Therapeutae

The Therapeutae (meaning "healers" to Philo, "servants" to the Pseudo-Dionysius) and Therapeutridae (the female members of the sect) were an early pre-Christian coenobitic order that Philo Judaeus knew where they were established on a low hill by the Lake Mareotis close to Alexandria, the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt. Other communities of Therapeutae were widely established in other regions, Philo understood, for "this class of persons may be met with in many places, for both Greece and barbarian countries want to enjoy whatever is perfectly good." (Philo, para.)

Related Topics:
Pseudo-Dionysius - Coenobitic - Lake Mareotis - Alexandria - Ptolemaic Egypt

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They were described in the beginning of the 1st century CE by the Hellenized Jewish writer Philo, in De vita contemplativa ("On the contemplative life"), written ca. 10 CE. By that time, the origins of the Therapeutae were already lost in the past, and Philo was unsure about the etymology of their name, which he explained as meaning either physicians of souls or servants of God. The opening phrases establish that this essay followed one that has been lost, on the active life (a familiar polarity in Hellenic philosophy), exemplified by the Essenes, another severely ascetic sect.

Related Topics:
1st century CE - Philo - Essenes

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