Philo of Alexandria: An Intellectual Biography

298 Pages·2018·1.99 MB·English

by  Maren R. Niehoff

Philo of Alexandria
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THE ANCHOR YALE BIBLE REFERENCE LIBRARY
Philo of Alexandria
An Intellectual Biography
MAREN R. NIEHOFF
Yale UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my parents, Ulla and Gerd Niehoff,
my husband, Udi Rosenthal,
and my daughters, Maya, Ayana, and Stav,
with much love and gratitude
In memory of
Tamar Rosenthal, my mother-in-law,
who welcomed me warmly into the family and encouraged my work
Contents
Acknowledgments
1. An Intellectual Biography of Philo?
PART ONE: PHILO AS AMBASSADOR AND AUTHOR IN ROME
2. Philo’s Self-Fashioning in the Historical Writings
3. Power, Exile, and Religion in the Roman Empire
4. Roman Philosophy and the Jews
PART TWO: PHILO’S EXPOSITION IN A ROMAN CONTEXT
5. Creation Theology and Monotheism
6. Character and History in the Lives of the Biblical Forefathers
7. Biblical Ladies in Roman Garb
8. Stoic Ethics in the Service of Jewish Law
PART THREE: YOUNG PHILO AMONG ALEXANDRIAN JEWS
9. Biblical Commentary
10. A Platonic Self
11. An Utterly Transcendent God and His Logos
12. Stoicism: Rejected, Subverted, and Advocated
Epilogue: Philo at the Crossroads of Judaism, Hellenism, and Christianity
Appendix 1: Philo’s Dates and Works
Appendix 2: Did Philo Write an Allegorical Commentary on Genesis Chapter 1?
Notes
Bibliography
General Index
Index of Ancient Sources
Acknowledgments
This book had its beginning at a conversation with John Collins after I gave a
lecture at Yale University in 2010. At that time the idea of writing an intellectual
biography of Philo was still rather vague, and I am grateful to John for
encouraging and accompanying me with singular grace and prudence. John also
edited the manuscript, offering invaluable comments. Heather Gold and her team
at Yale University Press promoted the production with remarkable efficiency
and professionalism, rendering the preparation of the book a real pleasure.
Special thanks to Jessie Dolch for her meticulous copy-editing, always in an
enthusiastic spirit, and to Mary Pasti.
I have been accompanied on this journey by old and new friends who
encouraged me and significantly contributed to this book. Margalit Finkelberg
read all the chapters and the revised versions of some chapters with a rare
combination of empathy, wisdom, and criticism. Yehuda Liebes offered
insightful comments on several chapters and read with me Philo’s tractate On the
Migration of Abraham, thus enriching my understanding of his exegesis. Miriam
Griffin read all the Roman chapters with utmost care and provided numerous
precious comments. René Bloch, Albert Harill, Adele Yarbo Collins, and Tim
Whitmarsh offered helpful comments on individual chapters. Two anonymous
readers for Yale University Press offered constructive comments that
considerably improved the final version of the manuscript. More generally, I
thank Judith Green for hosting and guiding a reading group in Greek literature
that covered, during the gestation of the book, Aurelius’s Meditations and
Philostratus’s Life of Apollonius.
My work on the book has tremendously benefited from discussions following
lectures. I recall with special gratitude the invitation by Peter Schäfer to
Princeton (2008), by Carlos Lévy and Philippe Hoffman to Paris (2010), by
Steven Fraade to Yale (2010), by Francesca Calabi to Milan (2011), by Teresa
Morgan to Oxford (2013), by Richard Faber and Achim Lichtenberger to
Bochum (2013), by Hindy Najman to Yale (2014), by Laura Nasrallah and
Shaye Cohen to Harvard (2014), by Jörg Rüpke and Eve-Marie Becker to Erfurt
(2015), by Hermut Löhr to Münster (2015), by Winrich Löhr to Heidelberg
(2016), and by Ciliers Breytenbach to Berlin (2016). I have also benefited from
the astute questions of my students, in both the Department of Jewish Thought
and the Amirim Honors Program in the Humanities at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem.
The research for this book was generously supported by the ISRAEL
SCIENCE FOUNDATION (grant no. 186/11) and a grant from the
Niedersachsen-Israeli Research Cooperation Program (together with Reinhard
Feldmeier). Rami Schwartz helped me acquire literature and compile the
bibliography. Tom Sela prepared the index. Both foundations also supported an
inter national conference in Jerusalem, “Journeys in the Roman East: Imagined
and Real,” that illuminated the wider context of Philo’s journey to Rome
(ISRAEL SCIENCE FOUNDATION grant no. 2178/15). My sabbatical leave
from the Hebrew University in 2013–2014, which I spent in Jerusalem, provided
precious time to engage in undistracted work.
Thanks to Rina Talgam, my colleague in the Department of Art History, for
suggesting the cover image, which is taken from the Ara Pacis Augustae, an
altar Augustus consecrated in Rome. The southern wall of the altar depicts
several groups from the imperial family, including the detail on the cover, which
most likely presents the prince Drusus in conversation with his wife, Antonia.
This scene expresses Augustus’s ideal of the Roman couple as well as the status
of the mother and wife in Roman culture. When Philo visited Rome as an
ambassador, he probably saw this altar and perhaps even appreciated this
particular scene. He certainly adopted the Augustan ideal of marital union. It is
thus more than appropriate that this image should decorate his biography.
Thanks also to Roi Sabar from the Archeology Department for providing a high-
quality photograph.
The book is based on some materials that have been previously published and
substantially revised. Chapter 5 is based on the article “The Emergence of
Monotheistic Creation Theology,” in In the Beginning: Jewish and Christian
Cosmogony in Late Antiquity, ed. L. Jenott and S. Kattan Gribetz (Tübingen:
Mohr Siebeck, 2013), 85–106; chapter 6 is based on two articles: “Philo and
Plutarch as Biographers: Parallel Reactions to Roman Stoicism,” Greek, Roman,
and Byzantine Studies 52 (2012): 361–92; and “The Roman Context of Philo’s
Exposition,” Studia Philonica Annual 23 (2011): 1–21. Chapter 3 contains a
passage based on the article “‘The Power of Ares’ in Philo’s Legatio,” in
Pouvoir et puissances chez Philon d’Alexandrie, ed. F. Calabi, O. Munnich, G.
Reydams-Schils, and E. Vimercati (Turnhout: Brepols, 2016), 129–39. Chapter 4
contains a passage based on the article “The Symposium of Philo’s Therapeutae:
Displaying Jewish Identity in an Increasingly Roman World,” Greek, Roman,
and Byzantine Studies 50 (2010): 95–117. I thank all the editors for their kind
permission to reuse the materials in this book.
This book is dedicated to my family. My parents have followed my work with
great interest, making valiant efforts to get to know the Jewish tradition. My
husband, Udi, has enthusiastically supported my work, even during times of
physical ailment, and provided a most loving anchor to my life. My daughters
have in the meantime grown up and become wonderful conversation partners,
mostly on topics unconnected to Philo.