to be twelve original books, six of which are about Genesis and six of which are about Exodus.
• Allegorical Commentary – a longer exegesis explaining esoteric meanings; the surviving text deals only with the Book of Genesis, with the notable omission of Genesis 1.
• "Exposition of the Law" – a more straightforward synthesis of topics in the Pentateuch, probably written for Gentiles as well as Jews.

Philo's commentary on the Pentateuch is usually classified into three genres.

Quaestiones

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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 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.

Allegorical commentary of the Torah

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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, 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:

1. "Legum allegoriae", books i.–iii., on Gen. ii. 1–iii. 1a, 8b–19 (on the original extent and contents of these three books and the probably more correct combination of i. and ii.)^[80]
2. "De cherubim", on Gen. iii. 24, iv. 1;
3. "De sacrificiis Abelis et Caini", on Gen. iv. 2–4;^[81]
4. "De eo quod deterius potiori insidiatur";
5. "De posteritate Caini", on Gen. iv. 16-25^[82]
6. "De gigantibus", on Gen. vi. 1–4;
7. "Quod Deus sit immutabilis", on Gen. vi. 4–12^[83]
8. "De Agricultura Noë", on Gen. ix. 20;^[84]
9. "De Plantatione", on Gen. ix. 20b;^[85]
10. "De Ebrietate", on Gen. ix. 21^[86]
11. "Resipuit; Noë, seu De Sobrietate", on Gen. ix. 24–27;
12. "De Confusione Linguarum", on Gen. xi. 1–9;
13. "De Migratione Abrahami", on Gen. xii. 1–6;
14. "Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit", on Gen. xv. 2–18;^[87]
15. "De Congressu Quærendæ Eruditionis Gratia", on Gen. xvi. 1–6;
16. "De Profugis",^[88] on Gen. xvi. 6–14;
17. "De Mutatione Nominum", on Gen. xvii, 1–22;^[89]
18. "De Somniis", book i., on Gen. xxviii. 12 et seq., xxxi. 11 et seq. (Jacob's dreams); "De Somniis", book ii., on Gen. xxxvii. 40 et seq. (the dreams of Joseph, of the cupbearer, the baker, and Pharaoh). Philo's three other books on dreams have been lost. The first of these (on the dreams of Abimelech and Laban) preceded the present book i., and discussed the dreams in which God Himself spoke with the dreamers, this fitting in very well with Gen. xx. 3.^[90]

Exposition of the Law

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See also: Moses in rabbinic literature

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 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 the precepts in amplification of each law. The work is divided into the following treatises:

1. "De Opificio Mundi" (comp. Siegfried in "Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Theologie", 1874, pp. 562–565; L Cohn's important separate edition of this treatise, Breslau, 1889, preceded the edition of the same in "Philonis Alexandrini", etc., 1896, i.).
2. "De Abrahamo", on Abraham, the representative of the virtue acquired by learning. The lives of Isaac and Jacob have been lost. The three patriarchs were intended as types of the ideal cosmopolitan condition of the world.
3. "De Josepho", the life of Joseph, intended to show how the wise man must act in the actually existing state.
4. "De Vita Mosis", books i.-iii.; Schürer, l.c. p. 523, combines the three books into two; but, as Massebieau shows (l.c. pp. 42 et seq.), a passage, though hardly an entire book, is missing at the end of the present second book (Wendland, in "Hermes", xxxi. 440). Schürer (l.c. pp. 515, 524) excludes this work here, although he admits that from a literary point of view, it fits into this group, but he considers it foreign to the work in general, since Moses, unlike the Patriarchs, can not be conceived as a universally valid type of moral action, and can not be described as such. The latter point may be admitted. However, the question remains whether it is necessary to consider the matter in this light. It seems most natural to preface the discussion of the law with the biography of the legislator. In contrast, the transition from Joseph to the legislation, from the statesman who has nothing to do with the divine laws to the discussion of these laws themselves, is forced and abrupt. As the perfect man, Moses unites in himself, in a way, all the faculties of the patriarchal types. His is the "most pure mind" ("De Mutatione Nominum", 37 [i. 610]), he is the "lover of virtue", who has been purified from all passions ("De Allegoriis Legum", iii. 45, 48 [i. 113, 115]). As the person awaiting the divine revelation, he is also specially fitted to announce it to others after receiving it in the form of the Commandments (ib. iii. 4 [i. 89 et seq.]).
5. "De Decalogo", the introductory treatise to the chief ten commandments of the Law.
6. "De Specialibus Legibus", in which treatise Philo attempts to systematize the several laws of the Torah and to arrange them in conformity with the Ten Commandments. To the first and second commandments he adds the laws relating to priests and sacrifices; to the third (misuse of the name of God), the laws on oaths, vows, etc.; to the fourth (on the Sabbath), the laws on festivals; to the fifth (to honor father and mother), the laws on respect for parents, old age, etc.; to the sixth, the marriage laws; to the seventh, the civil and criminal laws; to the eighth, the laws on theft; to the ninth, the laws on truthful testifying; and to the tenth, the laws on lust.^[91] The first book includes the following treatises of the current editions: "De Circumcisione"; "De Monarchia", books i. and ii.; "De Sacerdotum Honoribus"; "De Victimis". On the division of the book into these sections, the titles of the latter, and newly found sections of the text, see Schürer, l.c. p. 517; Wendland, l.c. pp. 136 et seq. The second book includes in the editions a section also entitled "De Specialibus Legibus" (ii. 270–277), to which is added the treatise "De Septenario", which is, however, incomplete in Mangey. The greater part of the missing portion was supplied under the title "De Cophini Festo et de Colendis Parentibus" by Mai (1818) and was printed in Richter's edition, v. 48–50, Leipsic, 1828. The complete text of the second book was published by Tischendorf in his "Philonea" (pp. 1–83). The third book is included under the title "De Specialibus Legibus" in ed. Mangey, ii. 299–334. The fourth book also is entitled "De Specialibus Legibus"; to it, the last sections are added under the titles "De Judice" and "De Concupiscentia" in the usual editions, and they include, also, as an appendix, the sections "De Justitia" and "De Creatione Principum".
7. The treatises "De Fortitudine", "De Caritate", and "De Pœnitentia" are a kind of appendix to "De Specialibus Legibus".^[92] combines them into a special book, which, he thinks, was composed by Philo.
8. "De Præmiis et Pœnis" and "De Execratione". On the connection of both ^[93] This is the conclusion of the exposition of the Mosaic law.

This exposition is more exoteric than allegorical and might have been intended for gentile audiences.^[79]

Independent works

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Philo is also credited with writing:^[79]

• Apologies for Judaism, including On the Life of Moses, On the Jews, and On the Contemplative Life.
• Historical works (describing current events in Alexandria and the Roman Empire), including Ad Flaccum and De legatione ad Gaium
• Philosophical works including Every Good Man Is Free, On the Eternity of the World, On Animals, and On Providence, the latter two surviving only through Armenian translation.
• Works now lost, but mentioned by Eusebius of Caesarea.^[94]

1. "On Providence", preserved only in Armenian, and printed from Aucher's Latin translation in the editions of Richter and others (on Greek fragments of the work see Schürer, l.c. pp. 531 et seq.).
2. "De Animalibus" (on the title, see Schürer, l.c. p. 532; in Richter's ed. viii. 101–144).
3. ϓποθετικά ("Counsels"), a work known only through fragments in Eusebius, Præparatio Evangelica, viii. 6, 7. The meaning of the title is open to discussion; it may be identical with the following
4. Περὶ Ἰουδαίων an apology for the Jews (Schürer, l.c. pp. 532 et seq.).

That all good men are free

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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 the partly interpolated passages on the Essenes.

Embassy to Gaius

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See also: Alexandrian riots (38)

Woodcut from Die Schedelsche Weltchronik (Nuremberg Chronicle)

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 the Alexandrian Greeks as the aggressors in the civil strife that had left many Jews and Greeks dead.

Against Flaccus

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In Against Flaccus, Philo describes the situation of the Jews in Egypt, writing that they numbered not less than a million and inhabited two of the five districts in Alexandria. He recounts the abuses of the prefect Aulus Avilius Flaccus, who he says retaliated against the Jews when they refused to worship Caligula as a god.^[95] Daniel Schwartz surmises that given this tense background, it may have been politically convenient for Philo to favor abstract monotheism instead of overt pro-Judeanism.^[6]

Philo considers Caligula's plan to erect a statue of himself in the Second Temple to be a provocation, asking, "Are you making war upon us, because you anticipate that we will not 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 was likely to result from your attempt to introduce these innovations respecting our temple." In his entire presentation, he implicitly supports the Jewish commitment to rebel against the emperor rather than allow such sacrilege to take place.^[96]

This account, consisting initially of five books, has been preserved in fragments only (see Schürer, l.c. pp. 525 et seq.).^[97] Philo intended to show the fearful punishment meted out by God to the persecutors of the Jews (on Philo's predilection for similar discussions see Siegfried, "Philo von Alexandria", p. 157). Philo says he was regarded by his people as having unusual prudence due to his age, education, and knowledge. This indicates that he was already an older man at this time (40 CE).^[96]

On the Contemplative Life

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This work^[98] describes the mode of life and the religious festivals of a society of Jewish ascetics, who, according to the author, are widely scattered over the earth and are found predominantly in every nome in Egypt. The writer, however, confines himself to describing the Therapeutae, a colony of hermits settled on Lake Mareotis in Egypt, where each lives separately in his own dwelling. Six days of the week they spend in pious contemplation, chiefly in connection with Scripture. On the seventh day, both men and women assemble together in a hall, and the leader delivers a discourse consisting of an allegorical interpretation of a scriptural passage. The feast of the fiftieth day is the most celebrated. The ceremony begins with a frugal meal consisting of bread, salted vegetables, and water, during which a passage of Scripture is interpreted. After the meal, the members of the society, in turn, sing religious songs of various kinds, to which the assembly answers with a refrain. The ceremony ends with a choral representation of the triumphal festival Moses and Miriam arranged after the passage through the Red Sea, the voices of the men and the women uniting in a choral symphony until the sun rises. After a common morning prayer, each goes home to resume contemplation. Such is the contemplative life (βίος θεωρητικός) led by these Θεραπευταί ("servants of Yhwh").

The ancient Christian Church regarded these Therapeutæ as disguised Christian monks. This view has found advocates even recently P. E. Lucius's opinion, particularly that the Christian monastery of the third century was here glorified in a Jewish disguise, was widely accepted ("Die Therapeuten", 1879). However, the ritual of the society, which was entirely at variance with Christianity, disproves this view. The chief ceremony, especially the choral representation of the passage through the Red Sea, has no special significance for Christianity, nor have there ever been nocturnal festivals celebrated by men and women together in the Christian Church.^{[citation needed]}

Massebieau ("Revue de l'Histoire des Religions", 1887, xvi. 170 et seq., 284 et seq.), Conybeare ("Philo About the Contemplative Life", Oxford, 1895), and Wendland ("Die Therapeuten", etc., Leipsig, 1896) ascribe the entire work to Philo, basing their argument wholly on linguistic reasons, which seem sufficiently conclusive. However, there are significant dissimilarities between the fundamental conceptions of the author of the "De Vita Contemplativa" and those of Philo. The latter looks upon Greek culture and philosophy as allies, and the former is hostile to Greek philosophy (see Siegfried in "Protestantische Kirchenzeitung", 1896, No.42). He repudiates a science that numbered among Its followers the sacred band of the Pythagoreans, inspired men like Parmenides, Empedocles, Zeno, Cleanthes, Heraclitus, and Plato, whom Philo prized ("Quod Omnis Probus", i., ii.; "Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit", 43; "De Providentia", ii. 42, 48, etc.). He considers the symposium a detestable, common drinking bout. This can not be explained as a Stoic diatribe, for Philo would not have repeated it in this case. And Philo would have been the last to interpret the Platonic Eros in the vulgar way in which it is explained in the "De Vita Contemplativa", 7 (ii. 480), as he repeatedly uses the myth of double man allegorically in his interpretation of Scripture ("De Opificio Mundi", 24; "De Allegoriis Legum", ii. 24). It must furthermore be remembered that Philo in none of his other works mentions these colonies of allegorizing ascetics, in which he would have been highly interested had he known of them. However, pupils of Philo may subsequently have founded similar colonies near Alexandria that endeavored to realize his ideal of a pure life triumphing over the senses and passions, and they might also have been responsible for the one-sided development of certain of the master's principles. While Philo desired to renounce the lusts of this world, he held fast to the scientific culture of Hellenism, which the author of this book denounces. Although Philo liked to withdraw from the world to give himself up entirely to contemplation and bitterly regretted the lack of such repose ("De Specialibus Legibus", 1 [ii. 299]), he did not abandon the work that was required of him by the welfare of his people.

Other works ascribed to Philo

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See also: Pseudo-Philo

• "De Mundo", a collection of extracts from Philo, especially from the preceding work^[99]
• "De Sampsone" and "De Jona", in Armenian, published with Latin translation by Jean-Baptiste Aucher.
• "Interpretatio Hebraicorum Nominum", a collection, by an anonymous Jew, of the Hebrew names occurring in Philo. Origen enlarged it by adding New Testament names, and Jerome revised it. See below for the etymology of names occurring in Philo's exegetical works.^[100]
• A "Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum", which was printed in the sixteenth century and then disappeared, has been discussed by Cohn in "J. Q. R." 1898, x. 277–332. It narrates Biblical history from Adam to Saul^[101]
• The pseudo-Philonic "Breviarium Temporum", published by Annius of Viterbo^[102]

For a list of Philo's lost works, see Schürer, l.c. p. 534.

• "De Incorruptibilitate Mundi". Jakob Bernays has argued convincingly that this work is spurious. Its peripatetic basic idea that the world is eternal and indestructible contradicts all those Jewish teachings that were, for Philo, an indisputable presupposition. Bernays has proved simultaneously that the text has been confused through wrong pagination, and he has cleverly restored it.^[103]

Legacy

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Although Philo was a Jewish Middle Platonist, his influence on both Platonism and Judaism was limited compared to his adaptation by the early Christian Church fathers. His impact on Platonism was mainly restricted to Christian Middle Platonists such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen, and even potential connections to Numenius of Apamea, a 2nd-century CE Middle Platonist who also wrote on Judaism and was influenced by Pythagoreanism, cannot be definitively proven.^[104]

Judaism

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Though never properly attributed, Philo's marriage of Jewish exegesis with Stoicism and Platonism provided a formula later picked up by other Midrash content from the 3rd and 4th centuries. Philo's ideas were further developed by later Judaism in the doctrines of the Divine Word creating the world, the divine throne-chariot and its cherub, the divine splendor and its Shekhinah, the name of God, as well as the names of the angels.^[105]

Some claimed this lack of credit or affinity for Philo by the Rabbinic leadership at the time was due to his adoption of allegorical instead of literal interpretations of the Hebrew Bible. However, this was more likely due to his criticism of Rabbinic scholars,^[106] as Philo argued their works and ideas were "full of Sybaritic profligacy and licentiousness to their everlasting shame",^[107] "eager to give a specious appearance to infamous actions, so as to secure notoriety for disgraceful deeds",^[108] and ultimately, that he "disregards the envious disposition of such men, and shall proceed to narrate the true events of Moses' life," of which he felt were unjustly hidden.^[109]

For a long time, Philo was read and analyzed chiefly by Christian authors. Azariah dei Rossi's Me'or Enayim: Imre Binah (1575), one of the first Jewish commentaries on Philo, describes four "serious defects" of Philo: reading the Torah in Greek, not Hebrew; belief in primordial matter rather than creatio ex nihilo; unbelief in the Lord as evidenced by excessively allegorical interpretation of scripture; and neglect of the Jewish oral tradition. Dei Rossi later gives a possible defense of Philo and writes that he can neither absolve nor convict him.^[110]

List of extant works

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Some 50 works by Philo have survived, and he is known to have written some 20 to 25 further works which have been lost. The following list gives conventional Latin and English titles and abbreviations commonly used in reference works.

Latin title	English title	RGG[111]	Kittel[112]	Stud. Philonica[113]

Editions and translations

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• The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged. Translated by Charles Duke Yonge. 1854–1855.
• Cohn, Leopold & Paul Wendland, Philonis Alexandrini Opera quæ supersunt (The Surviving Works of Philo of Alexandria) [Greek and Latin]. Berlin: George Reimer.
  • Volumes 1–3 (1896, 1897, 1898)
  • Volumes 4–6 (1902, 1906, 1915)
  • Volume 7 (1926; indexed by Hans Leisegang)
• "Index of Philosophical Writings" (PDF). Documenta Catholica Omnia (in Greek). [Online Greek text of Volumes 1-7 above. Under "Graecum - Greco - Greek" section]
• Philo of Alexandria: An Exegete for His Time. by Peder Borgen. Leiden: Brill. 1997. ISBN 9004103880.
• Philo with an English Translation. Vol. 1–10. Translated by F.H. Colson & G.H. Whitaker. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 1929–62.
• Terian, Abraham, ed. (1981). Philonis Alexandrini de animalibus: The Armenian Text with an Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Chico, CA: Scholars Press. ISBN 9780891304722.

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