The Biblical Antiquities of Philo

Philo (20 BC – 50 AD), known also as Philo of Alexandria, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria. Philo used philosophical allegory to fuse and harmonize Greek philosophy and Jewish traditions. His method followed the practices of both Jewish exegesis and Stoic philosophy, but it was not widely accepted. "The sophists of literalness," as he calls them, "opened their eyes superciliously" when he explained to them the marvels of his exegesis. The few biographical details concerning Philo are found in his own works, especially in Legatio ad Gaium ("embassy to Gaius"), and in Josephus.[3] The only event in his life that can be determined chronologically is his participation in the embassy in which the Alexandrian Jews sent to the emperor Caligula at Rome as the result of civil strife between the Alexandrian Jewish and Hellenized communities. This occurred in the year 40 AD.

One work attributed to Philo is The Biblical Antiquities of Philo, an apocryphal story of Biblical history that covers the creation of Adam to the death of Saul. Although Philo is credited as writing it, historians do not believe he actually did so. The Biblical Antiquities of Philo were probably written by another author after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, but all the same the work is considered a valuable record of the state of Jewish belief at the time of its writing.

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