Bloglines

I find Bloglines more and more useful; instead of surfing around, I can just log into Bloglines, and get a quick overview of which blogs have new postings. For the time being I subscribe to 27 different weblogs; I dont have time to have a look at each one of these each day to check if they contain any interesting news: by bloglines I don't need to.
Well this may sound like a well paid recommendation; it is not. I just wanted to direct your attention to an effective way of even subscribing to this Philo of Alexandria weblog!
Have a nice day (or night, if you are on the other side of the globe)!

Aufstieg und Niedergang der rømischen Welt..

On the third page of my Resource Pages for Biblical Studies I have a link to a German site providing information about the contents of the various volumes of ANRW. Now I can also point to another site that even provides info about the structures of the various articles.
Those being more optimistic that I, would probably also ask when the articles too are published on the web. .... I do think we will have to wait for that. But in the meantime, the following links provide great help in searching for relevant articles in the many volumes of the ANRW.

The main site for ANRW is here. If using their search engine, looking for Philo, you will find 15 articles more or less dealing with Philo of Alexandria.

Then, and that is what I discovered rquite recently, at The Institute for the Classical Tradition (ICT) at Boston University, affiliated with the Department of Classical Studies, you will find the following:
Index page for ANRW. This page includes links to Volumes in Print, and Volumes in Preparation.Furthermore, and this is what makes this site more helpful than the one mentioned above, is the possibility of having a look at the structures (=list of contents) of the individual articles. I have provided links to the List of contents of each of these articles listed below. Just click on the name of the authors below, and you will get into the list of contents for the various articles.
Barraclough, R., Philo’s Politics. Roman Rule and Hellenistic Judaism II.21.1 (1984) 417-553
Borgen, P., Philo of Alexandria. A Critical and Synthetical Survey of Research since World War II II.21.1 (1984) 98-154
Cazeaux, J., Philon d’Alexandrie, exégète II.21.1 (1984) 156-226
Conley, Th.M., Philo’s Rhetoric: Argumentation and Style II.21.1 (1984) 343-371
Hilgert, E., Bibliographia Philoniana 1935-1981 II.21.1 (1984) 47-97
Kraus Reggiani, Clara, I rapporti tra l’impero romano e il mondo ebraico al tempo di Caligola secondo la ‘Legatio ad Gaium’ di Filone Alessandrino II.21.1 (1984) 554-586
Mack, B.L., Philo Judaeus and Exegetical Traditions in Alexandria II.21.1 (1984) 227-271
Pearson, B.A., Philo and Gnosticism II.21.1 (1984) 295-342
Sandmel, S., Philo Judaeus: An Introduction to the Man, his Writings, and his Significance II.21.1 (1984) 3-46
Savon, H., Saint Ambroise et saint Jérôme, lecteurs de Philon II.21.1 (1984) 731-759
Spicq, C., O.P., L’Épître aux Hébreux et Philon: Un cas d’Insertion de la littérature sacrée dans la Culture profane du Ier siècle (Hebr. V,11-VI,20 et le ‘De Sacrificiis Abelis et Caini’ de Philon II.25.4 (1987) 3602-3618
Terian, A., A Critical Introduction to Philo’s Dialogues II.21.1 (1984) 272-294
Trisoglio, F., Filone Alessandrino e l’esegesi cristiana. Contributo alla conoscenza dell’influsso esercitato da Filone sul IV secolo, specificatamente in Gregorio di Nazianzo II.21.1 (1984) 588-730
Winston, D., Philo’s Ethical Theory II.21.1 (1984) 372-416.

These may also be of interest to you:
LEASE, G. (Santa Cruz, Calif.) Jewish Mystery Cults since Goodenough
HAY, D. M. (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) The Psychology of Faith in Hellenistic Judaism
RIAUD, J. (Paris) Les Thérapeutes d'Alexandrie dans la tradition et dans la recherche critique jusqu'aux découvertes de Qumran
CHARLESWORTH, J. H. (Princeton, N. J.) Jewish Interest in Astrology during the Hellenistic and Roman Period
Tov, E. (Jerusalem) Die griechischen Bibelübersetzungen

The following articles from another volume may also be relevant for those interesting in the social world of Alexandria at the time of Philo:
KÁKOSY, L. (Budapest) Probleme der Religion im römerzeitlichen Ägypten
HUZAR, E. G. (East Lansing, Mich.) Emperor Worship in Julio-Claudian Egypt
HEINEN, H. (Trier) Vorstufen und Anfänge des Herrscherkultes im römischen Ägypten
RITNER, R. (Chicago, Ill.) Egyptian Magical Practice under the Roman Empire: the Demotic Spells and their Religious Context

I do think the ANRW has some very, very informative articles. The info above may help you to find what you need.

PACE

PACE = The Project on Ancient Cultural Engagement at York University, (cf. former posting) is really an interesting project:
"The Project on Ancient Cultural Engagement (PACE) at York University aims to recover the Ancient Mediterranean World for our time in new ways. Its focus is the set of problems arising from the encounter and interaction of cultures: representation of one's own group and others', motivations for learning about or depicting the other, stereotypes (e.g., the barbarian) and rhetorical commonplaces, attraction to the exotic or revulsion at the alien, conscious assimilation or repudiation, and all the attendant problems of identity-construction. Needless to say, these are issues of great contemporary significance, but they were also addressed with remarkable fullness and deliberation in the cultural encounters begun by Alexander the Great's conquests and continuing through the Roman period. Even where we lack deliberate or sophisticated analysis by the ancients, they provide vast amounts of material, which we are sometimes able to check against material remains, for modern reflection."They describe their procedures further thus: As a framework for grounding this broad initiative, we have settled upon the “dynamic” or “living” commentary. Taking advantage of web-based possibilities, we are identifying major authors from Greco-Roman antiquity who stand conspicuously at the confluence of cultures. They might be chiefly observers of the other–“ethnographers” such as Herodotus or Tacitus (Germania)–or, more important for our issues, authors who found themselves actually negotiating these intersections in their work (Polybius of Megalopolis, Diodorus of Sicily, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Lucian of Samosata). We begin with Flavius Josephus, whose large and varied literary corpus has singular merits for this problem set.
A fascinating project, combining more ordinary paper print publications with an extensive use of the posibilities of the world wide web. It will be very interesting to see how this develops: So far I did not see anything on Philo in the presentations available so far, but if they are to follow up the program described above, he can hardly be left out.

International Josephus Colleqium

You may well have read this already on Jim Davila's PaleoJudaica Blog, but it seem to be deserve a reference here too: An International Colloqium On Josephus is to be held in Dublin on 5-8 September, sponsored by the Project on Ancient Cultural Achievement (PACE) at York University, which is chaired by Steve Mason.
The project described in the link above is interesting by itself; the program og the particular conference can be studied here: International Josephus Colloqium.

For those going to San Antonio in November

Let me follow up on a recent blog by Mark Goodacre. He points out that the program for the Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society is no online. Their 56th Annual Meeting is held November 17-19, 2004, in San Antonio, Texas; that is just before the SBL Annual Meeting. Theme for the Meeting is "What is Truth?"
The program is available in two formats; a full program (64pp), and an abbreviated version (32pp).

One might ask: Among its many lectures and seminars on both testaments, on hermeneutics, and systematic theology, are there any related to Philo. No! As far as I could find; Nothing.

There is also another conference on Biblical studies in the same week. The Institute of Biblical Research, has a shorter Annual Meeting, a two-days conference on Friday evening and Saturday morning. Nothing explicitly on Philo here, but the lectures on Saturday is on the importance of the Septuagint for Biblical studies:
Old Testament Paper: "The Importance of the Septuagint for Old Testament Studies Today," by Peter Gentry, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY.
New Testament Paper: "The Importance of the Septuagint for New Testament Studies Today," by Tim McLay, St. Stephens University, St. Stephen's, New Brunswick.

The amazing WWW

Again and again I realize that it will probably never be possible -not only not to know what is out there on the Web-, but not even to be able to imagine what diverse stuff people are publishing out there.
Today I was struck by a note of N.S. Gill, on her weblog Ancient/Classical History, on the date of the burning ot Temple in Jerusalem. Was it August 5?
This led me further on to the following page on Astronomy Dates/Biblical Events.

You may take it or leave it for what it is; I have my thoughts. But at least it is interesting as a witness of the overwhelming amount of material on various items and issues published about on the www.

That's what struck me this morning. Have a nice day!

Epigrams of Martial online

I have added a new blog to my Bloglines list of interesting blogs; this is on the Epigrams of Martial. The owner and editor of the blog intends to translate all of Martials epigrams online, providing both the latin text and english translation online, including the possibilities for the reades of adding comments.

It may sound somewhat remote form philonic studies, but nevertheless; it gives you glimpses of the first century C.E. Roman social world of Martial.

You can access the blog here: Martialis.

Bible and Interpretation site

Due to a note on Jim West's weblog, I have noted that the very informative website Bible and Interpretation has some problems continuing their work.
This site, with its stated goal of being "Dedicated to delivering the latest news, features, editorials, commentary, archaeological interpretation and excavations relevant to the study of the Bible for the public and biblical scholars" has certainly porved valuable in gathering relevant information from various sources.
A brief note on their main page pinpoints that "Due to funding problems, Bible and Interpretation is unable to continue publishing. We hope to return in the near future."
This is sure sad news as this site has provided much good information on just the Bible and Interpretation in recent years, bringing articles and comments on fields like Archaeology, Biblical Interpretation, Dead Sea Scrolls, Historical Jesus, New Testament, Old Testament, Second Temple Judaism, and Science and Religion.
It is really to be hoped that they can manage to "return in the near future."