Includes index.

Front Matter -- Copyright page -- Preface / Francesca Alesse -- Philo of Alexandria and Myth-Telling -- Philo’s Refashioning of Greek Myth / Erich S. Gruen -- Philo’s Reception of Greek Mythology / Geert Roskam -- Histoires grecques, récits bibliques. La lecture des mythes chez Philon d’Alexandrie / Francesca Calabi -- Polytheos doxa and Mythologein: Philo of Alexandria as a “Historian of Religions” / Giulia Sfameni Gasparro -- Philo’s Struggle with Jewish Myth / René Bloch -- Gods, Heroes, and some Monsters -- The God of the Philosophers, and the God of Israel / Erkki Koskenniemi -- Philo of Alexandria on Greek Heroes / Pura Nieto Hernández -- Heracles and Philo of Alexandria: The Son of Zeus between Torah and Philosophy, Empire and Stage / Courtney J. P. Friesen -- The Greek Character of Philo’s Biblical Giants: A Reading of QG 2.82 / Benjamin Garstad -- Homer in Philo: Scylla’s Myth in Philonic Philosophical Context / Marta Alesso -- Les « plaies » d’Empédocle et la mythologie infernale chez Philon d’Alexandrie / Lucia Saudelli -- Back Matter -- Index.

In Philo of Alexandria and Greek Myth: Narratives, Allegories, and Arguments, a fresh and more complete image of Philo of Alexandria as a careful reader, interpreter, and critic of Greek literature is offered. Greek mythology plays a significant role in Philo of Alexandria’s exegetical oeuvre. Philo explicitly adopts or subtly evokes narratives, episodes and figures from Greek mythology as symbols whose didactic function we need to unravel, exactly as the hidden teaching of Moses’ narration has to be revealed by interpreters of Bible. By analyzing specific mythologems and narrative cycles, the contributions to this volume pave the way to a better understanding of Philo’s different attitudes towards literary and philosophical mythology.