tanya

In the words of the immortal Iskander, if you genuinely seek to learn, then read more, and write less.....

And, he dares to scold Pete, for an ostensible ignorance of Greek??....

As a nurse would attend a sick person?

& expanded by Pete at Post 109. Thank you Robert, well done.

Stephan Huller's text reminds me of En Attendant Godot. The principal meaning of Therapeutae may be discerned, simply by virtue of Hippocrates having gone to the trouble to cite them. If the Therapeutae bore no connection with "healing", broadly defined, why would Hippocrates make reference to them? Do you suppose that Hippocrates' birth at Kos, (as Clive had inferred, THANKS!) was unrelated to Hippocrates' interest in, and knowledge of, Therapeutae?

I claim neither sanity, nor wisdom, for myself, but I have offered a quote from Xenophon, and, in my book, he was both sane, and wise.

Yes, your submissions reflect incomprehension. Here's a hint: this thread is NOT about Philo. Try reading Duvduv's comment on that issue, it may assist you, if you are having trouble reading Robert's excellent link.

I doubt that. I deny that the Therapeutae were a Jewish sect. I deny that Philo's text confirms your hypothesis. Philo described Hercules in glowing terms in his letter to Gaius, are we then supposed to imagine that simply because Philo wrote something appreciative of the Greek mythical demigod, that therefore he was a believer in that nonsense? Nowhere in his description, does Philo reference the community as being of the Hebrew religious affiliation.

Did you read Pete's elegant OP? Do you now claim that Asklepius was Jewish, too?

I deny that the Therapeutae were Jewish, though, that particular congregation in the outskirts of Alexandria, may well have had even a majority of adherents who were of Jewish ancestry. I lack data to support or refute the notion.

By definition a "reasonable" person, on a forum devoted to skepticism, is someone, like Pete, Duvduv, Shesh, Robert, aa5874, MaryHelena, and Philosopher Jay, who challenges dogmatic, unfounded assertions.

No. Philo did not invent anything. The word, therapeutae, and the concept, are ancient, and associated with both the Greek empire, expanded under Alexander, and with colonies in Egypt, which precede arrival of Alexander, when Egypt was ruled by the Persians.

Toto

Oh, I know what this thread is about. It is about Pete riding in on one of his hobby horses and confusing different groups of ancient religious worshipers who merely shared the description "therapeutae," followed by everyone else piling on.

In the course of it, I have learned that Acharya S agrees with Eusebius that the Therapeutae were early Christians, although every other modern scholar thinks that the group described by Philo as Therapeutae was clearly Jewish.

Iskander

You are who and what has made this forum in need of repair,

tanya

:thumbs:

stephan huller

oh yeah that bad Toto. how dare he keep this forum from looking demented. tanya has been posting here as long as I can remember - first as vid and now under her current nom de guerre - and has said absolutely nothing memorable except his/her periodic threats/promises to leave which unfortunately are little more than dramatic outbursts. Why do you even come here? You seem incapable of understanding anything, lacking the intellectual capacity to grasp even basic concepts. Surely there is a cooking forum that would better suit your abilities?

His/her companion in misery was Iskander and now I see he has placed himself on self-ban. Since you have no original ideas of your own, maybe you should follow suit? Maybe if we can convince/coerce Pete to doing likewise the herd instinct with take over? We can only hope.

spin

I was led to believe that tanya's previous incarnation as avi. Can someone confirm the connections?

outhouse

I disagree.


She is very correct in this post, to a T.

stephan huller

you're right spin. avi. my carelessness to misidentify mediocrity

aa5874

Your claim appears to be mis-leading and is a logical fallacy. You do NOT know what every other modern scholar thinks about Philo's Therapeutae. You have NO source that provided such Data. You invented it or knew in advance of posting that it could not be verified.

And further, it is NOT claimed anywhere in Philo's writings that the Therapeutae were Jews of of Jewish origin regardless of what you think every other modern scholar thinks.

You are promoting "Chinese Whispers".

It is the ACTUAL contents of "On the Contemplative Life" that matters NOT the opinion of a Billion modern scholars.

I don't play the numbers game. I do NOT have to accept what a Trillion Scholars think. I deal with the DATA, the actual contents of "On the Contemplative Life".

mountainman

If you look up and see a cardboard sky you know you're in the box.

The only thing boxing you in is your unwillingness to temporarily relinquish the hypotheses to which you have subscribed, in order to test out other alternative hypotheses.


However the claim has already been made that the person who authored "VC" (the only testimony AFAIK in antiquity for a Jewish sect of therapeutae) may NOT have been Philo. Whether Philo was Jewish or not has no bearing on the nationality of an unknown "Pseudo-Philo".

What's more the fact that this "Pseudo-Philo" trashed the Hellenic culture does not imply Pseudo-Philo was Jewish. Such a trashing might indicate that Pseudo-Philo may have been a 4th century Christian, to whom the Hellenes were heretics.