The present collection of articles revisits the question of Philo's contexts in the wake of Maren Niehoff's Philo of Alexandria. An Intellectual Biography (New Haven, 2018/translation Tübingen 2019), which argues for the first time that Philo's diplomatic activities in 38 CE had a significant impact on his career and transformed him from a Bible exegete addressing Alexandrian audiences to a Roman philosopher. In the articles gathered here, the contributors further discuss these insights and adopt new hermeneutic frameworks to contextualize Philo's writings. In the first and largest section of the collection, Philo's participation in Roman discourses, including his engagement with ideas advocated by Cicero, Valerius Maximus, and Musonius, as well as his hitherto-overlooked Cynic tendencies, are studied. One essay furthermore treats Philo as an exponent of Alexandrian Platonism in Roman circles and another as a diplomat with close ties to the imperial administration who may have noticed
