Gentile Ridicule and Reasons for Circumcision

Philo

On the Special Laws 1.2–11

First Half of 1st Century

Now the practice which is thus ridiculed, namely the circumcision of the genital organs, is very zealously observed by many other nations, particularly by the Egyptians, a race regarded as pre-eminent for its populousness, its antiquity and its attachment to philosophy. And therefore it would be well for the detractors to desist from childish…

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In this passage, Philo defends the practice of circumcision to its detractors, offering four reasons for circumcision that he attributes to wise men who preceded him and two additional explanations of his own. He posits that circumcision serves as a twofold symbol: of harnessing one’s pleasures and of minimizing one’s ego.

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