Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

9220

Philo Of Alexandria, On The Confusion Of Tongues, 7-10
nan But this precaution does not appear to have turned out of any use; for since that time, though men have been separated into different nations, and have no longer used one language, nevertheless, land and sea have been repeatedly filled with unspeakable evils. For it was not the languages which were the causes of men's uniting for evil objects, but the emulation and rivalry of their souls in wrong-doing.
nan for they could impart their pleasures and their annoyances to one another by their sameness of language, so that they felt pleasure together and pain together; and this similarity of manners and union of feelings lasted, until being sated with the great abundance of good things which they enjoyed, as often happens, they were at last drawn on to a desire of what was unattainable, and even sent an embassy to treat for immortality, requesting to be released from old age, and to be always endowed with the vigour of youth, saying, that already one animal of their body, and that a reptile, the serpent, had received this gift; for he, having put off old age, was allowed again to grow young; and that it was absurd for the more important animals to be left behind by an inferior one, or for their whole body to be distanced by one.
nan However, they suffered the punishment suitable to their audacity, for they immediately were separated in their language, so that, from that time forth, they have not been able to understand one another, by reason of the difference in the dialects into which the one common language of them all had been divided. IV.
nan But he who brings his account nearer the truth, has distinguished between the rational and irrational animals, so that he testifies that identity of language belong to men alone: and this also, as they say, is a fabulous story. And indeed they affirm, that the separation of language into an infinite variety of dialects, which Moses calls the confusion of tongues, was effected as a remedy for sins, in order that men might not be able to cooperate in common for deeds of wickedness through understanding one another; and that they might not, when they were in a manner deprived of all means of communication with one another, be able with united energies to apply themselves to the same actions.

Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

16 results
1. Hebrew Bible, Deuteronomy, 12.31 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE) 12.31. לֹא־תַעֲשֶׂה כֵן לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ כִּי כָּל־תּוֹעֲבַת יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר שָׂנֵא עָשׂוּ לֵאלֹהֵיהֶם כִּי גַם אֶת־בְּנֵיהֶם וְאֶת־בְּנֹתֵיהֶם יִשְׂרְפוּ בָאֵשׁ לֵאלֹהֵיהֶם׃ 12.31. Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God; for every abomination to the LORD, which He hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters do they burn in the fire to their gods."
2. Hebrew Bible, Genesis, 4.16 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE) 4.16. וַיֵּצֵא קַיִן מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה וַיֵּשֶׁב בְּאֶרֶץ־נוֹד קִדְמַת־עֵדֶן׃ 4.16. And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden."
3. Plato, Republic, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) 509d. he said. Conceive then, said I, as we were saying, that there are these two entities, and that one of them is sovereign over the intelligible order and region and the other over the world of the eye-ball, not to say the sky-ball, but let that pass. You surely apprehend the two types, the visible and the intelligible. I do. Represent them then, as it were, by a line divided into two unequal sections and cut each section again in the same ratio (the section, that is, of the visible and that of the intelligible order), and then as an expression of the ratio of their comparative clearness and obscurity you will have, as one of the section
4. Philo of Alexandria, On The Confusion of Tongues, 12-15, 2-9, 11 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) 11. For even those who have had their tongues cut out can intimate what they wish by nods and looks, and other positions and motions of the body, not less than by a distinct utterance of words. And besides this consideration, there is the fact that, very often, one nation by itself, having not merely one language, but one code of laws, and one system of manners, has arrived at such a pitch of iniquity that, as to a superfluity of wickedness, it may counterbalance the sins of all the men in the world put together.
5. Philo of Alexandria, On Flight And Finding, 54 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) 54. Knowing very well that the law is here adding no superfluous word from any indescribable impetuosity in its description of the matter, I doubted within myself why it does not merely say that he who has slain another shall die, and why it has added, that he shall die the death;
6. Philo of Alexandria, On The Change of Names, 61-62, 60 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) 60. for it is said in the scripture, "Thy name shall not be called Abram, but Abraham shall thy name be." Some, then, of those persons who are fond of disputes, and who are always eager to affix a stain upon what is irreproachable, on things as well as bodies, and who wage an implacable war against sacred things, while they calumniate everything which does not appear to preserve strict decorum in speech, being the symbols of nature which is always fond of being concealed, perverting it all so as to give it a worse appearance after a very accurate investigation, do especially find fault with the changes of names.
7. Philo of Alexandria, On The Creation of The World, 157, 170, 2, 37, 1 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) 1. of other lawgivers, some have set forth what they considered to be just and reasonable, in a naked and unadorned manner, while others, investing their ideas with an abundance of amplification, have sought to bewilder the people, by burying the truth under a heap of fabulous inventions.
8. Philo of Alexandria, On The Posterity of Cain, 3, 5-7, 2 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) 2. For if the living God has a face, and if he who desires to leave it can with perfect ease rise up and depart to another place, why do we repudiate the impiety of the Epicureans, or the godlessness of the Egyptians, or the mythical suggestions of which life is full?
9. Philo of Alexandria, On Curses, 152 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) 152. So that they are marvellously simple people who have ever had an idea of coming to the end of any branch of knowledge whatever. For that which has seemed to be near and within reach is nevertheless a long way distant from the end; since no created being is perfect in any department of learning, but falls as far short of it as a thoroughly infant child just beginning to learn does, in comparison of a man who both by age and skill is qualified to be a master. XLV.
10. Philo of Alexandria, On The Special Laws, 4.182 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) 4.182. Let not any one then think that nobility of birth is a perfect good, and therefore neglect virtuous actions, considering that that man deserves greater anger who, after he has been born of virtuous parents, brings disgrace on his parents by reason of the wickedness of his disposition and conduct; for if he has domestic examples of goodness which he may imitate, and yet never copies them, so as to correct his own life, and to render it healthy and virtuous, he deserves reproach.XXXV.
11. Philo of Alexandria, On The Virtues, 182 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) 182. for those who come over to this worship become at once prudent, and temperate, and modest, and gentle, and merciful, and humane, and venerable, and just, and magimous, and lovers of truth, and superior to all considerations of money or pleasure; just as, on the contrary, one may see that those who forsake the holy laws of God are intemperate, shameless, unjust, disreputable, weak-minded, quarrelsome, companions of falsehood and perjury, willing to sell their liberty for luxurious eating, for strong wine, for sweetmeats, and for beauty, for pleasures of the belly and of the parts below the belly; the miserable end of all which enjoyment is ruin to both body and soul.
12. Philo of Alexandria, On The Life of Moses, 2.194 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) 2.194. for the Egyptians, almost alone of all men, set up the earth as a rival of the heaven considering the former as entitled to honours equal with those of the gods, and giving the latter no especial honour, just as if it were proper to pay respect to the extremities of a country rather than to the king's palace. For in the world the heaven is the most holy temple, and the further extremity is the earth; though this too is in itself worthy of being regarded with honour; but if it is brought into comparison with the air, is as far inferior to it as light is to darkness, or night to day, or corruption to immortality, or a mortal to God.
13. Philo of Alexandria, Questions On Genesis, 3.43, 4.57 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
14. Philo of Alexandria, That The Worse Attacks The Better, 81 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) 81. And, indeed, he is accustomed diligently to record all the suggestions and purposes of God from the beginning, thinking it right to adopt his subsequent statements to aid to make them consistent with his first accounts. Therefore, after he had previously stated the breath to be the essence of the life, he would not subsequently have spoken of the blood as occupying the most important place in the body, unless he had been making a reference to some very necessary and comprehensive principle.
15. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 20.100 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
16. Nag Hammadi, The Tripartite Tractate, 76.33 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)

Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
abraham, criticism of	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316
abraham, defense of	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316
abram/abraham, change of name	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 244
abram/abraham, faith and doubt of	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 451
adam, curse of	Pomeroy, Chrysostom as Exegete: Scholarly Traditions and Rhetorical Aims in the Homilies on Genesis (2021) 262
aeons	Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
alexandria	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 244
allegory/allegoresis, homeric parallels	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 451
audience, of de abrahamo	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316
babel	Pomeroy, Chrysostom as Exegete: Scholarly Traditions and Rhetorical Aims in the Homilies on Genesis (2021) 262
barbarians	Niehoff, Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria (2011) 90
biblical interpretation	Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
bodies and realities	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 244
child sacrifice	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316
creator, creation	Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
criticism of abraham, from apostates	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316
criticism of abraham, from jews	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316
criticism of abraham	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316
doubt	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 451
education	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 451
eratosthenes	Niehoff, Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria (2011) 90
faith	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 451
father	Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
gnostic, gnosticism	Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
grace	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 244
grammatical archive, commentarial strategies, allegory (ἀλληγορία)	Ward, Clement and Scriptural Exegesis: The Making of a Commentarial Theologian (2022) 38
greeks	Niehoff, Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria (2011) 90
heaven	Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
heresy, heretics, heresiology	Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
hexameter	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 451
homer	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 451
jews and jewish tradition, rebelliousness toward	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316
metaphysics	Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
moses	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 451; Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
mutation	Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
myth, in the bible	Niehoff, Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria (2011) 90
myth	Niehoff, Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria (2011) 90
names, change of	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 244
niehoff, maren	Ward, Clement and Scriptural Exegesis: The Making of a Commentarial Theologian (2022) 38
odysseus	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 451
perfection	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 244
philo of alexandria	Ward, Clement and Scriptural Exegesis: The Making of a Commentarial Theologian (2022) 38
philos colleagues	Niehoff, Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria (2011) 90
philosophy	Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
platonism	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 451; Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
quarrelsome exegetes	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 244
rhetoric	Cover, Philo of Alexandria: On the Change of Names (2023) 451
sacrifice of isaac, ethical interpretation of	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316
sacrifice of isaac	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316
sethians	Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
text criticism, modern'	Niehoff, Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria (2011) 90
tiberius julius alexander	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316
valentinus, valentinianism	Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
wisdom	Novenson, Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (2020) 251
νόμος	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316
φιλαπεχθήμων	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316
ἱεροὶ νόμοι	Birnbaum and Dillon, Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (2020) 316