Philo of Alexandria

Philo is a Greek-speaking Jewish philosopher from the largest Jewish community outside Judea, who reads the Torah through the categories of Plato and the Stoics. He argues that the literal narratives of scripture carry a deeper allegorical meaning, treating the Patriarchs as embodiments of virtue and the commandments as training for the soul. He also leads a delegation to the emperor Caligula to plead for his community after anti-Jewish riots in Alexandria, showing that his work is not purely abstract. Though rabbinic tradition largely passes him by, he becomes foundational for Christian theology and represents the most ambitious attempt to bridge Jewish revelation and Greek reason.