recurrences are always unimpressive. tot ziens _Dierk
----- Original Message ----- From: "Stephen Goranson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <Sent: Friday, July 29, 2005 12:33 PM Subject: [Megillot] Philo on Sadducees and Pharisees?? > > Here's a heuristic exercise, for those open to it. From such people comments > are welcome, especially on g-megillot (this is also posted to the reopened ane > list, in part to remind DSS scholars of g-megillot list). G-megillot info page: > http://mailman.mcmaster.ca/mailman/listinfo/g-megillot > > As is well known, Philo wrote about Essenes in three extant works, but his > extant works do not include the names Sadducees or Pharisees. But is it > possible that, in one work that is quite favorable to Essenes, Philo shared an > Essene view of certain rulers, viewed quite unfavorably, who were influenced > by Sadducees and Pharisees? > > In Every Good Man is Free, Philo discusses this Stoic saying. In section 74 he > praises varioius groups "in which deeds are held in higher esteem than words." > This is the reading by F.H. Colson in Loeb Philo IX p.52.1; compare his > Preface and Introduction and the praise on the volume and specifically on this > reading by A.D. Nock in Classical Studies 1943. Philo names Magi and > Gymnosophists. Strabo, influenced by Posidonius, also brought up Magi and > Gymnosophists in his Geography section on Jews 16.2.34f; this text is > explicitly negative on Alexander Jannaeus; would that Strabo's longer book, > History,were fully extant, with its mentions of Essenes, partly used by > Josephus, e.g. Ant. 13; see JJS 1994, 295-8. > > Then Philo (75) brings up Essenes in "Palestinian Syria." He praises them in > several sections. > > Recall, that from the Qumran Essene point of view, the Wicked Priest is a High > Priest, a Hasmonean. 4QNpesherNahum, as many of us think, and as brilliantly > supported and extended by J. VanderKam in the E. Tov and A. Saldarini > Festschriften and in his 2004 High Priests book, Alexander Jannaeus appears as > a Lion who killed his own people, and Pharisees appear as Seekers of Smooth > Things/Flattery, a pun against Pharisee Halakha. Pharisees are also called > Ephraim; an individual or a group can have two nanes in Qumran texts. E.g., > the Lion can also be the Wicked Priest. > > The following is Colson's Loeb translation of sections 88-91. Two types of > rulers are discussed, both quite disapproved by Philo here and by Essenes. Can > you tell which type sounds more like the Essene view of Sadducee-influenced > rulers and which the Essene view of Pharisee-influenced rulers? > > "Such are the athletes of virtue produced by a philosophy free from the > pedantry of Greek wordiness, a philosophy which sets its pupils to practice > themselves in laudable actions, by which the liberty which can never be > enslaved is firmly established. Here we have a proof. Many are the potentates > who at various occasions have raised themselves to power over the country. > They differed both in nature and the line of conduct which they followed. Some > of them carried their zest for outdoing wild beasts in ferocity to the point > of savagery. They left no form of cruelty untried. They slaughtered their > subjects wholesale, or like cooks carved them piecemeal and limb from limb > whilst still alive, and did not stay their hands till justice who surveys > human affairs visited them withthe same calamities. Others transformed this > wild frenzy into another kind of viciousness. Their conduct showed intense > bitterness, but they talked with calmness, though the mask of their milder > language failed to conceal their rancorous disposition. They fawned like > venomous hounds yet wrought evils irremediable and left behind them throughout > the cities the unforgettable sufferings of their victims as monuments of their > impiety and inhumanity. Yet none of these, neither the extremely ferocious nor > the deep-eyed treacherous dissemblers, were able to lay a charge againts this > congregation of Essenes or holy ones [osion] here described...." > > In this very partisan account, (young?) Philo shared an Essene point of view, > and he may here reflect Essene views on Sadducee- and Pharisee-influenced > Hasmoneans, including Alexander Jannaeus, the Qumran-view Wicked Priest. > > best, > Stephen Goranson > > _______________________________________________ > g-Megillot mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://mailman.McMaster.CA/mailman/listinfo/g-megillot > > _______________________________________________ g-Megillot mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.McMaster.CA/mailman/listinfo/g-megillot
