Temple ideology in the writings of Jewish Alexandria

Abstract

This paper attempts to demonstrate the ways in which Philo and the writers of 3 Maccabees, the Letter of Aristeas and the Wisdom of Solomon used the tools of Greek philosophy and Jewish culture. After a summary of the social and literary relationship of the Alexandrian community to Jerusalem and the Temple there, a close reading of the four authors' works reveals the ways which the idea of Temple ties the Jews to their brethren in Palestine and to the Greek world which surrounded them.