Biblical Ladies in Roman Garb

This chapter addresses Philo's refashioning of the biblical women in the Exposition of the Law, which differs significantly from his interpretation of them in Allegorical Commentary. They no longer symbolize the dangerous body with its passions, best to be left behind, but rather have become exemplary wives, mothers, and daughters who play an active role in the history of Israel. This dramatic change of perspective can be explained in terms of Philo's move from Alexandria to Rome. While gender issues were not discussed in the philosophical circles of his home city, he later encountered lively philosophical discussions in Rome on the role of women in society. His new image of the biblical women in the Exposition closely corresponds to his view of the Roman empress Livia, whose clear-sightedness, strength, and loyalty he appreciates. The biblical women likewise become real historical figures whom Philo interprets sympathetically from within.

Power, Exile, and Religion in the Roman Empire

This chapter examines how Philo emerged as a central author in the discourse on power, exile, and religion in first-century Rome. Highly aware of the tyrannical features of Claudius's rule, he develops a sophisticated language of projecting criticism onto Claudius's predecessor Gaius. Like his contemporary Seneca, Philo connects the loss of power—namely, exile—with philosophy, suggesting that it is a space for reasserting and refashioning one's identity. Close parallels appear between the Roman version of exile, exemplified by Flaccus, and the Jewish version of exile, exemplified by the Alexandrian Jews during the pogrom in their city. Within this distinctly Roman context, Philo develops a fascinating new notion of Judaism, which he defines by nobility of mind, the Jerusalem Temple, urbanity, and civic virtues. This dramatic refashioning of Judaism has significant implications for early Christianity and subsequent Greek authors in the Roman Empire.

Roman Philosophy and the Jews

This chapter details how Philo integrates the Jews into his philosophical treatises, which are of lively interest in Rome, where they had been discussed since Cicero. The Jews are moreover inscribed into contemporary discourses and presented as philosophers who live by both their ancestral tradition and the values of Roman Stoicism. The Jews are distinguished now from the Greeks and described by Roman notions. Indeed, Philo has speedily integrated into Roman culture, which he encountered during the embassy, and shown an exceptional intellectual curiosity. Philo's achievement is impressive, as he offers the first extant Roman interpretation of Judaism. Moreover, Philo's philosophy in his later treatises has implications for early Christianity, which turns in the mid-second century to philosophy in a Roman mode.

Stoic Ethics in the Service of Jewish Law

This chapter shows how Philo's exposition of Mosaic law is motivated by the apologetic need to counter Apion's slanders and persuade a broader Roman audience of the value of Jewish customs. Confronted with harsh criticism of the Jewish religion, which has immediate political implications for his embassy to Gaius, Philo devotes several treatises to the Decalogue and the special laws, which hardly interested him in his early Alexandrian period. He engages typically Stoic notions, using them not only as general gestures, as he did at the beginning of his career, but accepting the fundamental ethical principles of the school most popular in Rome. Philo also appeals to the realia of Roman feasts and law to explain the Jewish tradition in an understandable way. Ultimately, Philo's philosophical interpretation of Mosaic law offers an enlightened form of ethnicity.

Character and History in the Lives of the Biblical Forefathers

This chapter looks at the tree extant Lives of Moses, Joseph, and Abraham, also taking into account what Philo says about the lost Lives of Isaac and Jacob. Philo's biographical interests are connected to politics. Drawn out of his scholarly lifestyle in Alexandria by the riots of 38 CE, Philo becomes actively involved in the events of his time and writes historical treatises with an emphasis on influential actors and their lives. His decision to write the Lives of the biblical forefathers belongs to the same political context. He wrote the biographies of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses during roughly the same period as the historical works, and they are characterized by a similar style of writing. At the same time, however, the Lives of the biblical forefathers extend beyond narrow political apologetics and convey a broader picture of Judaism.

Creation Theology and Monotheism

This chapter focuses on Philo's creation theology and monotheism. Philo plays an important role in the emergence of a monotheistic creed among Second Temple Jews. Probably coining the term “polytheistic doctrine,” Philo grounds his argument in the biblical creation account. The creation is so central to his approach that he opens the Exposition of the Law with a special treatise devoted to it, which is followed by the biographies of the patriarchs and four books on biblical law. Most notably, Philo presents the creation as one of the three overall categories of the Bible, next to the historical narratives and the laws. Thus, one biblical chapter, Genesis, receives exceptional emphasis, much beyond its original place, and becomes a source of theological principles. The chapter then examines whether and, if so, how Philo's detailed interpretation of the creation was inspired by Roman discourses.

Stoicism: Rejected, Subverted, and Advocated

This chapter describes how Philo expresses a highly complex attitude toward Stoicism that involves an explicit rejection of the materialism of this school, creative subversion of Stoics' ethical theories, and a whole-hearted appreciation of its more religious tenets. While expecting his readers to know some Stoic terms, such as oikeiosis, he does not assume that they will care much about their precise meanings. Instead of discussing such terms in detail, Philo refers to them in a general manner, using them in idiosyncratic and often Platonic ways. Given his ambivalence toward basic Stoic tenets, it is remarkable that Philo realized the attraction and emotional appeal of Stoicism as a young man in the predominantly Platonic environment of Alexandria.

An Utterly Transcendent God and His Logos

This chapter details how, in the Allegorical Commentary, Philo develops a theology that significantly differs from his position in the Exposition, where he elevates the creation to a Jewish dogma. At the beginning of his career he intensively engaged the discourses of his hometown Alexandria and adopted a typical orientation toward Platonism and Pythagoreanism with their characteristic emphasis on transcendence. He developed these ideas further than his predecessors and formulated for the first time a negative theology that posits an unknowable God beyond good and evil. Philo also interprets the Jewish Scriptures creatively and develops a theory of the Logos as an intermediary figure that permits human beings to approach the divine realm without compromising God. Many of Philo's ideas subsequently resurface in Gnostic and Platonic authors, who may have been inspired by him, as many of them hailed from Alexandria.

Epilogue: Philo at the Crossroads of Judaism, Hellenism, and Christianity

This epilogue argues that Philo's biography illuminates crucial developments in the first centuries of the Common Era. The effect of Rome on his personality and thought shows similar phenomena in Greek culture and early Christianity. In both of these subcultures one sees a clear division between authors who were oriented toward Rome and those who turned their backs on Roman fashions. Moreover, Philo's biography provides a better understanding of the development of Judaism from the Second Temple period to the rabbinic movement. He illustrates a form of Judaism that positioned itself within the general culture, embracing new historical and cultural developments in the world rather than opposing them. The rabbis who assumed leadership after the destruction of the Second Temple and the demise of numerous apocalyptic movements also worked largely in cooperation with Rome and engaged both Roman and Greek discourses.

A Platonic Self

This chapter examines the contours of the self in Philo's Allegorical Commentary. Throughout the Allegorical Commentary, Philo is concerned with the human self, introducing to Judaism a new language of introspection and spirituality. Interpreting the book of Genesis allegorically, he leads the reader from the concrete figures of the Bible to the intricacies of the human soul. The aim is to know oneself and the ethereal realities that cannot be grasped by the senses. Philo himself is turned inward, observing the struggle of his soul between material and rational elements. He neither reflects yet upon himself as an author in the text nor shares experiences from life in the world. The center of his ethics is God, whom humanity is called to imitate. This upward view to real values transcends the world and disconnects the individual from society.