Aristobulus of Alexandria facts for kids

Aristobulus of Alexandria (Greek: Ἀριστόβουλος) was an important Jewish philosopher. He lived a long time ago, around 181 to 124 BC. He is sometimes called Aristobulus the Peripatetic. He tried to mix ideas from ancient Jewish holy texts with ideas from Greek thinkers.

Who Was Aristobulus?

Aristobulus was a Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, a famous city in ancient Egypt. He was part of the Peripatetic school of thought, which followed the ideas of the Greek philosopher Aristotle. However, he also used ideas from other Greek philosophies like Platonism and Pythagoreanism.

His main goal was to show that many important ideas in Greek philosophy actually came from Jewish sources. He believed that famous Greek poets and thinkers, like Homer and Plato, learned much of their wisdom from ancient Jewish sages and writings.

His Writings

Aristobulus wrote a book that was probably called Commentaries on the Writings of Moses. In this book, he tried to connect Greek philosophical ideas with the Jewish religion.

Only small parts of his work have survived. These parts were quoted by other ancient writers like Clement and Eusebius. These quotes help us understand what he believed. For example, he wrote about the time of the Passover festival.

Common Mistakes About Him

Sometimes, people have made mistakes about Aristobulus.

• Not "Aristobulus of Paneas": In some old translations, he was wrongly called "Aristobulus of Paneas." This was a mistake in translation. The original Greek phrase meant "the Great," not a place name.
• Not a Septuagint Translator: Some people also mistakenly thought he was one of the 70 priests who translated the Old Testament into Greek. This translation is called the Septuagint. However, Aristobulus lived much later than when the Septuagint was created.

Aristobulus worked hard to show that early Greek philosophers got many of their ideas from ancient Jewish writings, especially those of Moses.

Category:Jewish philosophersCategory:Jews of Ptolemaic AlexandriaCategory:Hellenistic Jewish writersHere is how to decide which category to use on biographical articles:

• If a reliable source gives the person's year of death, use a category such as Category:2025 deaths
• If the person was born more than 115 years ago:
  • If a reliable source says that the person's year of death is unknown, use Category:Year of death unknown
  • If no such source can be found, use Category:Year of death missing
• If the person was born more than 90 years ago but less than 115 years ago:
  • If a reliable source shows that the person was alive at any time during the last ten years, use Category:Living people
  • If no such source can be found, use Category:Possibly living peopleCategory:Hellenistic-era philosophers

See also

In Spanish: Aristóbulo para niños