It is even less likely that a “Semitic” background can be
understood as a source of “Jewish” influence. The Stoic
“spirit” has nothing to do with biblical ruah:, being rooted
in the concept of warm breath as theorized by Greek medical
science. Cleanthes’ “Law of Zeus” is no philosophical Torah,
because Stoic morality was not grounded in specific precepts
or forbiddances. It is plausible that no Stoic teacher ever held
a Bible in his hands. Posidonius, for instance, is assumed to
have had somewhat anti-Jewish feelings (Fgm. 278, Edel-
stein-Kidd; 133, Theiler). One could more reasonably argue
that some features of ancient Stoicism suggest Indian philos-
ophy—the immanence of God in the universe, the conflagra-
tion, the imperturbability of the sage—but there is a lack of
evidence to elaborate the issue.
SEE ALSO Cosmology; Hellenistic Religions; Logos; Mono-
theism; Study of Religion; Suicide; Tertullian; Zeus.
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the Providence of the Gods. Athens, 1976.STOICISM 8743