Philo of Alexandria
Also known as Philo Judaeus
20 BCE–50 CE · Zugot · Alexandria
Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE–c. 50 CE) was the foremost Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, who sought to harmonize the Torah with Greek (especially Platonic) thought through allegorical interpretation. Living in Alexandria's great Jewish community, he led its delegation to the emperor Caligula in 40 CE. His voluminous Greek writings shaped later Christian theology, though they left little trace in rabbinic literature.
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AlexandriaEgypt
What they did here
Lived and wrote in Alexandria, the largest Jewish community of the Greco-Roman world, producing his allegorical commentaries on the Torah.
About Alexandria
Alexandria is the main Mediterranean port of northern Egypt and the country's second city. Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, it became the capital of the Ptolemies, whose Museum and Great Library made it the leading centre of Hellenistic learning. It also held one of the largest Jewish communities of antiquity, where the Greek Bible translation known as the Septuagint was produced and Philo wrote. Church tradition traces its patriarchate to Mark the Evangelist, and its catechetical school was led by Clement and Origen. Arab forces under Amr ibn al-As took the city in 641, and it remained a commercial and scholarly hub of the Islamic world; the Sufi master Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari was born there.
Across the traditions, in Alexandria at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Philo of Alexandria’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
- Aenesidemus· Alexandria
- Didymus Alexandrinus· Alexandria
- Strabo· Alexandria
- Aristonicus of Alexandria· Alexandria
- Celsus· Rome
- Valerius Maximus· Rome
- Phaedrus· Rome
- Seneca, Lucius Annaeus· Rome
- Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus· Rome
- Aquila· Rome
- Priscilla· Rome
- Curtius Rufus, Quintus· Rome
- Apollos· Alexandria
- Aelius Theon· Alexandria
- Pliny, the Elder· Rome
- Silius Italicus, Tiberius Catius· Rome
- Petronius Arbiter· Rome
- Musonius Rufus· Rome
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Philo of Alexandria’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Graeco-Roman world
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.