Russell Gmirkin, As you may recall, I am aware of your proposal to move the text from "Palestinian Syria" (Loeb tr, section 75) to Alexandria, Egypt. If I had been persuade of your Alexandria move and your too-late dating--Every Good Man is Free is a youthful work of Philo--then I would not have written what I did. The subject in Every Good is not the Romans, but Hasmoneans. As to your claim that no such ruler killed his own people, perhaps reread 4Qpesher Nahum in which Alexander Jannaeus, compared to a Lion, crucified fellow-countrymen, or reread Josephus Antiquities 13, 375f, in which, reportedly, Jannaeus "slew no fewer that fifty thousaand Jews." So, for these and other reasons, I find your proposal not persuasive. best Stephen Goranson
Quoting [EMAIL PROTECTED]: > > > Stephen, > > Since the Essenes are earlier said to have inhabited the cities of Judea, the > > prevailing assumption has been that the passage you quote from Every Good Man > > is Free 89-91 must refer to the deeds of rulers of that country. Yet no > Judean ruler is known to have committed such outrageous deed against his own > > countrymen as Philo describes. Indeed, in âEmbassy to Gaiusâ Philo > indicates that > the Jews have been well treated from the time of Augustus down through the > reign of Tiberius, with the sole exception of certain misdeeds under Sejanus > in > Rome and Pilate in Judea. But Philoâs description of even the worst crimes > > under Pilate falls far short of the genocidal savagery Philo ascribes to the > > mysterious âpotentatesâ of the above passage. Rather, my own extensive > research > indicates that the true scene of the horrible events Philo refers to was > Alexandrian Egypt. Specifically, Philo unmistakably refers to Flaccus, the > governor of Alexandria under the anti-Jewish riots in 38 CE, as well as > prominent > anti-Semitic Greeks Isidorus and others who worked behind the scenes to > instigate violence against the Jewish community in Alexandria. This is > demonstrated > by numerous very striking verbal parallels between the passage and Philo's > essays On Flaccus and Embassy to Gaius. This necessitates a date of 38 CE at > the > earliest for Every Good Man is Free. > > > > Best regards, > Russell Gmirkin > > > > Stephen wrote: > > 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 with the 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 against 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. > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ g-Megillot mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.McMaster.CA/mailman/listinfo/g-megillot
