Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-8mjnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T01:56:23.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

POLITICS ACCORDING TO PHILO - F. Oertelt Herrscherideal und Herrschaftskritik bei Philo von Alexandria. Eine Untersuchung am Beispiel seiner Josephsdarstellung in De Josepho und De somniis II. (Studies in Philo of Alexandria 8.) Pp. xviii + 362. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2015. Cased, €146, US$203. ISBN: 978-90-04-27039-8.

Review products

F. Oertelt Herrscherideal und Herrschaftskritik bei Philo von Alexandria. Eine Untersuchung am Beispiel seiner Josephsdarstellung in De Josepho und De somniis II. (Studies in Philo of Alexandria 8.) Pp. xviii + 362. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2015. Cased, €146, US$203. ISBN: 978-90-04-27039-8.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2016

Diego de Brasi*
Affiliation:
Philipps-Universität Marburg

Abstract

Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Reviews
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 In recent years, as far as I am aware, only a few works on Philo's politics have been published: Barraclough, R., ‘Philo's Politics. Roman Rule and Hellenistic Judaism’, ANRW 21.1 (1984), 417553 Google Scholar; F. Calabi, The Language and the Law of God. Interpretation and Politics in Philo of Alexandria (1998); J.W. Martens, One God, One Law: Philo of Alexandria on the Mosaic and Greco-Roman Law (2003); and most recently F. Calabi, O. Munnich, G. Reydams-Schils, E. Vimercati (edd.), Pouvoir et Puissances chez Philon d'Alexandrie (2016).

2 The most prominent example is E.R. Goodenough, The Politics of Philo Judaeus: Practice and Theory (1938). O. very clearly shows the limits of such an interpretation, e.g. in her examination of On Dreams 2.80–125 (pp. 239–43), where she plausibly argues that Philo's critique of ‘tyranny’ cannot be directed towards any historical figure nor in general towards any Roman praefectus.

3 In doing so she explicitly follows M. Böhm, Rezeption und Funktion der Vätererzählungen bei Philo von Alexandria. Zum Zusammenhang von Kontext, Hermeneutik und Exegese im frühen Judentum (2005), who emphasises that Philo interprets all biblical figures, with the exception of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in positive or negative terms according to the exegetical context in which they are examined.