Creator Bio
Philo
ca. 25 BCE–ca. 40
Philo of Alexandria was one of the most important figures in Hellenistic Judaism and a significant influence on early Christianity. Raised in a wealthy Jewish family and educated in Greek rhetoric and logic, Philo served as a delegate to Rome on behalf of the Jewish community of Alexandria. Most innovative among his writings are his commentaries on the Pentateuch, which approach the text allegorically and employ various Platonic perspectives in their interpretations. Philo appears to have had only minimal exposure to the Hebrew and likely relied on the Septuagint and synagogue orations on the biblical texts.
Content by Philo
Primary Source
Background to the Riots in Alexandria
Against Flaccus 25–32, 36–44
His [Flaccus’] insanity, which was due to instruction from others rather than to his own nature, was further aggravated by the following incident…
Primary Source
Riots in Alexandria, 38 CE
Against Flaccus 45–75 (selections)
For it was more than clear that the rumor of the destruction of the synagogues that started in…
Primary Source
Jewish Colonies in Babylonia and Its Environs
On the Embassy to Gaius 282–283
And not only are the mainlands full of Jewish colonies but also the most highly esteemed of the islands Euboea, Cyprus, Crete. I say nothing of the countries beyond the Euphrates, for except for a…
Primary Source
Philo on the Therapeutae
On the Contemplative Life 2–88 (selections)
The practice of these philosophers is shown at once by their designation, for they are appropriately called…
Primary Source
Simplicity, Pacifism, and Virtue
That Every Good Person Is Free 12.75–87
Palestinian Syria, too, has not failed to produce high moral excellence. In this country live a considerable part of the very populous nation of the Jews, including as it is said, certain persons…
Primary Source
Philo on the Jewish Settlement of Alexandria
Against Flaccus 43–56, 73–74
What then did the governor of the country do? He knew that the city, as the rest of Egypt, has two kinds of inhabitants, us and them, and that…
Primary Source
Roman Jews Send Offerings to Jerusalem
On the Embassy to Gaius 155–158
He was aware that the great section of Rome on the other side of the Tiber is occupied and inhabited by Jews, most of whom were Roman citizens emancipated. For having been brought as captives to Italy…
Primary Source
Philo Recounts the Translation of the Septuagint
On the Life of Moses 2.26–41
In ancient times the laws were written in the Chaldean tongue, and remained in that form for many years, without any change of language, so long as they had not yet revealed their beauty to the rest…
Primary Source
The Universe as a Temple
On the Special Laws 1.66–67
The highest, and in the truest sense the holy, temple of God is, as we must believe, the whole universe, having for its sanctuary the most sacred part of all existence, even heaven, for its votive…
Primary Source
Philo on the Symbolism of the Tabernacle
On the Life of Moses 2.102–124 (selections)
The candlestick he placed at the south, figuring thereby the movements of the luminaries above; for the sun and the moon and the…
Primary Source
Philo on Offering Firstfruits
On the Special Laws 2.215–222
But besides these we have what is not a feast, but is a general ceremony of a festal character called the Basket, a name which describes what takes place, as we shall shortly shew. That it has not the…
Primary Source
Philo on the Barley Offering
On the Special Laws 2.162–164, 170–175
But within the feast there is another feast following directly after the first day. This is called the “Sheaf,” a name given to it…
Primary Source
Symbolism of the Different Sacrifices
On the Special Laws 1.190–243
The general sacrifices in the form of burnt-offerings performed on behalf of the nation or, to speak more correctly, on behalf of the human race, have now been described to the best of my ability. But…
Primary Source
Symbolism of the Daily Offerings
Who Is the Heir of Divine Things 174, 196–200
To pass to a different matter, you find the same division into equal parts in the permanent sacrifices, both in the oblation of fine flour…
Primary Source
Philo on the Showbread
On the Special Laws 1.172–175
But on each seventh day loaves are exposed on the holy table equal in number to the months of the year in two layers of six each, each layer corresponding to the equinoxes. For there are two equinoxes…
Primary Source
The Half Shekel as Ransom for the Soul
Who Is the Heir of Divine Things 186
And was not the consecrated didrachmon portioned out on the same principle? We are meant to consecrate one half of it, the drachma, and pay it as ransom for our own soul (Ex. xxx. 12, 13), which God…
Primary Source
Philo on the Jews’ Permission to Collect the Temple Tax
On the Embassy to Gaius 314–316
But there is one letter which I subjoin here to convince you, my lord and master, sent by Gaius Norbanus Flaccus declaring what Caesar had written to him. Here is a transcript of this letter. ‘Gaius…
Primary Source
The High Priest as Priest of the World
On the Special Laws 1.97
There is also a third truth symbolized by the holy vesture which must not be passed over in silence. Among the other nations the priests are accustomed to offer prayers and sacrifices for their…
Primary Source
Houses of Prayer and Meeting
On the Embassy to Gaius 155–156
He was aware that the great section of Rome on the other side of the Tiber is occupied and inhabited by Jews, most of whom were Roman citizens emancipated. For having been brought as captives to Italy…
Primary Source
Philo on the Weekly Reading of Scripture
Hypothetica 7.12–13
He required them to assemble in the same place on these seventh days, and sitting together in a respectful and orderly manner hear the laws read so that none should be ignorant of them.…
Primary Source
Essenes Gather to Read Scripture
That Every Good Person Is Free 12.81–83
In these they are instructed at all other times, but particularly on the seventh days. For that day has been set apart to be kept holy and on it they abstain from all other work and proceed to sacred…
Primary Source
Schools of Temperance and Justice
On the Embassy to Gaius 311–312
While I have a great abundance of evidence to show the wishes of your great-grandfather Augustus I will content myself with two examples. The first is a letter which he sent to the governors of the…
Primary Source
A Place to Study Virtue
On the Life of Moses 2.215–216
For it was customary on every day when opportunity offered, and pre-eminently on the seventh day, as I have explained above, to pursue the study of wisdom with the ruler expounding and instructing the…
Primary Source
Philo on Soul and Body
On Husbandry 5.20–25
It is for this reason that Moses, the all-wise, ascribes to the righteous man soul-husbandry as a science in keeping with him and rightly pertaining to him, saying “Noah began to be a husbandman,”…
Primary Source
Attendance at Festivals
On the Special Laws 1.67–70
Further, he does not consent to those who wish to perform the rites in their houses, but bids them rise up from the ends of the earth and come to this temple. In this way he also applies the severest…
Primary Source
Philo’s Explanation of Passover
On the Special Laws 2.145–161
This symbolic explanation of Passover by the ancient Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria draws on Stoicism and Middle Platonism.
Primary Source
Philo’s Explanation of Shavuot
On the Special Laws 2.176–187 (selections)
The festival of the Sheaf, which has all these grounds of precedence, indicated in the law, is also in fact anticipatory of another greater feast. For it is from it that the fiftieth day is reckoned…
Primary Source
Philo’s Explanation of Sukkot
On the Special Laws 2.204–211, 213–214
The last of the annual feasts, called Tabernacles, recurs at the autumn equinox. From this we may draw two morals. The first is, that we should honour equality and hate inequality, for the former is…
Primary Source
Philo’s Explanation of Rosh Hashanah
On the Special Laws 2.188–192
Next comes the opening of the sacred month, when it is customary to sound the trumpet in the temple at the same time that the sacrifices are brought there, and its name of “trumpet feast” is derived…
Primary Source
Philo’s Explanation of Yom Kippur
On the Special Laws 2.193–203
The next feast held after the “Trumpets” is the Fast. Perhaps some of the perversely minded who are not ashamed to censure things excellent will say, What sort of a feast is this in which there are no…
Primary Source
In Defense of the Sabbath
On the Special Laws 2.56–64
After this continuous unbroken feast which has neither beginning nor end, the second to be observed is the sacred seventh day, recurring with six days between. Some have given to it the name of virgin…
Primary Source
Gentile Ridicule and Reasons for Circumcision
On the Special Laws 1.2–11
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…
Primary Source
Disputed Virginity
On the Special Laws 3.80–82
For these people the law lays down as follows: In the case of persons who take maidens in lawful matrimony and have celebrated the bridal sacrifices and feasts, but retain no conjugal affection for…
Primary Source
Abraham’s Return to His Ancestors
Questions and Answers on Genesis 3.11
What is the meaning of: But you shall go to your fathers in peace, being nourished in a fair old age (Genesis 15:15)?He here clearly indicates the incorruptibility of the soul: when it transfers…
Primary Source
Philo on Abraham
On Abraham 60–63, 66–67
Abraham, then, filled with zeal for piety, the highest and greatest of virtues, was eager to follow God and to be obedient to His…
Primary Source
Sarah and Hagar as Soul and Body
Questions and Answers on Genesis 3.19–21
19. (Gen. xvi. 1) What is the meaning of the words, “And she had an Egyptian maidservant, whose name was Hagar”?
“Hagar” is interpreted as “sojourning,” and she is a servant…
Primary Source
Philo on Moses
On the Life of Moses 1.5–44 (selections)
I will begin with what is necessarily the right place to begin. Moses was by race a Chaldean, but was born and reared in Egypt, as his ancestors had migrated thither to seek food with their whole…
Primary Source
Philo on Separation from Non-Jews
On the Special Laws 3.29
But also, he says, do not enter into the partnership of marriage with a member of a foreign nation, lest some day conquered by the forces of opposing customs you surrender and stray unawares from the…
Primary Source
The Sojourner as One Who Honors God
Questions and Answers on Exodus 2.2
Why does (Scripture) in admonishing, “Thou shalt not oppress a sojourner,” add, “For ye were sojourners in the land of the Egyptians”?(Scripture) first makes it clearly apparent and demonstrable that…
Primary Source
Philo on Converts
On the Special Laws 1.51
[A]ll who spurn idle fables and embrace truth in its purity, whether they have been such from the first or through conversion to the better side have reached that higher state, obtain His approval…
Related Guide
Related Guide
Parthian and Sasanian Iran in History and Memory
1st–6th Centuries
Related Guide
Early Jewish Diaspora Communities: Alexandria
2nd Century BCE–1st Century CE
Related Guide
Hellenistic and Rabbinic Moral Psychology
1st–6th Centuries
Related Guide
Death and the Next World in Ancient Judaism
4th Century BCE–6th Century CE
Related Guide
Visiting the Second Temple in Jerusalem
Mid-5th Century BCE–2nd Century CE
Related Guide
The Temple Tax: A Half-Shekel to Support the Second Temple
1st–3rd Centuries
Related Guide
Reading of Scripture and Prayer in the Early Synagogue
1st–6th Centuries
Related Guide
The Early Synagogue: Where Scripture Is Read
1st–6th Centuries
Related Guide
Real and Imagined "Others" in Ancient Jewish Literature
4th Century BCE–6th Century CE