Acknowledgements
This book had its beginning at a conference in Münster on Philo (2019), where I presented a paper on the Probus and Gregory Sterling kindly offered me to write the commentary on this treatise for the Brill series of Philo of Alexandria Commentaries. Greg moreover accommodated my special request to print the whole Greek text of the Probus in the form of lemmata in the section called “Detailed Comments” and offered himself careful comments on the completed manuscript, which improved both the translation and the commentary. An additional reader gave me constructive comments. I also thank David Runia, another member of the editorial committee, who eagerly accompanied my work from the beginning. He was always happy to answer questions on Greek philosophy and read drafts of chapters with a critical, yet sympathetic eye.
Throughout my work on this book, I have immensely benefitted from the input of friends and colleagues. Margalit Finkelberg was once more an inspiring companion from the first ruminations to the last deliberations. She read drafts of chapters with meticulous attention and was always ready to answer questions regarding Greek literature. Furthermore, prompted by conversations with the late David Konstan at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, I started my translation and commentary with the chapter on Heracles, which was carefully read and commented upon by him and his late wife Pura Nieto Hernandez as well as by Luigi Battezzato and Jan Bremmer. Other sections were read with equal dedication by Ulrike Babusiaux, Catharine Edwards, Yair Furstenberg, Etienne Helmer, Mischa Meier and Johann Thom. Stephen Menn went beyond the call of duty by reading several chapters, scrutinizing the translation, offering most useful comments and drawing my attention to important bibliography for further research. His own focus on logic and classical philosophy moreover helped me refine my historical argument about Hellenistic philosophy in a Roman context. Finally, working on Philo’s Greek text, I developed a new method to fully appreciate the delicacies of his style and started my work on each paragraph by paraphrasing and analyzing it in my own Greek. I discussed each of these essays with Michael Kopf, a former instructor at the Polis Institute in Jerusalem, where ancient languages are taught in the Israeli Ulpan style of full immersion. Michael was a wonderful teacher and conversation partner in koine.
Several fellowships and special lectures provided welcome space for intensive work on the Probus and allowed me to experiment with ideas. In the winter semester of 2019–2020, I enjoyed the hospitality of Tübingen University as the inaugural Martin Hengel Fellow and wish to thank especially Volker Drecoll, Irmgard Männlein and Mischa Meier for their warm hospitality and stimulating conversations. The fellowship also involved organizing an international conference, the proceedings of which have been published as The Art of Contextualizing Philo of Alexandria, Tübingen 2025. The Leopold Lucas Prize Lecture at Tübingen University (2022) furthermore enabled me to clarify my views on Hellenistic Judaism in comparison to those held by Martin Hengel (Judentum und Hellenismus/Judaism and Hellenism, Lucas Preisvortrag, Tübingen 2024).
In 2020, I delivered the Annual Vassiliadis Lecture at the University of California St. Diego, Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Endowed Lecture in the Ancient Studies Program at Indiana University. Edward Watts and Cynthia J. Bannon respectively were warm hosts and engaging discussion partners. In 2021, I was invited by Gabriel Danzig to deliver a lecture at the seminar of the research group Triangulating Towards Socrates, at the Israel Institute for Advanced Study, and by Andrea Rotstein to address the seminar of the Classics Department at the Hebrew University. These venues proved very stimulating. In 2024, I served as a special lecturer in the Ancient Studies program at Harvard University, where I was warmly hosted by Annette Yoshiko Reed and Giovanni Bazzana. I developed there my view on the synagogue in Philo’s report of the Essenes and enjoyed productive exchanges with numerous colleagues and graduate students.
The research group “Remapping Ancient Elites: Between West and East,” convening at Scholion—the Interdisciplinary Research Center of the Hebrew University (2022–2025), provided a highly congenial framework, continuous collegial discussions and several opportunities to present work in progress at the weekly seminars. I warmly thank my colleagues Avner Ecker, Avigail Manekin-Bamberger and Yakir Paz as well as our four doctoral students Alon Brand, Shir Hoori, Rachel Rosenbaum-Lederhandler and Oz Tamir. Einav Kotzer, our group coordinator, arranged everything with remarkable efficiency and good spirits. The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School for Advanced Study in the Humanities, of which Scholion is a part, furthermore facilitated contacts with researchers beyond our group. I thank Jakob Meir and Elyashiv Sharlow for studying with me the Jerusalem Talmud and introducing me to the scholarship in a new field. The members of the research group “In Between: Traces of Migration” (2024–2027), namely Maya Benish-Weisman, Noam Mizrahi, Orit Peleg-Barkat and Giddon Ticotsky, kindly hosted me at their seminar and provided a welcome opportunity to discuss Philo as a migrant author. Noam Mizrahi also invited me to give a lecture at the conference on Qumran and Second Temple Literature at Haifa University in 2025, which enabled me to discuss Nicolaus of Damascus as a source of inspiration for Philo’s account of the Essenes. Last, but not least, Elisheva Baumgarten, the head of the Mandel School, steered everything with exemplary courage and commitment in extremely difficult times in Israel.
The Beaufort Scholarship at Cambridge, St. John’s College (lent term 2023), considerably enriched my work. I thank Tim Whitmarsh for inviting and kindly hosting me as well as for engaging in numerous stimulating conversations inside and outside of college. Simon Goldhill regularly hosted me for Sabbath meals, passionately discussed everything Greek and invited me to join a reading group on the Babylonian Talmud. David Friedman invited me to participate in the vibrant reading group on Hellenistic Judaism. Thanks to George van Kooten, I had the opportunity to share my work at the New Testament Seminar. I furthermore thank Malcolm Schofield, the late Jim Aitken, Richard Hunter, Lea Niccolai, Stefan Reif, Nathan MacDonald and Emily Gowers for rendering my stay at Cambridge so gratifying and productive. Catharine Edwards, Rebecca Langlands and David Moffitt furthermore invited me during my fellowship to give lectures at London, Exeter and St. Andrews respectively, thus exposing my work to lively research communities.
In the spring semester of 2024, I enjoyed the generous hospitality of the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung in Munich and thank especially its new director Isabel Pfeiffer-Pönsgen and Susann Weber, its superb administrator, who did everything to render my stay most enjoyable and productive. They also accepted my spontaneous proposal to organize an international workshop on Roman law, which took place in June 2024. At the university of Munich, I benefited from meaningful conversations with Therese Fuhrer, who also gave me an office in the Classics department and invited me to give a lecture in her seminar. Johannes Platschek introduced me to the wonderful law library, making time for conversations and reading drafts of articles emerging from the Probus. Ronny Vollandt eagerly discussed everything pertaining to Judaism and invited me to give the inaugural lecture in honor of Gerschom Scholem. John Weisweiler welcomed me to the seminar of ancient history and discussed historical aspects of the Probus. I also thank the former director of the Siemens Stiftung, Heinrich Meier, for his initial invitation to deliver a lecture in 2021, which was moderated by Peter Schäfer and planted the seed for everything to come. Marcel Lepper, the interim director, warmly invited me to the fellowship.
The final touches were put to the manuscript in two deeply cherished environments: my ERC project ROMANA: the Roman Turn among Jews, Pagans and Christians (advanced grant no. 101141400, 2024–2029) and the Marko Feingold Distinguished Fellowship at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (2025), which was hosted by Kristin de Troyer and Renate Reif. The weekly seminars and reading groups of the ROMANA project provided an extraordinarily stimulating environment and produced a concrete improvement of the Introduction. My doctoral student Sergio Marín, who became one of the ROMANA fellows, helped along the way to locate secondary literature and gave me incisive comments on the Introduction. He, Xueqian Cai and Roee Scharf prepared respectively the general and the source indices with great skill and commitment. At Salzburg, the exceptional quiet, with spectacular views on the snow-covered mountains, offered an ideal framework for the completion of the manuscript.
The Israel Science Foundation, grant no. 1346/21, supported the initial research on which this commentary is based. The Silas Perry Foundation for Biblical Research at the Institute of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University and the Hebrew University Fund for Open Access Publications supported its open access publication. The editorial team of De Gruyter Brill, especially Laura Morris, Alessandra Giliberto and Nitzan Shalev, accompanied the different stages of production with remarkable prudence and efficiency. Marlou Meems and her team did a marvelous jobcopyediting, typesetting and correcting the proofs of the complex and multilingual manuscript.
Last, but not least, this book on ancient notions of freedom was written during a period when this value came under considerable threat, but also witnessed staunch support and ultimate victory. May freedom always prevail on a personal, academic, national and international level.
Jerusalem, October 2025