Jewish Women Philosophers of First-Century Alexandria

The Therapeutae were a Jewish group of ascetic philosophers who lived outside Alexandria in the middle of the first century CE. They are described in Philo's treatise <em>De Vita Contemplativa</em> and have often been considered in comparison with early Christians the Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls. But who were they really? This study focuses particularly on issues of history rhetoric women and gender in a wide exploration of the group and comes to new conclusions about the Therapeutae and their relationship with the Jewish allegorical school of exegesis in Alexandria. The volume includes a new translation of <em>De Vita Contemplativa</em>.