Philo, Embassy to Gaius 38.305
created: This entry is taken from Embassy to Gaius 38.305 written by Philo in 40 C.E.. Th
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/414

τὴν ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ Καισάρειαν

, and

Caesarea Maritima

are directly attested at Philo, Embassy to Gaius 38.305. 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 C.E., 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. Here he cites the affair of the golden shields that the governor Pontius Pilate had dedicated in Jerusalem during the reign of Tiberius (38.299). The Jewish populace, outraged by the act of blasphemy, drove their leaders to request the shields’ removal by petition first to Pilate, who did not acquiesce, and second to Tiberius, who decided in their favor (38.300-38.304). Pilate consequently removed the shields to Caesarea for display in the Temple of Rome and Augustus.

εὐθέως γὰρ οὐδὲ εἰς τὴν ὑστεραίαν ὑπερθέμενος ἐπιστέλλει, μυρία μὲν τοῦ καινουργηθέντος τολμήματος ὀνειδίζων καὶ ἐπιπλήττων, κελεύων δὲ αὐτίκα καθελεῖν τὰς ἀσπίδας καὶ μετακομισθῆναι ἐκ τῆς μητροπόλεως εἰς τὴν ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ Καισάρειαν, ἐπώνυμον τοῦ προπάππου Σεβαστήν, ἵνα ἀνατεθεῖεν ἐν τῷ Σεβαστείῳ· καὶ ἀνετέθησαν. οὕτως ἀμφότερα ἐφυλάχθη, καὶ ἡ τιμὴ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος, καὶ ἡ περὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀρχαία συνήθεια.

[Ed. Cohn and Wendland 1902]

For immediately, without delaying until the next day, (Tiberius) sent a letter in which he censured and assailed (Pilate) at length for his unprecedented audacity, ordering him to take down the shields at once and to transport them from the metropolis to Caesarea Maritima, named after his grandfather Augustus, so that they could be dedicated in the Augusteum. And they were dedicated. So thus both interests were protected, the emperor’s honor and the city’s ancient custom.

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

Works Cited

[...] 38 305
[...] 784-785

[Philo, Embassy to Gaius 38.299-38.304]

[Jerusalem

Judaea]

[Augustus, emperor

Pontius Pilate

Tiberius, emperor]

[Government and Law

Herodian History

Jewish History

Judaism

Military

Roman History

Urban Topography]