1. In every age since time began have seven sages lived.2. At first of every age these sages meet to note the course of nations, peoples, tribes and tongues;3. To note how far toward justice, love and righteousness the race has gone;4. To formulate the code of laws, religious postulates and plans of rule best suited to the coming age.5. An age had passed, and lo, another age had come; the sages must convene.6. Now, Alexandria was the centre of the world’s best thought, and here in Philo’s home the sages met.7. From China came Meng-ste; from India Viyapati came; from Persia Kaspar came; and from Assyria Ashbina came; from Greece Apollo; Matheno was the Egyptian sage, and Philo was the chief of Hebrew thought.
Philo of Alexandria also confirms that Theophrastus believed the story of Atlantis, and he himself believed it.
Philo stated his theology both through the negation of opposing ideas and through detailed, positive explanations of the nature of God; he contrasted the nature of God with the nature of the physical world.
Philo did not consider God similar to Heaven, the world, or man; he affirmed a transcendent God without physical features or emotional qualities resembling those of human beings.
Following Plato, Philo equates matter to nothingness and sees its effect in fallacy, discord, damage, and decay of things.
To Philo, God exists beyond time and space and God does not make special interventions into the world because God already encompasses the entire cosmos.
Philo also integrated select theology from the rabbinic tradition, including God's transcendence, and humankind's inability to behold an ineffable God.
1. In every age since time began have seven sages lived.2. At first of every age these sages meet to note the course of nations, peoples, tribes and tongues;3. To note how far toward justice, love and righteousness the race has gone;4. To formulate the code of laws, religious postulates and plans of rule best suited to the coming age.5. An age had passed, and lo, another age had come; the sages must convene.6. Now, Alexandria was the centre of the world's best thought, and here in Philo's home the sages met.7. From China came Meng-ste; from India Viyapati came; from Persia Kaspar came; and from Assyria Ashbina came; from Greece Apollo; Matheno was the Egyptian sage, and Philo was the chief of Hebrew thought.8. The time was due; the council met and sat in silence seven days.9. And then Meng-ste arose and said, The wheel of time has turned once more; the race is on a higher plane of thought.10. The garments that or fathers wove have given out; the cherubim have woven a celestial cloth; have placed it in our hands and we must make for men new garbs.11. The sons of men are looking up for greater light.
All Egypt craves the light.17. And Philo said, The need of Hebrew thought and life is liberty.18. The Hebrew prophets, seers, and givers of the law, were men of power, men of holy thought, and they bequeathed to us a system of philosophy that is ideal; one strong enough and good enough to lead our people to the goal of perfectness.19. But carnal minds repudiated holiness; a priesthood filled with selfishness arose, and purity in heart became a myth; the people were enslaved.20. The priesthood is the curse of Israel; but when he comes, who is to come, he will proclaim emancipation for the slaves; my people will be free.21. Behold, for God has made incarnate wisdom, love and light, which he has called Immanuel.22. To him is given the keys to open up the dawn; and here, as man, he walks with us.23. And then the council chamber door was opened and the Logos stood among the sages of the world.24. Again the sages sat in silence seven days.
The seven battles must be fought, the seven victories won before the carnal things, like fear, and self, emotions and desire, are put away.12. When this is done the Christ will take possession of the soul; the work is done, and man and God are one.13. And Philo wrote the seventh:14. A perfect man!
They said,20. A multitude of men were forty and six years in building up this house, and this young stranger claims that he will build it up in three score hours; his words were idle, and his claims are naught.21. And then they took the scourge with which he drove the merchants out, and would have driven him away; but Philo, who had come from Egypt to attend the feast, stood forth and said,22. You men of Israel, hear!
(9) - Philo of Alexandria also confirms that Theophrastus believed the story of Atlantis, and he himself believed it.
There was like a three-year waiting period that Philo talks about.
Philo and Josephus both say that the average age of an Essene in their time was over a hundred years, maybe 120.
Philo does not name Amram explicitly in every section, but in §4, he writes:
While Philo does not always repeat genealogies, he assumes familiarity with the biblical background, which names Amram.
The deity Kronos, being referred to as "El" is a topic that stems from some interpretations of ancient Phoenician and broader Canaanite mythology, often derived from works by ancient historians like Philo of Byblos or Sanchuniathon, as well as interpretations of inscriptions and texts that have been uncovered in the Levant region.
Philo of Byblos was a 1st-century CE Greek writer who translated texts attributed to Sanchuniathon, an ancient Phoenician historian.
In his work, Philo tried to present the Phoenician myths in a way that was comprehensible to a Greek audience.
According to Philo, Kronos was a Phoenician deity who was also called El.
The works of Eusebius of Caesarea, specifically his "Praeparatio Evangelica", preserve fragments from Philo of Byblos' writings.
Eusebius' references to Philo of Byblos include mentions of El/Kronos sacrificing his own son, which has parallels to Phoenician religious rituals.
Philo of Byblos: Through the fragments preserved by Eusebius, Philo equates Kronos with El and details rituals and myths that align Kronos with Phoenician and Canaanite traditions.
Eusebius of Caesarea: Preserves Philo's texts and adds a layer of Hellenistic interpretation, equating Kronos with El.
Early Jewish Midrash works, as described by the philosopher Philo in his Questiones, depict Nimrod as the instigator of the Tower of Babel and the persecutor of the Jewish patriarch Abraham for his refusal to participate in the project.
Kronos in Phoenician tradition, as described by Philo of Byblos (a 1st-century AD Phoenician historian whose works largely come from Sanchuniathon’s now-lost writings), was a father figure akin to the ruling deity over the world during a primordial time, just as he was in Greek tradition.
Much of our knowledge of Phoenician mythology comes from Philo of Byblos, who translated and interpreted earlier Phoenician texts.
Philo's writings indicate that Kronos was also associated with a form of sacrifice.
Sanchuniathon and Philo of Byblos: The idea that Kronos was called "Israel" comes primarily from Philo of Byblos, who is one of our main sources for Phoenician mythology.
Philo claimed to translate the works of an earlier Phoenician writer named Sanchuniathon.
However, it should be noted that Philo’s reliability is often debated among scholars, and his writings combine Phoenician myth with Hellenistic interpretations.
This blending is part of why Kronos (Greek) and El or Israel (Canaanite/Phoenician) might have been equated in Philo’s writings.
The claim that "in certain Phoenician texts, the deity Kronos was referred to as 'El' or 'Israel'" largely stems from the writings of Philo of Byblos, who, in the 1st-2nd century CE, translated and interpreted the earlier works of the Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon.
Philo of Byblos is one of the few sources who provides detailed information on Phoenician religion.
His work, Phoenician History, was supposedly derived from the original writings of Sanchuniathon, who, according to Philo, had access to older, sacred records of Phoenicia.
Philo attempted to interpret Phoenician religion in terms that would be comprehensible to Greek and Roman readers.
In Philo's accounts, Kronos is mentioned as one of the primary gods of the Phoenicians.
Philo’s writings suggest that Kronos held a name or title associated with "Israel," possibly pointing to an understanding of this figure as the patriarch or foundational entity of a group or people—akin to Jacob, who was renamed Israel and was the father of the 12 tribes of Israel.
This name usage also indicates an effort by Philo to link the mythology of the Phoenicians with the biblical narrative, either to make sense of the interconnections between the cultures or to express a syncretic viewpoint in which the traditions shared a common foundation.
By attributing the name "Israel" to Kronos, the Phoenicians or Philo might have been emphasizing his role as a ruling patriarch—a position analogous to that of Jacob in the Israelite tradition.
The Greeks equated Kronos with the Roman Saturn, and Philo, in turn, equated Kronos with the Phoenician El, adding the association with "Israel." This reflects the syncretic practices of identifying different cultural myths with similar archetypes to create cohesion in the ancient Mediterranean world.
Philo may have been influenced by the Hellenistic trend of integrating foreign deities into familiar Greek frameworks.
The claim that Kronos was referred to as "El" or "Israel" comes primarily from the writings of Philo of Byblos, who translated and interpreted earlier Phoenician sources.
However, these interpretations should be understood within the context of Philo's possible biases and the interpretative nature of his work.
Early Jewish Midrash works, as described by the philosopher Philo in his Questiones, depict Nimrod as the instigator of the Tower of Babel and persecutor of the Jewish patriarch Abraham for his refusal to participate in the project.
After setting out these definitions in his preface, Philo next begins his interpretation of Sanchuniathon and he presents the Phoenician theology roughly as follows:
Let these selections serve as examples from the writing of Sanchuniathon, which was interpreted by Philo of Byblos and whose veracity is attested by the testimony of the philosopher Porphyry.
(There follows a short passage from the work “On the Jews” by Philo, which also credits Taautos with the discovery of true “theology.” Cf.
The Phoenicians understand Kronos according to the interpretation of a similar name or according to some allegory, as one may gather from the second book of the work on Phoenicia by Herennius Philo.
Philo in his work on Phoenicia says Nasibis, with an “a”… Nasibis, as Philo says, means “steles.”
529 b27)This one, too, says nonsensically that Moses is called Alpha, because his body was afflicted with leprosy (ἀλφοίς) and he calls Philo as a witness to the falsehood.
The only commentaries the early western world had about the existence of the Essenes came from classical writers such as Josephus, Philo, and Pliny the Elder.
They are known primarily through ancient writers: Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, and Pliny the Elder for the Essenes, and almost exclusively Philo for the Therapeutae.
Philo contrasts them deliberately:
These Essenes or Essæans, in the days of Philo and Josephus, were imbued with the utmost reverence for Moses and the Law.
Philo distinguishes the Essenes from the Therapeuts by saying that the former were devoted to the "practical" life, while the latter proceeded to the higher stage of the "contemplative" life, and devoted themselves to still higher problems of religion and philosophy, and it is in this direction that we must look for the best in Gnosticism.
Note: this connection appears in Philo of Byblos (1st–2nd century CE), who reports that the Phoenician god El/Elus was equated with Kronos.