Philo, Embassy to Gaius 37.294-37.295
created: This entry is taken from Embassy to Gaius 37.294-37.295 written by Philo in 40 C
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: grc; grc
availability: Except for materials quoted from other sources, this entry is copyright 2023 by the contributors (William L. Potter, et al.) and the Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project. It is licensed under the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Some texts quoted in this entry may be in the public domain in the United States. No copyright is asserted for these quotations. Some texts quoted in this entry may have copyright restrictions and are reused under Section 107 of the Copyright Act (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/413

Caesarea Maritima is indirectly attested at Philo, Embassy to Gaius 37.294-37.295. This passage was written ca. 40 C.E. possibly in Alexandria. Philo was a Jewish philosopher and historian who flourished at Alexandria during the first generations of Roman provincial rule in Egypt. His voluminous writings are marked by their learning, variety, and fusion of Hellenistic philosophy with biblical exegesis, particularly his application of the critical strategy of allegoresis. In the year 40 he joined a diplomatic mission to the emperor Gaius (Caligula) as an advocate for the rights of the Alexandrian Jewish community after the major wave of riots with the resident Greeks. In his account of this “embassy” (πρεσβεία, legatio), Philo expresses to the emperor his concern over preserving the inviolability of the Temple in Jerusalem, especially against the introduction of foreign cult-images. He calls in support the respectful behavior of earlier Romans, including Agrippa, who had travelled to Jerusalem directly from his arrival by ship at Caesarea in 15 B.C.E.

(294) ἀλλὰ τί μοι ξένους καλεῖν μάρτυρας ἔχοντι πολλοὺς τῶν οἰκειοτάτων σοι παραστῆσαι; Μάρκος Ἀγρίππας εὐθέως, ὁ πρὸς μητρός σου πάππος, ἐν Ἰουδαίᾳ γενόμενος, ἡνίκα Ἡρῴδης ὁ ἐμὸς πάππος ἐβασίλευε τῆς χώρας, ἀναβῆναι μὲν ἀπὸ θαλάττης εἰς τὴν μητρόπολιν ἐν μεσογείῳ κειμένην ἠξίωσε·(295) θεασάμενος δὲ τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ τὸν τῶν ἱερέων κόσμον καὶ τὴν τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἁγιστείαν, ἠγάσθη χρῆμα νομίσας ὑπέρσεμνόν τι καὶ παντὸς λόγου μεῖζον ἑωρακέναι, καὶ διήγημα οὐδὲν ἦν ἕτερον αὐτῷ πρὸς τοὺς συνόντας τότε τῶν ἑταίρων ἢ ὁ τοῦ νεὼ καὶ τῶν κατ’ αὐτὸν ἁπάντων ἔπαινος.

[Ed. Cohn and Wendland 1902]

(294) But why do I need to call upon foreign witnesses, when I have many of your countrymen and friends whom I can put on the stand? Marcus Agrippa, your own grandfather on your mother’s side, from the moment he arrived in Judaea, when Herod, my grandfather, was king of the country, thought it right to travel up from the sea to the metropolis lying inland. (295) When he saw the Temple and the raiment of the priests and the piety of the native people, he marvelled at it, thinking that he had seen something of surpassing solemnity and greater than any estimation; and he had no other discussion with his traveling companions besides praise for the sanctuary and everything in it.

[Trans. J. L. Rife with ref. to Yonge and Scholer [1855] 2013]

Works Cited

[...] 37 294-295
[...] 783-784

[Philo, Embassy to Gaius 38.300-38.305]

[Jerusalem

Judaea]

[Gaius (Caligula), emperor

Herod I, king

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa]

[Government and Law

Herodian History

Judaism

Roman History]