Alexander the Alabarch: Roman and Jew
Summary
Katherine G. Evans
Summary presented to the Philo of
Alexandria Seminar of the Nov. 1995 annual meeting of Society of
Biblical Literature. Full text of article published in SBL Seminar Papers,
1995, p. 576-594.
The present study represents a "back door" entry to Philonic studies in
that it attempts to
reconstruct the historical Philo based on what can be known about his brother
Alexander the
alabarch. I propose that Alexander was both a very prominent Roman citizen
and a very
prominent Jew with social ties that stretched from the Imperial family in Rome
to the royal family
and priesthood in Judea and that Philo to some extent shared this status.
Alexander is known to us directly only through 5 references in Josephus
and indirectly
through Philo's On Animals. Although Josephus' reliability is always
at
issue, I believe that here
he was probably accurate because Josephus almost certainly had met a number of
Alexander's
relatives if not the alabarch himself and because the War and
Antiquities were
dedicated to the
Emperors Vespasian and Titus who were close friends with Alexander's son Ti.
Alexander.
In War 5.205 it is learned that Alexander had the nine gates of
the
Temple in Jerusalem
overlaid with massive plates of silver and gold, a gift which one can assume
would have placed
him on very good terms with the Temple High Priest among others. This is but
one of a number
of indications of Alexander's great wealth. In around 35 C.E. Agrippa sailed
to Alexandria and
begged Alexander for a loan of 200,000 drachmas (Antiquities
18.159-160).
Agrippa and
Alexander were probably previously acquainted particularly since both men were
friends of
Claudius before he became Emperor. Josephus tells us that Alexander was "old
friends" with
Claudius which would suggest that they were roughly contemporary in age or
born around 10
B.C.E. Since there is no evidence that Claudius ever journeyed to Egypt,
Alexander probably
spent time in Rome. It is plausible that he was educated there and grew up
"in the circle of
Claudius" as Josephus reports Agrippa did. Alexander also became an
epitropos
for the mother of
Claudius, Antonia Drusus, which I suggest meant that Alexander became the
procurator of
Antonia's extensive land estates in Egypt.
At some point Alexander was appointed "alabarch"
which appears to have been a Roman magistry responsible for tax assessment.
Sometime between 37 and 41 C.E. the Emperor Gaius imprisoned Alexander in
a fit of
anger. The exact reason is unknown but may have been connected somehow with
Philo's embassy
to Gaius in 39/40. Upon becoming Emperor, Claudius released Alexander from
prison and soon
thereafter Alexander's son Marcus married Agrippa's daughter Berenice thus
linking Alexander's
family to the Jewish ruling class through marriage. Josephus also reported
that Alexander
surpassed all his fellow citizens in both ancestry and wealth (Antiquities
20.100). What Josephus
considered to be "superior ancestry" may be elucidated by the beginning of
his Life where he
relates that for Jews a claim to nobility includes a connection to the
priesthood and having royal
blood by being descended from the Hasmoneans. If this characterization
applies then we can
deduce that Alexander was considered a nobleman in both Alexandria and Judea
tracing his
ancestry back to the Hasmoneans and the priesthood. Josephus also mentions
Alexander's
religious devotion and adherence to his ancestral practices.
There can be no question that Alexander was a Roman citizen. This is
supported by the
Roman names of his two sons, Marcus and Ti. Julius Alexander and the status of
the latter. Ti.
Alexander held the exalted status of inlustris eques or "knight of the
first
rank" which was second
only to the Roman senatorial class. Besides being a procurator of Judea he
attained the two
pinnacles of an equestrian career, Prefect of Egypt and Praetorian Prefect.
It would have been
virtually impossible for Ti. Alexander to obtain such distinguished rank and
titles if his father had
not already been established as one of the Roman elite. In all likelihood
Roman citizenship was
granted to Alexander's father or grandfather by Julius Caesar.
Alexander's full Roman name would have been some unknown first name or
praenomen
followed by Julius Alexander. A variation of Alexander's name is found in
some manuscripts of
Antiquities 19.276. In the passage which mentions Alexander's
imprisonment by
Gaius some
manuscripts call him Alexander Lysimachus or simply Lysimachus. This is
likely a later confusion
with a third brother named Lysimachus as clarified in Philo's On
Animals.
Finally, I return now to the question at hand. What can knowledge of the
status of
Alexander reveal to us about Philo's relationship to Judaism? The answer to
this question may
depend partly upon the exact blood relationship of the brothers. Did they
have the same two
parents and if not did they share the parent through whom Alexander derived
his "superior
ancestry?" Josephus tells us that Philo was a man held in the highest honor
which may indicate
that they did. I have suggested above that Alexander was descended from
priests and Jerome
provides an independent witness that this was also true of Philo. Philo was
also related to the
ruling class of Judea through the marriage of his nephew Marcus if not before
that. I have no
doubt that when Philo made his pilgrimmage to Jerusalem as described in On
Providence that he
was welcomed as an honored guest for his brother's sake as well as for his
own. It is also very
likely that Philo was a Roman citizen since Alexander's parents would have
only married Romans
to keep the citizenship in the family. Interestingly the possession of Roman
citizenship appears to
have opened doors among both Jews and Romans for the family of Alexander the
alabarch and
may have done so as well for Philo.
Page URL: http://www.KassEvans.com/AlexanderTheAlabarch_RomanAndJew-Summary.html
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