ductions of Greek tragedies (Prob.141). He also speaks of his attendance at
banquets where he found it necessary to exercise moderation (Leg.3.156). In
sum, Philo did not feel restricted from participating in Hellenistic culture.
The exception to this was participation in a pagan cult.
The pattern evident in his mores is also evident in his thinking. Philo
went on to receive advanced training in rhetoric and philosophy. We are
not certain how he acquired his advanced philosophical training. He may
have read on his own as Augustine did centuries later or, like Cicero, hired
a tutor and attended the lectures of well-known philosophers. We know of
a number of philosophers who were active in Alexandria toward the end of
the first centuryb.c.e., but we do not know with whom Philo studied.
What is certain, however, is that he read and digested some of the most im-
portant works in the Platonic tradition. The two most important Platonic
treatises for him were theTimaeusand thePhaedrus.He also appears to
have known theLaws,thePhaedo,theRepublic,theSymposium,and the
Theaetetus.He undoubtedly knew the works of other philosophers such as
Aenesidemus, but it is often difficult to know whether he read them first-
hand or in fragmentary form as they were cited in a doxography.
Philo put his education to good use in his writings. An important
question is the social location of his writing. As was true for his education,
all of the evidence is indirect. It is hard to imagine that his works were pri-
vate, intended solely for his own benefit as some have argued that Seneca’s
letters to Lucilius were and as Marcus Aurelius’sMeditationswere in fact.
The variation in the nature of his treatises suggests that he was not their
implied reader; the works assume multiple audiences. There are several
possibilities for the social location. Some think that they reflect participa-
tion in a house of prayer, whether through worship or education or both.
Philo described services in houses of prayer as if they were schools (e.g.,
Mos.2.216;Spec.2.62). Perhaps Philo taught in an Alexandrian house of
prayer. Another possibility is that he owned a private school where he
taught young Jews exegesis and philosophy.
There is one statement in his treatises that assumes a school setting,
but it is difficult to know whether we should read this literally or as veri-
similitude for the dialogue setting (Anim.6). It is clear that Philo worked
in an exegetical tradition and not as an isolated interpreter. He is keenly
aware of other Jewish interpreters and includes their views in his commen-
taries, a fact that agrees with but does not require a school setting. The for-
mat of two sets of his commentaries,The Questions and Answersand the
Allegorical Commentary,parallel the type of works that circulated in philo-255PhiloEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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