Philo Judaeus

Philo Judaeus. Philosopher.

He was born into one of the noblest and wealthiest Jewish families in Alexandria and was brought up with a Jewish and Hellenistic education. His brother, Alexander, rose to be a high official in the Roman administration of Egypt whose son left Judaism and was a leading Roman general and procurator of Judea, 46-48 CE and prefect of Egypt under Nero. Little is known of Philo's life. He devoted himself to his studies and writings. The one known episode occurred in 40 CE when he was asked to head a Jewish delegation to the emperor Caligula in Rome to appeal to him to cancel an edict setting up his statue in the Jerusalem temple. The mission was unsuccessful but the issue was solved when Caligula was assassinated the following year. Philo was the first Jewish philosopher of note, writing a series of books in Greek to reconcile Platonism with Judaism. He did this by laregly allegorical interpretations of the Bible. Although his writings were soon forgotten among Jews (to be rediscovered in the Renaissance period), they had a great influence on the Church fathers.