Philo and Eusebius on the Therapeutae

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Leucius Charinus
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Re: Philo and Eusebius on the Therapeutae

Post by Leucius Charinus »

Who were the therapeutae in antiquity?

https://bcharchive.org/2/thearchives/sh ... l?t=321948
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billd89
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Re: 100 pages of bavardage on the Therapeutae?

Post by billd89 »

Is there anything of great value in that enormous 10-year old thread?

Given what Herodotus (c.430 BC) says about the "Persian mercenaries" at Lake Mareotis "facing Libya" and the visible fortifications at Taposiris Magna (the Western-most city, to Alexandria's approach), I suppose the Therapeutae occupied their ancestral barracks close-by. Two limestone ridges overlook a fertile plain: ideal defense. Any land attack from the west could be contained at that narrow strip, about 1.5km wide. Taposiris was built c.280-270 BCE, 2-4 generations after the Aramaean mercenaries (Judaic Melchizedians) had disbanded and settled farmland about 5 kms to the east. This, I think, is the "Therapeuts' homeland": Philo's description (as Conybeare and Taylor have noted) fits this area better than any other. To be more (absurdly?) precise: on modern maps, near the gas station at Al Jamiah, Elevation 37 meters. On the map below, note the long jetty: there.

Who were they? Heterodox (Proto-?)Jews, converted scribes and healers from various temples who had joined the (Jewish) offspring of the mercenary-tax collector class, writing for and representing a forward-looking Judaism to syncretistic synagogues near and far. I believe it's very likely that 'the First Christians' (or their immediate predecessors) were actual 'Therapeuts' or their students, c.30-60 AD. By his implication, Philo's colony functioned as a Diaspora collegia for several generations. (The chrism sales operation was likely separate, a different venture; nothing of the sort is suggested by DVC. But Taposiris Magna was famous for Cleopatra, whose perfume was legendary, and that luxe product exported from somewhere. Therapeutae as travelling chrism dealers also makes sense, at some point.)

Had these Jewish Allegorists already been assimilated by 'Sethians' c.5 BC? Did they move abroad, to far-flung cities in 38 AD? Herein lies the unsolved mystery: the Therapeuts' connection to Classical Gnosticism.

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Link:
Taposiris itself faces the lake, not the nearby sea. It should be understood that the towns main commercial actives were directed towards wares in transit on Lake Mariut and over land routes. The ruins of the town cover more than a square kilometer and are almost completely unexcavated. The tops of the walls of buildings show through on the surface just about everywhere. [...] The layout of the lakeshore here is interesting. A long breakwater built some three meters above the level of the lake extends from north to south for over 300 meters. The northern end of the breakwater is joined to the southern shore by a wall that barricades the basin and prevents all movement. Hence, boats were required to pass beneath a bridge which connected the breakwater to the northern shore. These structures clearly were used to facilitate traffic control and tax collection; [this] probably served as a customs checkpoint for boats coming from or going to Alexandria. In fact, the existence of a long wall, known as the wall of the Barbarians, which blocks the onshore route to the west of the temple of Osiris, confirms that Taposiris' main function was that of a customs station. This wall, which is made from large blocks of local limestone during the Greek Period is still visible. It ran from the sea to the lake, thus blocking the way of caravans traveling in both directions.

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