Philo of Alexandria
Connecting different networks in times of conflict
Philo of Alexandria was a Jewish theologian who lived from 15-10 BCE until 45-50 CE in Alexandria, a city in Egypt with a Greek culture. He was linked to many different cultural and social networks. During his lifetime great political tensions between these networks occurred, which made it problematic to remain loyal to all of them. Using Harrison White’s theory of stories, I investigate whether Philo of Alexandria was able to resolve these tensions for himself.
The Jews in Alexandria
Until it became part of the Roman Empire in 31 BCE, Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty. This was one of the Greek dynasties established in the eastern Mediterranean after the conquests of Alexander the Great. Alexandria, the capital of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, had been founded by Alexander and was considered a ‘Greek’ city. It was one of the most important cultural centres in the ancient world. The reputation of its library is still well known today.
Alexandria had also for a long time been home to a large Jewish community. Its elite had taken over many aspects of the Greek culture. The question whether Jews possessed Alexandrian citizenship has been much debated among historians. A few Jewish individuals did, but many historians now believe that the position of the majority differed from that of Greek citizens.[1] The Jews probably formed a separate community with its own privileges and a degree of autonomy. When Egypt came in Roman hands, questions of citizenship and ethnicity became very important. Originally, people of all etnicities had lived diffused throughout the whole country. Under the new system, only citizens of Alexandria and two other cities were counted as Greeks. They were treated as an elite, above ‘common’ Egyptians. Alexandrian Greeks were already dissatisfied because their social standing deteriorated under Roman rule. They became protective of the distinction that was left them and wished to keep it exclusively for ‘true’ Greeks. |
A lot of this frustation was directed at the Jews, who had supported the Romans from early on. During the early years of Roman rule there was an explosion of anti-Jewish propaganda. An important complaint was the fact that Jews refused to take part in the cults of the city and the Empire. Their monotheistic religionn forbade them to participate, but for the Greeks religion was an essential part of politics and community: exclusion from one should mean exclusion from the other. Two crises In the year 38 CE, these political tensions resulted in bloody riots. The works of the Jewish Philo of Alexandria are our only sources for the events. According to him, the Greeks felt they had nothing to fear from the emperor Gaius, who resented the Jews because they refused to worship him as a god. The governor, a puppet of the Greeks, issued a decree saying that the Jews were aliens in the city. They were chased out of their homes and forced into a small quarter, where many died of disease and poverty. Those who left it were horribly murdered. Greeks entered the synagogues and put up statues of the emperor. Jewish ambassadors, among them Philo of Alexandria, went to the emperor to complain about the situation. In Rome they heard of a new calamity for the Jewish people: Gaius’ plan to place a statue of himself in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, the heart of their religion. |
A 3D reconstruction of Alexandria in the Ptolemaic Period. Created by Ancientvine Studios.
Research Question: Philo's networks
Philo’s family was rich and influential. His brother was a tradesman who acted as a trustperson for a member of the Roman imperial family. He had made a large donation to the Temple in Jerusalem. Philo’s nephew gave up the Jewish faith. He entered the Roman service and twice played a large role in the suppression of Jewish revolts.
These details, and the fact that he was an ambassador to Gaius, are about the only things we know about Philo’s personal life. Because of this, we cannot create an actual social network of all the individuals with whom he was directly or indirectly connected. |
For my research, I have instead examined Philo’s works for traces of the way he imagined the world around him. With what groups did he identify? Did he regard the shocking events he had experienced as conflicts between these groups? I made use of Harrison White’s theory of the role of stories within networks. According to White, participants in a network form stories to make sense of how these networks work. On a higher level are overarching institutions. These are value systems that determine which stories can be constructed and are valid. Examples of institutions are a religion or an academic environment. |
Traces of networks in Philo’s worksThe works Philo has left us are almost all theological and philosophical. Two of them are historical; they describe the riots in Alexandria and the experiences of the Jewish ambassadors in Rome. These texts seem to be intended for a mixed audience: in some parts Philo explains Jewish customs and ideas as if to outsiders, but his frequent allusions to the role of providence in history seem intended for a Jewish audience.
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In his theological work, Philo interprets biblical stories allegorically. For example, in his view Cain and Abel symbolise two different parts of the soul of man. The theological texts are intended for different audiences. Some explain Judaism to outsiders, some assume a basic knowledge of the Scripture, some assume familiarity with complex theological issues. How then, are in these texts networks represented? |
The Romans
Philo repeatedly stresses how Roman rulers have always treated the Jewish people with respect and sometimes even with admiration. Those who don’t, like Gaius, eventually reach a sorry end. The Greeks Interestingly, when Philo talks of the inhabitants of Alexandria that perpetrated the attacks on the Jews, he never calls them ‘Greeks’. Often he uses ‘Egyptian’, a word normally used for the indigenous people of low status, sometimes ‘Alexandrians’. When Philo does use the word ‘Greek’, it is always in a positive context. For example, he praises emperor Augustus because he spread the Greek culture. Philo was much influenced by Greek philosophy and acknowledges this. He expresses great admiration for Socrates. The daily life in a Greek city also finds its way into his theological works: he often uses metaphors based on Greek sports and the organisation of the gymnasium. The Jews From Philo’s theological texts we can gather he was part of a lively academic tradition. He criticises persons who take biblical stories too literally, persons who go so far in their allegorical interpretation that they no longer deem it necessary to observe all religious laws, and persons who ‘mock’ the Scripture. This last group was, according to Maren Niehoff, influenced by the Greek study of the Homeric epics. Both use the same methods, such as placing texts in their historical context and comparing the stories to other known myths. In his historical texts, Philo paints the picture of a much more unanimous Jewish people. All Jews are desperate when the sanctity of their Temple is in danger of being violated. Furthermore, they would rather die than see “any of their national or hereditary customs to be destroyed, even if it were of the most trivial character”.[2] The Jews are mostly peaceful, but they are brave and numerous. |
Conclusion
Philo of Alexandria experienced many threats to the Jews. However, he did not draw the conclusion that these conflicts were caused by an incompatibility between the Jewish network and the Greek and Roman networks, of which he also was part. He was able to maintain his connection with these different networks by creating, in White’s words, a story: the Greeks who threatened the Jews were not really Greeks and the Romans who threatened the Jews were disgraceful Romans.
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[1] Pieter Willem van der Horst, Philo's Flaccus: The First Pogrom: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Boston: Brill, 2003), 22.
[2] Philo, Legatio ad Gaium, 45.
[2] Philo, Legatio ad Gaium, 45.
Primary Sources Philo. De Providentia. Philo. De sacrificiis Abelis et Caini. Philo. In Flaccum. Philo. Legatio ad Gaium. English translations of all of Philo's works can be read here. |
Further Reading Horst, Pieter Willem van der. Philo's Flaccus: The First Pogrom: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Boston: Brill, 2003. Kasher, Aryeh. The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt: The Struggle for Equal Rights. Tübingen: Mohr, 1985. Niehoff, Maren R. Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarschip in Alexandria. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Mohr, John W en Harrison White. “How to Model an Institution.” Theory and Society 37, no. 5 (oktober 2008): 485-512. Schwartz, Daniël R. “Philo, his Family and his Times.” In The Cambridge Companion to Philo, ed. Adam Kamesar, 9-31. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. |
Image used: the oldest surviving Greek manuscript of Philo's works, dating from the eleventh century. Older manuscripts in Armenian have been found.
Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, no. gr. 435. From: Abraham Terian, "If the works of Philo had been newly discovered today," The Biblical Archeologist 57, no 2 (june 1994): 87.
Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, no. gr. 435. From: Abraham Terian, "If the works of Philo had been newly discovered today," The Biblical Archeologist 57, no 2 (june 1994): 87.