Philo of Alexandria and the Therapeutae community of lake Mareotide
Supporting Agencies
- Therapeutae, Contemplation, Exegesis, Mareotis Lake, Alexandria.
Abstract
Philo in his treatise De vita contemplativa describes a Jewish ascetic community of men and women, the Therapeutae, living in voluntary retirement on the outskirts of the city of Alexandria. They were dedicated to the study, the exegesis of ancient sacred texts and the composition of religious writings, hymns and songs. This congregation was an archetype of the contemplative and spiritual kind of life. The philosopher, who lived in the capital of the delta, knew them well and came to admire them in many aspects, something that is evident in his aforementioned writing; However, in other teatrises he reveals a certain caution due to some habitual behaviors of the Therapeutae that, on the one hand, implied an excessive isolation from the human reality surrounding them and, on the other, denoted an hyperbolic allegorical interpretation of the sacred books in their exegetical inquiries, which sometimes placed them far from their authentic original content.
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