Philo of Alexandria facts for kids

Philo Judaeus, also known as Philo of Alexandria, was a Jewish philosopher. He lived a long time ago, from about 20 BC to 50 AD. Philo wanted to show that the Torah (Jewish holy texts) and Greek philosophy actually agreed with each other. He used a method called allegory to do this. Allegory means finding hidden meanings in stories.

In 38 AD, Philo was one of many Egyptian Jews who met with the Roman Emperor Caligula. Philo even wrote a book about this important meeting.

Philo's Early Life

Philo's family had a special connection to Rome. Either his father or his grandfather became a Roman citizen. This happened because of a decision made by the famous Roman leader Julius Caesar.

Philo traveled to the Second Temple in Jerusalem at least once. This was a very important place for Jews. Philo lived at the same time as Jesus.

Meeting Emperor Caligula

When Philo lived in Alexandria, Egypt, the Jews there were treated badly by the Greeks. The Roman ruler of Egypt, Aulis Avilius Flaccus, made things worse. He treated the Jews unfairly because they refused to worship Emperor Caligula as a god.

Philo wrote a book called Against Flaccus. In this book, he strongly criticized Flaccus for his actions.

Philo was chosen to go to Rome with other Jews. Their mission was to convince Caligula not to put a giant statue of himself inside the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The Jews believed this would be a terrible sin. They warned that if Caligula did this, the Jews would rebel against him.

Philo wrote another book about this trip. It was called Legatio ad Gaium, which means "The Embassy to Gaius." Gaius was Caligula's real first name.

What Josephus Said

A Jewish historian named Josephus also wrote about Philo. In his book The Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus said that Philo was the brother of Alexander. Alexander was a Jewish tax collector appointed by the Romans.

Josephus wrote that the Jews refused to worship Caligula, even though he ordered them to. Philo believed the Jews were right. He thought worshipping Caligula would be a sin against God.

A Roman named Apion tried to convince the Jews that they were being disloyal to the Emperor. He said Caligula would punish them. But Philo told the Jews to "be of good courage." He said that Caligula's angry words actually showed that Caligula had already made God angry at himself.

According to Josephus, the Jews of Alexandria chose Philo to speak for them to Caligula. Philo agreed because he wanted to stop the violence against the Jews.

Philo's Writings

Philo wrote many important books. Here are some of them:

• Quaestiones: This means "Inquiries" in Latin. It's a series of books where Philo explained the Torah verse by verse. The first four books were about the Book of Genesis, and the last two were about Exodus.
• Allegorical Commentary: In this book, Philo explored the hidden meanings in the Book of Genesis.
• Exposition of the Law: This book organized all the main topics in the Torah. It was written for both Jews and non-Jews (Gentiles).
• On the Life of Moses: This was a biography of Moses. Philo wrote it to show Moses as a great philosopher.
• On the Jews: This book was a defense of the religion of Judaism.
• On the Contemplative Life: Philo argued in this book that Greek philosophy did not just agree with Judaism, but that it was actually inspired by Judaism.
• Against Flaccus: This book criticized Flaccus for treating Egyptian Jews badly.
• The Embassy to Gaius: This book was Philo's own account of his important mission to Caligula.
• Every Good Man is Free: This book was about moral philosophy, which is about how to live a good life.
• On the Eternity of the World: This book discussed Metaphysics, which is about the basic nature of reality.
• On Animals: This book was about animals.
• On Providence: This book was about God.

Philo's Ideas

Philo tried to show that the ideas of the Greek philosopher Plato and the teachings of Moses actually worked well together. He also believed that to be a good person, you needed to control your emotions.

Philo and the Bible

Philo believed that all truth could be found in the Hebrew Bible. He thought that everything in the Torah came directly from God. Philo even said that all philosophy, including Greek philosophy, got its ideas from the Torah.

Philo also believed that each person in the Hebrew Bible represented a human quality. For example, Adam represented the mind. Eve represented the senses. And Noah represented "tranquility" or peacefulness.

Philo believed that God does not have a body or emotions like humans do. He said that no one really knows anything for sure, except that God exists. Following Plato's ideas, Philo argued that everything that exists started as an idea in the mind of God.

Philo's Role in Politics

Because of his mission to Caligula, we know that Philo was involved in politics. However, we don't know exactly what his political beliefs were.

Philo did write that telling a tyrant (a cruel ruler) what you really think can be very dangerous. It could put your own life, and even the lives of your family, at risk. So, he thought you should only do it if you were sure it would actually work.

Philo's Impact

For many years, Philo's ideas were important to Christians like Eusebius and Jerome. But Jewish scholars didn't pay much attention to him.

Then, in 1575, an Italian Rabbi named Azariah die Rossi wrote a book. He criticized Philo for several reasons:

• Philo read the Torah in Greek instead of Hebrew.
• Philo believed God created the Universe from existing matter, not out of nothing.
• Philo relied too much on allegory when reading the Hebrew Bible.
• Philo didn't always use Jewish traditions in his interpretations.

Rossi then tried to defend Philo. In the end, he wasn't sure if Philo's work fit perfectly with Judaism or not.

Images for kids

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  Woodcut from Die Schedelsche Weltchronik (Nuremberg Chronicle)

See also

In Spanish: Filón de Alejandría para niños