What is Philo of Alexandria?
[[File:PhiloThevet.jpg|thumb]] '''Philo Judaeus''', also known as '''Philo of Alexandria''', was a [[Jewish]] [[philosopher]] who lived from c. 20 BC to c. 50 AD. Philo wanted to prove that the [[Torah]] and [[Greece|Greek]] [[philosophy]] actually agreed with each other and he used [[allegory]] to do that. In 38 AD, Philo was one of many [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] [[Jews]] to meet with the Roman Emperor [[Caligula]] and he wrote a book about it. ==Life== Either Philo’s father or his father’s father was a [[Jew]] who became a [[Roman]] [[citizen]] based on a decision of the [[dictator]] [[Julius Caesar]]. Philo went to the [[Second Temple]] of [[Jerusalem]] at least once. Philo lived at the same time as [[Jesus]] did. ==Embassy to Gaius== When Philo was living in [[Alexandria]] the [[Jews]] were treated badly by the [[Greeks]]. According to Philo’s book Against Flaccus, [[Egypt]]’s [[Roman]] ruler [[Aulis Avilius Flaccus]] persecuted the [[Jews]] because the Jews refused to worship [[Caligula]] as a [[god]]. Philo wrote his book Against Flaccus attacking him for doing that. Philo was one of many [[Jews]] who went to [[Rome]] to convince [[Caligula]] not to build a giant statue of himself as the god Jupiter and put it inside the [[Second Temple]] of [[Jerusalem]] because if [[Caligula]] did that the Jews would rebel against him. Philo wrote a book describing his mission to [[Caligula]] called Legatio ad Gaium (The Embassy to Gaius) because Gaius was Caligula’s real name. ==Josephus’s Version== According to the Jewish historian Titus Flavius [[Josephus]], born Yosef ben Matityahu, in his book The Antiquities of the Jews, Philo was the brother of the [[Roman]]-appointed Jewish [[tax collector]] Alexander. In Josephus’s version, the Jews refused to worship Caligula even though he commanded them to and Philo believed the Jews were right and that to worship Caligula would be a [[sin]] against [[God]]. A Roman named Apion came to Alexandria to convince the Jews that they were traitors to the Emperor and that Caligul