Philo

Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria (c. 20 BCE-c. 50 CE)

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Fame62.9
Momentum11.3
Egypt rank#152
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Lived -15–50, aged 65Egypt

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Wikipedia
57 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in Egypt
#152
Academics
Era
-15–50
Aged 65

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

He built a bridge no one had attempted in writing: reading Moses through Plato, arguing that Jewish scripture and Greek philosophy weren't rivals but twin paths to the same truth. His method — allegorical interpretation of the Torah — became a template for centuries of religious thought, though he was often misread as dismissing literal history when he defen

Biography

About

Philo lived in Alexandria around 20 BCE to 50 CE, a Hellenistic Jew writing expansively in Greek at the intersection of two worlds. He argued that the Septuagint and the evolving Jewish law of his time together formed a blueprint for individual enlightenment, weaving Platonic philosophy into Second Temple Judaism. The one dateable moment in his life came in 40 CE, when civil strife between Alexandria's Jewish and Greek communities sent him to Rome as part of a delegation facing Caligula. His allegorical readings of the Torah — the first documented efforts of their kind — were revolutionary and…

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In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Philo

Philo

saidundated

A Judge must bear in mind that when he tries a case he is himself on trial.

— Special Laws, 1st century.

Philo

saidundated

It would be a sign of great simplicity to think that the world was created in six days, or indeed at all in time; [...] Time is a thing posterior to the world.

— Allegories of the Sacred Laws (Legum allegoriae), Book I, §2; tr. C. D. Yonge, The works of Philo Judaeus (1854), Vol. 1, pp. 52–53.

Philo

saidundated

Moses … denied to the members of the sacred commonwealth unrestricted liberty to use and partake of the other kinds of food.

— 69.

Philo

saidundated

The natural gravitation of the body pulls down with it those of little mind, strangling and overwhelming them with the multitude of the fleshly elements.

— 79.

Philo

saidundated

If one adds anything small or great to the queen of virtues, piety, or on the other hand takes something from it, in either case he will change and transform its nature.

— 99- 101.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

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