Best practice. Religious reformation in Philo’s representation of the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides

In De vitae contemplativa, the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria portrays a group called Therapeutae and Therapeutrides, living an ascetic life of study, fasting and religious celebration on the shores of Lake Mareotis outside of the city of Alexandria. His description strikingly resembles a group of Egyptian priests represented by his younger contemporary, the Stoic philosopher Chaeremon. This article focuses not so much on the reconstruction of the priestly group of the historical Therapeutae and Therapeutrides but rather on Philo, their historian and ethnographer, as a religious innovator. The first section places the writing in its literary context. The second presents a close reading of Philo’s representation of Therapeutic eusebeia in comparison to similar representations of Egyptian priestly groups from the first century CE. The third section demonstrates that Philo characterises the group as practitioners of a most eminent and ancient religious practice and thereby as a source of original and untouched truth. According to him, the group, with its methods of allegorical interpretation, also provides the most original philosophical interpretations of wisdom preserved in religious practices and writings. The final question raised is why in this text Philo hides not only the ethnic-religious identity of the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides but also his own Jewish identity behind a Greek narrative persona.

Most scholars are convinced of the real historical existence of the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides,² because on the one hand the location of their settlement,o nL ake Mareotis,w as so close to Alexandria that readers of Philo's work would have found it easy to test his statements for themselves.³ In the introductory section of De vita contemplativa, Philo refers to his work on the Essenes.⁴ In contrastt ot hise xclusively male society,t he participation of women among the Therapeutae is striking.⁵ Joan Taylor makes use of this observation for her historicalr econstruction of the society at Lake Mareotis.⁶ Nevertheless,t he evidentialb asis for historical Therapeutae and Therapeutrides is extremelyl imited. Philo is our sole witness to their existence. It is also troublesome thath ed oes not explain how he gained his information.⁷ He notes no relationship of his ownt ot he group, despite the fact that elsewhere he speaks approvingly of periods spent in solitude.⁸ It is truethat we can observe some differences between the ideals presented in De vita contemplativa and those in Philo'so ther writings, such as the praise of unmarried women (Contempl. 68), the ascetic diet of bread and water,a nd the rejection of slavery,otherwise known onlyf rom his writingso nt he Essenes.⁹ Still, as became clear in the extensive discussion at the end of the nineteenth century over the authenticity of the work, De vita contemplativa is marked from beginning to end by the theologyP hilo presents throughout his extensive oeuvre -includinga no verwhelmingn umber of repetitive formulae.¹⁰  The exceptions areE ngberg-Pedersen (1999) and Ross S. Kraemer (2011,5 7 -115).  Cf. Daumas and Miquel (1963, 39 -46); Taylor and Davies (1998, 10 -14); Taylor (2003,7 4-104). Fora nalternative location at the Temple of Serapis in Canopus see Moss (1999,5 8-76).  Contempl. 1; cf. Prob. 75 -91; Hypoth. 11.1-18. The Essenes had been also describedb yP liny, HN 5.73;Josephus, BJ 2.119 -127and AJ 18.18 -22. Foracomparison of the Essenes with the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides, see Schürer (1979,5 91-597); Hayward( 2000,944-945). The identification of the Essenes with the Yahad group in the sectarian writings of Qumran is currently disputed.  Cf. Hypoth. 11.14.E lsewhereP hilo seeks to limit the sphereo fJ ewish women to the house (Spec. 3.169; Flacc. 89), except on religious festivals (Spec. 3.171). Cf. Sly(1990). Forthe complexity of Philo'sp ictureo fw omen cf. also Harrison (1995); Mackie (2014).  Taylor (2003,1 73 -347;2004).  Hay( 1992, 673;1998, 167-168).  Spec. 3.1-2. However,Philo is critical of alife in isolation when he reflects in Leg.2.85onhis own experienceand, in Migr.89-93, in reference to those whointerpretJewish customs solelyin allegorical terms. Taylor( 2003,1 42 -153), seeks to identify the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides with the radical allegorists of Migr. 89 -93.  Cf. the same ideal amongt he Essenes in Prob.7 9. Hay( 1992, 673 -676;1998, 168 -173).  See the very full demonstrations by Conybeare( 1895, 25-153), and Wendland (1896,7 20 -731). Forthe debates on the authenticity of Philo'swork in the 19 th century,see Al-Suadi (2010).
Fort his very reason Id on ot intend to base my reflections here on the assumption of historical Therapeutae and Therapeutrides but rather to focus on Philo the religious individual. What is the most fitting literary context for such an account of ag roup of worshippers of God?W hat might have been Philo's wider aim in describing an ascetic group such as this, together with details of its religious rituals?T ot hat end, If irst discuss the issue of genre and then show how Philo inscribes the group on Lake Mareotis in Egypt within contemporary ethnographic discourse. In the third and final section, Ir eturn to the old question of the relation between the Therapeutae/Therapeutrides and regular Jewishp ractice in Philo'sd ay.

The genreo fD ev itac ontemplativa
The De vita contemplativa has been ascribed to av ariety of different genres.I t has carried the title Περὶ βίου θεωρητικοῦ (On the Contemplative Life)a tl atest from the time of Eusebius of Caesarea.¹¹ But it is not ad escription of the exceptional life and moral character of an individual, like Philo's De vita Mosis, but of acollective wayoflife.¹² In the light of his analysis of the work'selaborate rhetorical form, with its pointed contrasts between Therapeutic and pagan lifestyles, Manuel Alexandre has called it a "rhetorical encomium" and an "epideictic discourse",which seeks to praise the ideal of the "eloquent philosopher",b yc ontrast to sophistic pagan practice, with the aim of countering the loss of Jewish identity.¹³ But Philo has nothing to saya bout the relationship of the Mareotic group to the Jews of Alexandria, and he never thematisesa nxiety about Jewish identity.For Troels Engberg-Pedersen, on the other hand, its general form is that of amoral-philosophical treatment that,inthe wake of Aristotle, describes alife dedicated to theory and vision as the waythatpromises the greatest happiness.¹⁴ The goal of Therapeutic life is eudaimonia.¹⁵ But he believes that it is best viewed  Cf. Euseb. Eccl. theol. 2.18.7. The title apparentlyr efers to Contempl.1and 58: οἳ τὸνθ εωρητικὸν ἠσπάσαντο βίον: "(our people) who embrace the contemplative life".  Stadter( 2013 Stadter( ,1117, defines biographya sa n" account of the kind of life led by ah istorical person that also evaluates the subject'sc haracter,g oals,a nd achievements".  Alexandre (2001,319,see also 329 -330): "It aimed not onlyt odefend Moses against pagan detractors and Jewish infidels,but also to persuade,convincea nd movei nto action those Jews whowere losing the essenceoftheir faith and beingidentified with the pagan system of the day in as low process of domesticatingorr econfiguringt heir own Jewish identity".F or ad efinition of the genrea st hat of encomium see also Hay( 2003,3 33).  Engberg-Pedersen (1999,4 1), with referencet oA rist. Eth. Nic. 1.5a nd 10.6 -7.  Cf. Contempl.11; 90,a nd Runia (1997). as afictional narrative,an"utopian fantasy done for aserious purpose",closely related to Plato'sm yth of Atlantis and Iambulus'su topian account of the Island of the Sun.¹⁶ Philo, he thinks, is setting up an ideal Jewish society as ac ounter to, and negation of, all others, so that the De vita contemplativa should be understood as ageneralised cultural critique.¹⁷ Picking up this observation, Mary Ann Beavis has undertakenadetailed comparison of Philo'ss ketch and Iambulus's utopian 'novel':b oth describe the locationa nd the climate, the simplicity of food and clothing,social organisation, marriageand family,symposium culture, and the absenceo fs lavery.B ut Philo'sd escription differsf rom Iambulus in locating his group in as pecific place, the neighbourhood of Lake Mareotis in the Nile Delta, and in avoiding anyhint of anything marvellous or paradoxical.¹⁸ In drawingt his conclusion, Beavis was inadvertentlyr eviving an idea of Hans Lewy, who alreadyi nt he 1920sh ad appreciatedt he ethnographic context of the work,¹⁹ though his ideas weres ubsequentlym ore or less completelyf orgotten.²⁰ The first century CE could look back to al ongt radition, going back at least to Herodotus,i fn ot his Ionian predecessors, of describing foreign peoples and their religious rituals and customs.²¹ Of course, historians and geogra-  Engberg-Pedersen (1999,4 3-47), with reference to Pl. Ti. 19 -26,a nd Diod. Sic. 2.55 -60.  But he locates his ideal stateinafamiliar placeand in the present time so that it maynot be discredited as myth or fantasy,c f. Engberg-Pedersen (1999,46-47).  ForBeavis, Philo'saccount "is autopian construction of areal (ἀλήθεαν)community" (2004,41); cf. eadem (2006,5 8-68, at 68); Gilchrest (2013,102 -104).  Cf. Lewy 1929, 31 n. 4: "Philo […]w ith his tractate on the 'theoretical form of life' enters the discussiona mongG reek ethnographic popular philosophers, whos oughtt he incarnation of their utopias of state and religious philosophya mongt he barbarianr aces. The Greeks found the union of sophisticated spirits and ap hilosophical bios especiallyi nt he priestlyc astes of the barbarians,a mong which, sinceT heophrastus [ap. Porph. Abst. 2.26 =f rg.5 84 AF ortenbaugh],t he Jews werea lso reckoned. Now Philo contrasts the Jewish sect of the Therapeutae with the Egyptian priests,t he Persian magi,t he Babylonian Chaldeans,t he Indian Brahmins and gymnosophists, the Celtic druids,etc., and combines all the characteristics that were praised in his depiction of the theoretical bios of the Therapeutae (cf. Prob. 72-74). Thus in his competitive work Philo is dependent on the topos of Greek ethnography" (mytr.). Bauer (1924,408 -409 and 416 -417) had alreadym ade as imilar point.  See the extremelybrief reference (without mention of Lewy)bySterling(1994,688). Merrills (2004,226 -229), beginningfromaquotation from Hom. Il. 13.5 -6inContempl. 17,discovers parallels between the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides and Herodotus'sS cythians,t he gymnosophists in the Alexander novel, and Tacitus'sp eaceful Germanic tribes.  See, for example, the first four books of Herodotus,with the commentaries in Asheri et al. (2007); and esp. the extensive description of Egypt in Bk. 2( bsed on Lloyd1 975 -1988) and of Scythia in Bk. 4(based on Hartog 1988). The most convenient treatment of his Ionian predecessors,e sp. Hecataeus and Hellanicus,i ss till Pearson (1939). Diodorus provides another,e ven phers depended for their ethnographic descriptions not so much on their own observation and research as on earlier writers, whose work they sometimes criticised.²² They were concerned not with empirical fieldwork in the modern sense but rather with describingforeign peoples living in distant and remote corners of the world in the form of digressions embeddedinbroader historicalnarratives.²³ In this discourse, the manners and customs of foreign ("barbarian")p eoples wereb yn om eans uniformlyc ondemned but might rather be praised for their supposedly 'untouched',or'unspoiled' wayoflife, and its concomitant religious knowledge.²⁴ From the third century BCE onward,indeed, with the expansion of the Greek world thanks to Alexander'sconquests,indigenous authors who knew Greek, such as the Egyptian priest Manetho of Heliopolis (fl. 280BCE), wereable to participate in such discussions.²⁵ In the following section Is how that Philo's depiction of the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides adopts manyo ft he conventions, themes and tropes of ah istorian writing about foreign people.
[…]Whereforethe first of the god'snames is excellentlyadaptedtohim, and so are the second and third as well. He is Apollo, that is to say, denyingthe Manyand abjuring multiplicity;heisIeïos,asbeingOne and One alone; and Phoebus,asiswell known, is aname that the men of old used to give to everythingpureand undefiled.
Best practice. Religious reformation in Philo'sr epresentation solelyonthe tradition of Jewishpolemic against false gods,⁴⁰ but alsoonPlatonic and Stoic thought, especiallyasregards the identification of the elements and heavenlybodies with gods and goddesses.⁴¹ Anumber of Classical authors, from Diodorus Siculus to Plutarch,c laim that the Egyptians likewisei dentifiedt he heavenlyb odies as gods.⁴² As for the end of the list,p olemicalw ritinga gainst Egyptian worship of animals was common at least from the time of Herodotus.⁴³ Authors such as Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch, who had at least some regard for the wisdom hiddeni nE gyptian myths and rituals, make extended attemptsa t this point to find rationalist,s ymbolic, and allegoricale xplanations.⁴⁴ The negative list thus not onlye mphasises the author'sl earning but also elevates the piety of the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides as the highest and most superior form.
The false ideas about God on the part of "these (others)" (οὗτοι) -presumablyr eferringb oth to the last-mentioned ethnos,i .e.the Egyptian temple-tradition, but also to all the practices listed -" infect with theirf ollyn ot onlyt heir own compatriots (ὁμόφυλοι)b ut the peoples in their neighbourhood (πλησιάζοντες)".A saresult, their (spiritual) vision is defective.⁴⁵ The case of the 'race' of the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides is altogetherd ifferent,f or they are not onlyschooledintrue vision but are "carried away by aheaven-sentpassion of love, remain rapt and possessed like bacchanals or corybants until they see the object of their yearning".⁴⁶  Wis 14 speaks of the worship of stars and idols.F or further parallels cf. Wendland (1896, 706 -708).  It is found also in Plato(Crat. 404b-c)and the Stoics (Zeno ap. Diog. Laert. VP 7. 147) and was systematicallycollected by Cornutus, Theol. graec. [Busch-Zangenberg] 3.1(Hera, air); 4and 22.2 (Poseidon, water); 19.2 (Hephaistos,ueful fire); 28.2 (Demeter and Hestia, earth), in the first century CE.  Diod. Sic. 1.12; Plut. De Is.e tOs. 32 (363d), cf. also Diog. Laert. VP 1.10.Chaeremon of Alexandria, frg. 5(vander Horst): "ForChaeremon and the others do not believeinanythingprior to the visible worlds, statingthat the basic principles arethe gods of the Egyptians and that there aren oo ther gods than the so-called planets,a nd those stars which fill up the zodiac, and all those that rise near them, and the sections relating to the decans,a nd the horoscopes, and the so-called mighty rulers",c f. frg.dub. 17 vand er Horst (all translations of Chaeremon here aretakenfromvan der Horst 1984). Thereisacritique of Academic ideas in Cic. Nat. D. 3.61-74.  Hdt. 2.65 -79; Juv. Sat. 15.1-8, and frequentlyelsewhere.F or the Greek view of animal worship, including some ambivalencesi nP hilo'so wn writing( cf. Mos. 1.23), see Smelik and Hemelrijk (1984).  Diod. Sic. 1.83 -90;P lut. De Is.e tO s. 70 -76,3 79d-382a;s ee esp. Richter (2001).  "They have lost the use of the most vital of the senses,s ight" (Cont. 10).  Cont. 11. Apart fromPlato'smyth of the cave (Rep. 514a -518b), this is probablyanallusion to Ion 533e -534a: "Fora ll the good epic poets utter all those fine poems not from art,b ut as in-Taking leave earlyf rom ordinary life on earth, they have no property,c hildren, family, or friends (13). They are thus nobler than the philosophersA naxagorasa nd Democritus, so revered by the Greeks,f or they allowed their property to fall to pasture in order to be able to devote themselvesentirelytostudy,but as ar esultt hey plunged their children into poverty.⁴⁷ Such anecdotes could be turned to use in different ways.⁴⁸ Philo chooses to claim that the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides are acting in accord with the Hippocratic principle, "life is short but art is long",⁴⁹ and for that reason are akin to Homer'sm ythical Mysians, who "drink the milk of mares[…]the most righteous men".⁵⁰ The identity of this people was the subject of endless speculation in geographicaland historical works,f or example by Xanthus, Ephorus, Poseidonius, Nicolaus of Damascus and Strabo. Most authors inclined to identify them with Thracians or inhabitants of Asia, particularlynomadicScythians,who weresupposed to "excelall men in justice"⁵¹ inasmuchasthey wereignorant of money.⁵² HerePhilo adds apointed general remark to the effect that injusticeiscaused by the desire for gain whereas justicei st he resulto fe quality.⁵³ The Therapeutic indifferencet op ossessions is analogous to that of distant foreign peoples, among whom one mays till find an ideal, peaceful wayo fl ife free of property and greed.
After the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides had relinquished theirp roperty and left their families and homelands( α ἱπατρίδες,1 8), they settledi narural spired and possessed,and the good lyric poets likewise; just as the Corybantian worshippers do not dancewhenintheir senses,sothe lyric poets do not inditethose fine songs in their senses, but when they have started on the melodyand rhythm they begin to be frantic, and it is under possession-as the bacchants arepossessed,and not in their senses,when they drawhoney and milk from the rivers-that the soul of the lyric poets does the same thing, by their own report" (tr. W. R. M. Lamb), cf. also Phaedr. 353a. Philo makesf requent use of the imageo fa scent to the divine; cf. area outside the city,⁵⁴ and indeed, as Philo says, "not from anyacquired habit of misanthropic bitterness but because they know how unprofitable and mischievous are associations with persons of dissimilar character" (20). Anti-Jewish stereotypes echo in the allusion to 'misanthropy',but they are transferred from ethical to philosophicaldiscourse.⁵⁵ IndeedPhilo goes on explicitlytodenythatthe group has anys pecific ethnic identity: This race (τὸ γένος)exists in manyplaces in the inhabitedworld, for the perfect goodness must needs be shared both by Greeks and the world outside Greece, but it abounds in Egypt in each of the nomes as they are called, and especiallyaround Alexandria. But the best of these votaries journey from every side to settle in ac ertain very suitable placew hich they regarda st heir fatherland.The placei ss ituated abovet he Mareotic Lake.⁵⁶ After what has been said about Egyptian animal worship, this privileging of Egypt is striking.B ut,a sw ill soon become clear,i tw as by no means unusual in the first century CE.⁵⁷ Beyond that,i ti sw orth noting what Philo has thus far not said, namely,t hat these could be Jewish women and men. Instead, he speculatesa bout a 'race' that dwells among all peoples. The remotep lace near Alexandria, wheret he best of this 'race' of worshippers live,P hilo continues, is located […]o nasomewhat low-lyingh ill very happilyp laced both because of its security and the pleasantlyt empered air.T he safety is secured by the farm buildings and villages roundabout and the pleasantness of the air by the continuous breezes which arise both from the lakewhich debouches intothe sea and fromthe open sea hard by.F or the sea breezes arel ight,t he lakeb reezes close and the twoc ombiningt ogether produce am ost healthy condition of climate.⁵⁸ Ancient geography and ethnographyf rom the time of Herodotus onwards assumed ac lose connection between geographical situation and ap eople'sc har- acter and mores.⁵⁹ An ideal situation and well-tempered climate are found not onlyi nu topiass uch as Iambulus'sI slands of the Suno rt he land of the Hyperboreans,⁶⁰ but are also said to characterise Italy, and especiallyR ome, which is praised for being neither too hot nor too cold, its pleasant winds and its perfect location between the seas.⁶¹ After this, Philo describes the settlement (24), the religious liveso fi ndividuals (25 -29), the gathering on the seventh dayi nt he common sanctuary (30 -33), and finallyt he group'sa bstemious wayo fl ife (33 -39). Theh ousesa re not built too close to one another "since living at close quarters is troublesome and displeasing to people who are seeking to satisfy their desire for solitude", but not too far apart either,because of the "sense of fellowship which they cherish" (24). Each contains aholyplace (οἴκημα ἱερόν)dedicated solelyto"the mysteries of aholylife" (τὰ τοῦ σεμνοῦ βίου μυστήρια τελοῦνται). In what follows it appears that this holyr oom is ap lace for studyingl aws, oracles, and psalms, "and anything else which fosters and perfectsk nowledge and piety" (25). Their days are givenovertoreligious practice (ἄσκησις,28); they pray at sunrise and sunset (27). At night they dream and sometimes even give utterancet o" the glorious verities of their holyphilosophy" (26), while they spend the dayinallegorical studies (29) and in composings ongsi nd ifferent metres and to different melodies(30). Every seventh daythey gather for aplain instruction, givenbythe eldest among them (31), that impresses itself on the soul all the more because of its simplicity.Women are seated within hearing distance behind aw all, so that "the modesty becomingtothe femalesex is preserved" (33).⁶² "They layself-control (ἐγκράτεια)t ob ea si tw eret he foundation of their soul and on it build the other virtues" (34). They eat onlyinthe evening,some of them indeed onlyevery third day, or even less frequently. Onlyo nt he seventh dayd oes everyone eat, though "onlycommon bread with salt for arelish flavoured further by the daintier (οἱἁβροδίαιτοι)with hyssop" (37). Their houses and clothing are simple (38 - Hdt. 2.35;moresystematicallyinHippoc. Aer.;Strabo, Geogr. 2.3.7(102C -103C), on the other hand, was critical of the idea, cf. Vasaly( 1993, 141-145).  Iambulus ap.Diod. Sic. 2.56.7: "The climateismost temperate, we are told, consideringthat they live at the equator,and they suffer neither from heat nor fromcold" (εὐκρατότατον δ' εἶναι τὸν ἀέρα παρ' αὐτοῖς, ὡς ἂνκ ατὰ τὸν ἰσημερινὸνο ἰ κοῦντας, καὶ μήθ' ὑπὸ καύματος μήθ' ὑπὸ ψύχους ἐνοχλουμένους); cf. toothe land of the Hyperboreans in Diod. .  The lectureroom thus described, similar to asynagogue, is the sole example in antiquity of a segregation of the sexes in asynagogue; differently, e. g., Luke 13:10 -17.Cf. Brooten (1982, 133 -134).
Best practice. Religious reformation in Philo'sr epresentation 39) and servemerelyasprotection from "the fiery heatofthe sun and the icy cold of the air" (24;c f. 38).

Best practice. Religious reformation in Philo'sr epresentation
The relationship between Philo'sa nd Chaeremon'sp raise of Egyptian worshippers of God lies at ad eeper level. What links them is an increasingi nterest, from the first century BCE onward, on the part of authorss haped by Stoicism and Platonism, in the customs,m yths, and rituals of the 'wise (barbarian) nations',E gypt among them.⁸³ Plato'sa ssociation of the Atlantis myth with Solon began the trend.⁸⁴ If Chaeremon reallyc ame from Egypt his writing may represent an "autoethnography"⁸⁵;inany caseitis"an attempt to integrate gen-uinelyE gyptian ideas, concepts of Stoic philosophy, and astrologicali nterest, and to identify astrology,ethics, and asceticism as basic elements of the pristine 'philosophy' of the Egyptians".⁸⁶ At anyrate, Chaeremon was not alone in his interest in Egyptian priests and their rituals.⁸⁷ Diodorus Siculus begins his Greek history of the world with Egyptian teachings about the gods because the Egyptians "werethe first to introduce the worship of the gods".⁸⁸ His first book concludes with astatement that all the great figures of antiquity,from Orpheus and Homer to Solon and Plato, had been influenced by Egyptian wisdom.⁸⁹ Plutarch, in De Iside et Osiride,p ortraysh is platonisinginterpretation of the myths and rituals of the Isis religion as asearch for truth.⁹⁰ He also notes the fastingoft he priests, for example their abstention  Boys-Stones (2001,44-60) shows that Chaeremon stands in along Stoic tradition of isolating 'original' philosophical material from the traditions -heret he Egyptian religious practices that have preserved it.Van Nuffelen shows that Post-Hellenistic philosophyo nt he whole sees "religion as created by wise ancients and is thus supposed to contain philosophical knowledge" (2011,4).  Tim. 21e-25d; cf. Critias 113d.  Dench defines autoethnographyas"the process whereby African and South American people [today] constructedaccounts of themselvesthrough engagement with European ethnographical traditions that depicted them as 'other peoples'" (2007, 493 -494).  Schneider (2013 Schneider ( ,1424.See also Frede(1989Frede( ,2069: "With this referencetoEgyptian wisdom, which seems at least,inChaeremon'seyes, to have betterpreserved ancient truths than did the Greek tradition, the Stoic Chaeremon shows himself to be, both formallyand in manyrespects as to content, aprecursor of certain tendencies we usuallyassociateorevenidentify with later Platonism, for example Numenius or Celsus,P orphyry or Iamblichus".  Cf. Frede (1989, 2 103 and passim).  Diod. Sic. 1.6, prefacingh is extensive descriptions of myths and rituals (1.11-26;8 3-90). Seneca seems also to have shown an interest in Egypt,a st he fragment De situ et sacris Aegyptiorum shows;c f. Frede (1989,2 076 from salt⁹¹ and wine,⁹² as well as other dietary rules, and praises theirefforts at "studying,learning,and teaching religious matters".⁹³ Plutarch also grounds the ascetic practiceso ft he femalea nd male priests by saying that abstinencef rom food as well as preservation of virtue is necessary in order to attain to knowledge of the divine and to abide with it,o rw ith her (Isis).⁹⁴ Chaeremon'sviewthat in Egypt "[t]he true philosophising was found among the prophets,a nd priestsw ho had charge of the sacred vestments, the sacred scribes, and alsot he astrologers"⁹⁵ was, as is now familiar,d ue to the idea that certain peoples, even among the barbarians, had access to truth in its original purity,atruth thathad been lost in the course of history because of the general decline in virtue. Seneca traced this thesis to Poseidonius.⁹⁶ Chaeremon and Plutarch agree thatthis truth can be regained through a 'symbolic' (i. e. allegorical) interpretation of the myths of the gods and priestly rituals.⁹⁷ Chaeremon in particularc laims that such methods werei nvented by the Egyptian priests.⁹⁸ Chaeremon'sp raise of the model and ascetic wayo fl ife of the Egyptian priestsa lso served to hold up am irror to the (supposed) current decline in virtue.⁹⁹ Philo takes up this feature especiallyinhis third extended comparison, in which he caricatures Greek symposium culture. Drinking wine leads at best to 'slavish taste' (45), and at worst to enmitya nd wild fist-fights.¹⁰⁰ Men "attack and bite each othera nd gnawo ff noses, ears, fingers and some other parts of the body, so thatt hey make good the story of the comrades of Odysseus and  Ibid. 5(352f); 32 (363e), cf. Quaest. conviv.5.10.1-2(684 f-685a); on the importanceofsaltin ordinary circumstances, see e. g. ibid. 4.4.3( 668e). Philo emphasises that the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides by contrast eat breadw ith salt: Cont.3 7; 73;8 1.  Plutarch, De Is.e tO s. 6( 353b).  Ibid.: φιλοσοφοῦντες καὶ μανθάνοντες καὶ διδάσκοντες τὰ θεῖαδ ιατελοῦσιν.  Ibid. 2( 351e).  Chaeremon, frg.10.8v an der Horst.  Sen. Ep.9 0.3 -6, with Frede (1989Frede ( ,2 088 -2092  Frede (1989 Frede ( ,2 086 -2092. Cf. Ramelli (2008Ramelli ( , 1301Plut. De Is. et Os. 76 (382c -d).  Cf. Chaeremon, T. 9v an der Horst; also T. 12 van der Horst: "Chaeremon says the Egyptians werethe first to teach -since they wanted to teach the great and lofty thingst othe uninitiated by means of allegories and myths -Athena is, mythicallys poken, ag oddess". Frag. 2v an der Horst: "Egyptian wisdom is to sayall things symbolically".Plutarch makesasharper distinction between the 'obscurea nd clearers ymbols' (De Is.e tO s. 67-68 [377e -378b]).  This,too, was one of the standards of ancient ethnography.Thus the Spartans know that discordc easesw heng reed and luxury (πλεονεξίακ α ὶτρυφή)a re eliminated (Strab. Geogr. 10.4.16 [480C]); the Indians arehappy "because of their simplicity and moderation" (διὰ τὴν ἁπλότητα καὶ τὴνε ὐ τ έ λεια;S trabo, Geogr. 15.1.53 [709C].  Cont.40-47. Best practice.R eligious reformation in Philo'sr epresentation the Cyclops by eating 'gobbets' of men, as the poet says".¹⁰¹ The revellers show themselvesenemies to their families and homeland, and even to themselves. The reflection here of Stoic moral discourse, comedy, and satire is unmistakable.¹⁰² Consequently, such thingsa st he luxuriousd ecorations of the dining rooms, well-upholstered ivory couches,p urple coverlets, expensive dishes and drinkware, erotically-dressed slaves, artistic confections, and exotic foods are branded as 'Italian luxuries' beloved of Greeks and barbarians.¹⁰³ Finally, Philo also criticises literary depictions of symposia.I ti st rue that Xenophon and Plato described the two symposia in which Socratesparticipated, "surmising that they would servep osterity as models of the happilyc onducted banquet.Yet even these if compared with thoseo fo ur people who embrace the contemplative life will appear as matters for derision" (57-58). It is true that there were pleasures at both,but onlyhuman ones. In Xenophon'saccount musicians, dancers,and actors appear,and the subject of discussion at the Platonic banquet is love, heterosexual and homoerotic.¹⁰⁴ "But […]the story of these wellknown banquets is full of such follies and they stand self-convicted in the eyes of anyw ho do not regard conventional opinions" (64), despite the common notion that they are successful undertakings.
Best practice.R eligious reformation in Philo'sr epresentation Exodus from Egypt is acted out dramatically. Mena nd women, each conducted by ac horall eader,s ing stationary songs( stasimon), strophes and antistrophes, and ultimatelyform amixed choir.Inthis manner,they celebrate the Crossingof the Red Sea: (They become) ac opy( μ ί μημα)o ft he choir set up of old beside the Red Sea in honour of the wonders therewrought. Fora tthe command of God the sea became as ource of salvation to one party and of perdition to the other.Asitbrokeintwain and withdrew under the violenceofthe forceswhich swept it back thererose on either side, oppositetoeach other, the semblance of solid walls, while the spacethus opened between them broadened into a highway smooth and dry throughout on which the people marched under guidanceright on until they reached the higher ground on the oppositem ainland.B ut when the sea came rushingi nw ith the returning tide, and from either side passed over the ground where dry land had appeared, the pursuinge nemyw eres ubmergeda nd perished.¹¹⁵ Thus, as Philo goes on to say, the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides represent (ἀπεικονίζειν)the choir with Moses and Miriamatthe Red Sea.¹¹⁶ It is thus cultic theatre, part of the cultic mythos -the decisive moment in Israel'sh istory with God, staged, and thus imitated, through drama.¹¹⁷ By implication, Philo'sreaders constitutet he audience.
Philo describes the choirs at the Red Sea and the leadership of Miriama nd Moses in similar terms elsewhere.¹¹⁸ The mixing of the two choirs seems to reflect an exegetical tradition attested in Wisdom 10:20.¹¹⁹ In the whole we have an actual re-poeticising of the Exodus event as classical drama, with fragments of an apocryphal song of Miriam.¹²⁰ This is thus an arrative of ar eligious celebration rendered plausible for some Jewish communities in antiquity.The Exodus event is presented as the highest form of religious experience.¹²¹ At the same time,h owever,t he terms in which Philo invokes Israel'sE xodus from Egypt are strikingly detached. The miracle at the Red Sea is either a "sourceo fs alvation" or a "[source] of perdition".T he Egyptians are not mentioned. The people departfrom an unnamedland and are led safely, in very general terms,on"ahighway smooth and dry" to higher ground, while theirenemies  Cont.8 5-86.  Cont.8 8.  See Nielsen (2002);G asparini (2013).  Mos. 1.180;2.256;.  Cf. Enns (1995).  Ezekiel the Tragedian, quoted in Euseb. Praep.E vang. 9, 28-29 and Clem. Al. Strom. 1.23. From 4Q3656 ai i+6c 1-7( reworked Pentateuch C) we learn of as ongofM iriam with an invitation to the women to join in: see Crawford( 2003,3 6-37).  ForP hilo'si nterpretation of the Exodus story elsewhere in his writings,s ee Bloch 2015. are destroyed. The event could scarcelyb ed escribed in more neutral terms. Moreover,t he gesture that concludes the feast,t he adoration of the rising sun, can be shown to be part of manyo therr eligions.¹²² Finally, Philo praises those who so completelyd evote themselvest oc ontemplation of nature (θεωρία φύσεως)a s" citizens of Heavena nd the world" (οὐρανοῦ μὲνκ α ὶκ ό σμου πολῖται). They are set beside the "Father and Maker of all" (πατρὶ καὶ ποιητῇ τῶν ὅλων γνησίως συσταθέντες)because they have soughtthe highest degreeofvirtue (καλοκἀγαθία)and happiness (εὐδαιμονία).¹²³ This combination of Stoic and Platonic ideals raises the question of who the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides actuallyw eref or Philo.

Therapeutic allegoresis andt he religious and politicali dentity of Philo'sT herapeutae and Therapeutrides
Giventhe author,the reader inclines at once to infer thatthe group of Therapeutae and Therapeutrides must be Jews. That Jewish ritual surpasses otherforms of worship of God is part of the tradition of Jewish polemic against idols.¹²⁴ Worship of "the Self-existent who is better thant he good, purer thant he one and more primordial than the Monad" (Cont.  (87). Thus the ethnic identity of the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides remains deliberatelyvague. This community of philosophers and priests, with its studies of the "laws and oracles delivered through the mouth of prophets,and psalms and anything else which fosters and perfectsk nowledge and piety",¹²⁷ proves itself the equal of the Egyptian priests and theirr eligious knowledge and practice, so highlya cclaimed by Diodorus, Cornutus, Chaeremon, and Plutarch.¹²⁸ As we have seen, Chaeremon claimed that the allegorical method used to discover the deeper truth behindthese myths and rituals was developed by the Egyptian priestst hemselves.¹²⁹ That of the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides is likewise very ancient.I tc omes from the books of the ancients and "founders of their wayo ft hinking (οἳ τῆςα ἱ ρ έ σεως ἀρχηγέται), who left manym emorials of the form used( καθάπερ τισὶν ἀρχετύποις)i na llegorical interpretation and these they take as ak ind of archetype and imitate the method in which this principle is carried out" (29). Moreover the content of their scriptures goes beyond the etymological methods used by Cornutus and Chaeremon and pointst ot he highest idea of reality: The exposition of the sacreds criptures treats the inner meaningc onveyedi na llegory (δι᾽ ὑπονοιῶν ἐν ἀλληγορίαις). Fort ot hese people, the whole lawb ook seems to resemble a livingc reature with the literal ordinancef or its bodya nd for its soul the invisible mind στήμη καὶ θεωρίατ ῶ νπ ερὶ φύσιν; Cont. 64: ἐπιστήμη καὶ θεωρίατ ῶ ντ ῆ ςφ ύ σεως πραγμάτων) and all virtues (Mos.2 .216; Spec.2 .62; Cont.90).  Cf. Birnbaum (1996,119 -120).  Cont.2 5.  See p. 140 -141above. Matusova(2010,1-51)suggests that the accountisbased on (Egyptian and) Orphic methods of interpretation of sacred texts,s uch as the Derveni Papyrus.  See n. 98 above. laid up in its wording. ¹³⁰ It is in this mind especiallythat the rational soul (ἡ λογικὴ ψυχή) begins to contemplatethe things akin to itself (τὰ οἰκεῖαθεωρεῖν)and lookingthroughthe words as throughamirror (ὥσπερ διὰ κατόπτρου)b eholds the marvelous beauties of the concepts,u nfolds and removes the symbolic coverings and brings forth the thoughts and sets them bare to the light of dayf or those whon eed but al ittle reminding (ὑπόμνησις) to enable them to discern the inward and hidden throught he outwarda nd visible.¹³¹ Therapeutic allegoresis is thus the (byt his time perfectlyc onventional) path to the Platonic ideas.¹³² It helps one rise abovethe visible world, remember original Being,a nd so behold original Beauty.P lutarch, in very similar fashion,r egards the garments of Isis and Osiris as the culmination of his platonisingi nterpretation of the cult of Isis. He interprets the whiteg arment of Osiris, donned only once, as asymbol for the thoughtofthe pure and holyIntelligibility,for "the apperception of the conceptual, the pure, and the simple, shiningthrough the soul like af lash of lightning, affords an opportunityt ot oucha nd see it but once" (tr.B abbitt).¹³³ Fort his reason Platoa nd Aristotle call this part of philosophyt he epoptic (ἐποπτικόν)o r mystic part,i nasmucha st hose who have passed beyond these conjectural and confused matters of all sorts by means of Reason proceed by leapsa nd bounds to the primary,s imple, and immaterial principle; and when they have somehow attained contact with the pure truth abidinga bout it,they think that they have the whole of philosophycompletely,a si t werew ithin their grasp (tr.B abbitt).¹³⁴ Thereforewhen the Egyptian priests "conceal the truth and call Osiristhe leader and king of the dead",itisclear to the Platonist that this can mean nothing other than thatthe immaculate and non-substantial Godhead is the leader and king of souls released from their bodies, who adhere to him and behold the "unutterable and indescribable beauty".¹³⁵ Philo's Therapeutae and Therapeutrides and Plutarch share the fundamental Platonic conviction that the goal of human understanding is to behold the highest Idea and Beauty.Both make use of allegorical interpretations of religious tra- The imagec omes from Pl. Phdr. 246c. Cf. also Philo, QG 3.3.  Cont.7 8. Fort he idea of recall cf. Pl., Meno 81a; Philo, Praem.9 .  Philo is the first witness to Platonist allegories,yet sees himself as one among manyothers, cf. Lamberton1 986,44-54.  Plut., De Is.et Os. 77 (382c -d).  Ibid. 77 (382d -e).  Ibid. 78 (382e -383a). There is discussiona bout whether Plutarchi segyptianisingplatonic thought (Brenk 1999) or platonisingEgyptian myths and rituals (Richter 2001;Nuffelen 2011, 48 -71).
Best practice. Religious reformation in Philo'sr epresentation ditionst oi dentify ap ath to that goal. Yetw hile for Plutarch philosophyi st he prerequisitef or truthful worship and the avoidance of superstition as well as the true interpretation of religious symbols and rites,¹³⁶ Philo declareshis Egyptian God-worshippers to be the originators of allegory as apath to philosophical understanding.¹³⁷ Philo'sE gyptian priestsa re both at once: practitionerso fa most eminent and ancient religious practice and thereby as ourceo fo riginal and untouched truth and its best and most experienced interpreters.

Conclusion
In De vita contemplativa Philo presents the ethnographyo fa ni deal group of people who are philosophers. The 'Therapeutic race' exists among all the peoples of the world, but the best of them are to be found in Egypt,m ore precisely at Lake Mareotis south of Alexandria. Their name refers to theira bilitiesi nt he most important arts of healing.The temperate climate in which they live;t heir pious, simple and ascetic lifestyle; and their religious festivals surpass the ideals of the time. Therefore, the group resembles the 'mare-milk drinking Mysians',the 'most righteous of men' and thus the ideal barbarians on the fringes of the inhabited world. Their allegoricali nterpretations of scripture and hymns show them to be true philosophers. Through their piety,t hey surpass others' ideas about God.
Philo'saccount contains nearlyall the heads thatbelong to the genre of ethnographic description.¹³⁸ As often, the focus is on religious and culturalusages. But what is lacking in Philo, apart from afew hints such as the mention of books by the founders of the school (29),isany information about the origins and history of the 'race'.Henceheobscures the link between Therapeutic eusebeia and their religious tradition, namelyJ udaism.
As in many other ethnographies,a ne ssential impetus is the criticism of social conditions in the writer'sown reference-group. In Philo'scase, it involves ac ritique of Greek and Egyptian ideas about God, the wayG reek philosophers dealt with the issue of property,a nd the symposium as practised in Philo's own time and even as represented in the paradigmatic Classical versions. However,P hilo keeps not onlyh is own Jewish identity but also that of the Egyptian  Nuffelen (2011, 60).  On closer inspection,however, "the founders of their wayofthinking" (29) turn out as biblical figuresand authors whilethe allegorical method was used by others Jewish philosophers as well, not at least Philo himself. See Niehoff (2011, 165 -168) has shown.  Müller (1972, 113 -14); Parker (2008).
'sect' entirelyi nt he background. It is true that he employs the first person singular pronoun eleven times -remarkable in such as hort text¹³⁹ -but this narrative Iisprimarilyacommunicative device: it givesinternal indicators,introduces clarifications, and anticipates possible ridicule and lack of understanding of awine-free symposium.¹⁴⁰ But nearlyhalf of these self-referential statements locate the narrator within Graeco-Roman culture.¹⁴¹ In other words, the narrative I here is not Jewish but Greek. The emic ethnographic gaze of aJ ewish author upon aJ ewish group thereby turns into an etic description.
But whyd oes Philo hide his Jewishi dentity and present his authorial voice as aG reek one? There are no doubt manyp ossiblea nswers to this question. One is that the fictitious authorial voice helps initiallytohide and onlygradually reveal the true religious identity of the group and to construct Judaism as ar eligious practice comparable to thato fE gyptian priests. Moreover,w ith Philo's etic description of Therapeutic eusebeia, he is able to represent the religious life led by the Therapeutae as the universal ideal for all of humankind and especiallyfor Greek culture. Henceh ea lso underscores the use of ancientethnographytocriticise an indigenous -here Greek -decline in morals. However,his ascetic religious group on Lake Mareotis,i tself just the most exemplary of many analogous forms, remains an exceptional phenomenon, separated from the world and incorporatingt he highestp hilosophicali deals. Herei sagroup that exists beyond the world, in the vicinity of the Father and Creator.A nd 'beyond the world' means thatm embership can be gainedo nlyt hrough personal imitation of its goal of happiness through perfect virtue.