Source edition
Philo Judaeus. Opera quae supersunt, Volume 2. Wendland, Paul, editor. Berlin: Reimer, 1897.
Source data
Open Greek and Latin · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This work is a theological and ethical treatise in which Philo of Alexandria allegorically interprets the biblical passages in Genesis 6 concerning the "giants" and the "spirit of God." At the beginning, the author equates the "angels" in Genesis with souls in the air, discussing the relationship between the body and the soul and explaining why the universe is filled with spiritual beings. In the middle section, he warns that fleshly desires and pleasures are the greatest obstacles that prevent the soul from ascending and the divine spirit from abiding in humans, emphasizing the importance of maintaining reason over material wealth and fame. Philo then reinterprets the biblical giants not as mythical monsters but as allegorical representations of human dispositions, classifying human beings into three categories: those of the earth, those of heaven, and those of God. Ultimately, the work contrasts the wicked, who are enslaved to worldly desires, with the virtuous, who stand firmly beside the unchanging God, pointing the reader toward an ethical path of transcending the physical body to draw closer to the divine.