Putting Philo of Alexandria Back into Judaism

Philo of Alexandria (ca. 20 BCE–50 CE) was the first person to write books explaining Judaism to a non-Jewish audience, the first to record a description of a pogrom, the first to try to reconcile Judaism with Greek thought, and the first to write about Judaism in the idiom of Western philosophy. He is also difficult to place in Jewish history: it is unclear whether he knew of the early rabbis or they of him; later Jewish thought paid no attention to him until around the 16th century; and his allegorical readings of the Bible differ greatly from the approaches favored by rabbinic Judaism. In fact, his work was largely preserved because of ancient Christian authors.