Arieti on Philo

James A. Arieti,
Philosophy in the Ancient World.
An Introduction
(Lanham; Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005). 386pp.

In this volume James A. Arieti provides an intellectual history of the ancient world from the eighth century BCE to the fifth century CE, that is from Homer to Boethius. The author describes the various philosophers in their social world, emphasizing how it affected and in turn was affected by eachother.
The volume is intended as a companion to primary source reading, and it is written for undergraduate courses in ancient philosophy and the history of philosophy in the West.

Areti has also published other studies on Philo(1), and includes also a chapter on Philo in this volume (pp. 299-310). As in all the other chapters this too has a set of discussion questions, Notes and a Select Bibliography added at its end.

His chapter on Philo is, however, somewhat strange to me. There is not the briefest outline of his life, no mention of the range of books he wrote nor of what topics Philo mostly dealt with. What Arieti focus on, is to demonstrate that Philo was a Platonist. This is carried out by a quote from On the Creation 89-91 on Genesis 1:26, and by a brief exposition of Philo's description of the Sabbath, and of his attention to numbers. Hence Philo is described as bringing together the secular science of the Greeks with the revealed truth of the Bible. As to the purpose of this, Arieti wonders if Philo is to be considered a proselyte for philosophy to the Jews, or trying to render Jewish ideas acceptable to the pagan world. According to Arieti, he failed, however, in both these regards. This book of Arieti has many merits, but his chapter on Philo is somewhat disappointing. To me it fails to bring a helpful introduction to Philo in the context of ancient philosophy.

Note:
James A. Arieti,’Man and God in Philo: Philo’s Interpretation of genesis 1:26.’ Lyceum 4 (1991): 1-18.