LitEraturs.—Jablonski, Pantheon Aegyptiorum, Frankfort, 1750-1752 (the best collection of the passages from the classical writers, the most important of which are those found in Plutarch’s de Iside et Osiride [good edition by Parthey, Berlin, 1850]). || Champollion’s Panthéon Egyptien, Paris, 1823-1881, and Wilkinson’s Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyp- tians (last vol.), London, 1841, have a mainly historical interest. | Lanzone, Dizionario di mitologia egizia, Turin, 1881-1886 (alphabetical list of the gods, with Citations of the sources, and illustrations. This work is very difficult to procure). || E. de Rougé, Revue archéologique, Nouv. sér. i.; Pierret, Essai sur la Mythologie Egyptiennc, Paris, 1879 ; le Page Renouf, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion, London, 1880 (empha- size the monotheistic, or, more correctly, henotheistic ele- ment in Egyptian religion). || Tiele, Histoire comparative des anciennes religions, Paris, 1882, and E. Meyer, Geschichte Aegyptens, 1887 (attempt to trace the historical development of Egyptian religion, but the materials used by them are not sufficient to justify any very far-reaching conclusions). || H. Brugsch, Religion und Mythologie der alten Aegypter, Leipzig, 1885-1890 (an attempt, principally with the aid of texts be- longing to the late period of Egyptian history, to elucidate a connected religious system, somewhat on the lines of Plutarch’s ideas. Brugsch’s views, however, lack the support, above all, of the older monuments. Nevertheless, the materials collected by him have an importance of their own). |; Strauss und Torney, Der altigyptische Gotterglaube, 2 vols., Heidelberg, 1889-1891 (draws upon second-hand sources). |; Maspero, Etudes de myth- ologie et d’archéologie, 4 vols., Paris, 1893-1900 (a collection of the extremely important articles of Maspero on general questions of Egyptian religion, and on various religious compositions such as the Book of the Dead and of Am-duat, together with reviews of modern works on questions of the same kind); cf. also the relevant passages in Maspero’s Histoire ancienne de VOrient classique, Paris, 1895-1899. || Wiedemann, Die Religion der alten Aegypter, Minster, 1890 [Eng. ed., freshly revised, and with illustrations, under the title ‘Religion of the Ancient
Egyptians,’ London, 1897]. A. WIEDEMANN.
PHILO.—
i. Life.
ii. Works.
iii. System of thought.
1. The general character and basis of Philo’s system.
. The origin and nature of philosophy.
. Philo’s theory of the universe.
. Man as the microcosm.
. The doctrine of God as eternal Being: (a) His exist- ence ; (b) His nature, ézos ; (c) His attributes.
. The doctrine of the Divine powers : (a) existence and character ; (0) relation to God ; (c) function.
. The doctrine of the Logos: (a) meaning of the term ; (b) the supreme idea; (c) the Divine Logos two- fold; (d) God’s son and image; (¢) mediator be- tween God and matter; (jf) relation to Wisdom, Spirit, and logoi; (g) Was the Logos a person?
8. The higher relations of man: (@) general relation to God ; (0) ethics. iv. Influence on Christian writers. Literature.
NI Dm OPwD
i. Lire.—Philo, called Judceus, to distinguish him from others of the same name, was a resident, probably a native, of Alexandria. Born about the year B.C. 20, or perhaps a little earlier, he was an older contemporary of Jesus Christ; and this fact lends a peculiar interest to his writings, as reveal- ing the intellectual and religious position of a Hellenist who was at once enlightened and con- servative. If these writings did not directly in- fluence the earliest expressions of Christian faith, they. certainly exhibit the line of philosophical thought, to some extent the phraseology, and the method of Scripture exegesis, to which that faith resorted when it tirst appealed to the Greco- Roman world as a system of theology.
Little is known of Philo’s life. He belonged to a wealthy and distinguished family, his brother enjoying Imperial favour, and holding the high position of alabarch. Familiar with cultivated
‘society and the luxuries of Alexandria, he did not
regularly practise the asceticism which he some-
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PHILO
times admired in others. But he led a blameless and studious life, amply availing himself of those opportunities of learning which Alexandria at that time afforded, with its Museum and Library, its concourse of lecturers and students, and the com- mingling of ideas which resulted from its position as a meeting-place of Hast and West. He was well versed in Greek literature, especially in the works of the great philosophers, whom he regarded with admiration ; but, instead of being led by this admiration to despise the simple records of the Pentateuch, he found whole and untarnished in the sacred books of Israel the wisdom which was partially contained in the writings of Greece, so that, with all his width of culture, he remained a devout and believing Jew. He was strongly attached to his own people. On some occasion he was sent to Jerusalem to offer prayer and sacri- fices ; and late in life, notwithstanding his aversion to the turbulence and anxieties of political life, he was so moved by the brutal riots in which the Jews were barbarously treated, that he went on an embassy to Caligula, in the winter of A.D. 39-40, to seek for redress and security against further outrage. From such an Emperor nothing was to be obtained but insult and even blows, so that the members of the embassy were glad to escape with their lives. Philo describes himself as old and grey-headed when writing an account of this transaction, The year of his death is un- known.