Genre of Contra Apionem
We move now to considerations of genre. Genre is a notoriously slippery con-
cept, but in the case of Contra Apionemhardly anyone has even attempted
a classification. This is a guarded way of saying that I do not know of such
a classification at all. Müller’s commentary on Contra Apionem(1969) does
not attempt to define its genre. Thackeray (1967) spoke only of one section
as an “encomium”—a term widely adopted by others. Bilde (1988) believes
that he is the first even to propose a complete outline or “disposition.” He
proposes that the whole work is “missionary literature.” I essentially agree,
but wonder whether the genre can be more precisely defined. I shall argue
that the most plausible generic affiliation has direct implications for our
assessment of the work’s aim.
Like Antiquitates judaicae, Contra Apionemportrays Judaism in philo-
sophical terms. Judaism is a philosophical culture, whose founding philoso-
pher was Moses, and it was recognized as such by Pythagoras, Plato, and
Aristotle. That is why Judaism’s God is somewhat like the God of the
philosophers. Fulfilling the aspirations of Greek philosophers, Judaism
also places a premium on the ascetic life. So it is not like other national cults,
with their temples and many sacrifices, visible images of God, and eso-
teric rituals. Whereas Roman writers tended to group Judaism with Egypt-
ian, Syrian, and Chaldean superstitions, Josephus—along with other
Greek-speaking Judeans such as Artapanus, Aristobulus, Philo, and the
author of 4 Maccabees—presents Judaism as a national philosophy. But this
presentation serves, among other things, to facilitate the notion of con-
version, for conversion to a comprehensive way of life or bioswas more
appropriate to the international philosophical schools than to the ethnically
rooted Mediterranean cults (Nock 1933). This observation raises the ques-
tion whether Contra Apionemshould not be considered an example of the
genrelogos protreptikos,which had wide currency among the Hellenistic
philosophical schools.
Definition of logos protreptikos Marrou defines the logos protreptikosas
“an inaugural lecture that tried to gain converts and attract young people
to the philosophic life” (1956, 206–207). Although scholars have found
examples of the genre in part of Plato’s Euthydemus, the chief exemplar is
widely thought to have been Aristotle’s Protrepticus(Diog. Laert. 5.22.12),
which is preserved only in fragments. According to Diogenes Laertius,
philosophers of all schools wrote protreptikoi—Aristippus (2.85.5), Plato
(3.60.4), Theophrastus (5.49.18), Demetrius of Phaleron (5.81.13), Antis-
thenes (6.2.1), Monimus (6.83.14), Persaeus the student of Zeno (7.36.15),
Posidonius (7.91.8), Ariston of Chios (7.163.7), Cleanthes (7.175.9), and Epi-
TheContra Apionemin Social and Literary Context 167