Philo's Alexandria by Dorothy I. Sly

Author:Dorothy I. Sly [Sly, Dorothy I.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Ancient, General
ISBN: 9781134681105
Google: WK7MZM-nlMkC
Goodreads: 6183646
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1995-12-28T00:00:00+00:00

He characterized the women who frequented the market as loud and vulgar (Spec. 3.174). The proper lady, he said, would never be there among the crowds; if she had business to conduct, she would wait till the time of day when the streets were clear, and then she would conduct her business with despatch. She should not go about ‘like a woman who walks the streets in the sight of other men’ (Spec. 3.171).

Philo’s perception at this point is not borne out by other evidence. It would have been typical of fifth-century Athens – and in some ways Athens represented the Golden Age to Philo – but not of cosmopolitan Alexandria. In Theocritus’ Idyll 15, two housewives, Gorgo and Praxinoa, jostle their way quite independently through the crowded streets of Alexandria. And in his description of the onset of the riots against the Jews in 38, Philo himself mentions Jewish women who were arrested by the mob in the agora and the nearby theatre. Women were certainly present in the agora. But for Philo the agora signifies vulgarity, danger and materialism, and is no place for a lady! He himself chooses to stay at home, and if too many visitors show up, then he should go off to the country:

The man of worth [asteios] … having acquired a desire for a quiet life, withdraws from the public and loves solitude, and his choice is to be unnoticed by the many, not because he is misanthropical, for he is eminently a philanthropist, but because he has rejected vice which is welcomed by the multitude [ho polys ochlos] who rejoice at what calls for mourning and grieve where it is well to be glad. And therefore he mostly secludes himself at home and scarcely ever crosses his threshold, or else because of the frequency of visitors he leaves the town and spends his days in some lonely farm.

(Abr. 22)

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