The Jewish πολίτευμα of Alexandria in the times of Philo and its political-social problems

Abstract

There is evidence of some Jewish presence in Egypt from very ancient times. Later, after the subjugation of Jerusalem by the Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar II, and in later times, there was a strong Jewish emigration to Egypt. This phenomenon continued and grew significantly along with the foundation of Alexandria, where the Hebrew community settled in the Δέλτα quarter, constituting a πολίτευμα, or civic body that stayed integrated into the common normative framework, but, at the same time, it had a significant degree of independence based on its own statute. Given its singularities, it contained a series of concessions granted to the Mosaic collective by different rulers. From the beginning, this situation was considered privileged and therefore was viewed with resentment by other groups, what raised a feeling of rejection towards the Jews that made the coexistence in the metropolis more complicated, and finally became manifest with the persecution of the Hebrew community in 38 AD.