a celebrated Jewish writer of the first century, was born of a distinguished family at Alexandria, and was the chief of the deputation sent by the Alexandrian Jews to the emperor Caligula against the Greek inhabitants of the same city, about the year 40. This deputation was without effect; Caligula gave him audience, heard him, and refused to grant his demands. Philo himself wrote a curious account of this embassy, under the title of, A discourse against Placitus. There are also extant several other of his works, divided into three parts; the first of which relates to the Creation of the World, the second is on the Sacred History, and the third on the Laws and Customs of the Jews; all of which are written in elegant Greek, and interspersed with excellent moral sentiments and allegories. Philo so closely imitated Plato's style and doctrines, that he has been furnished the Jewish Plato. The best edition of his works is that of London, printed in 1742, by Dr Mangey, in Gr. and Lat. 2 vols folio.