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Philo the Epic Poet
(195 words)

[German Version]

was the Jewish author of a Greek epic on the city of Jerusalem, in the Hellenistic tradition of praise of cities. Eusebius of Caesarea (Praep. 9.20, 24, 37) transmits 24 hexameters, divided into six fragments, and attributes them to Alexander Polyhistor’s On the Jews, who himself cites them as taken from the epic On Jerusalem. Subjects treated in the fragments are Abraham, the binding of Isaac, the abode of God, Joseph and the dream interpretation, and Jerusalem’s water supply. The epic comprised at least 14 chapters, and was probably written between 200 and 100 bce in Hel…

Cite this page
Wandrey, Irina, “Philo the Epic Poet”, in: Religion Past and Present. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1877-5888_rpp_SIM_024541>
First published online: 2011
First print edition: ISBN: 9789004146662, 2006-2013



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