K. Berthelot (Univ. Aix-Marseille, CNRS): Is Judea Homeland? The Notion of Patris in the Writings of Philo and Josephus

In the writings of both Philo and Josephus, patris (homeland) appears as a predominantly local reality, which has an affective dimension. It is often associated with parents and friends, and refers to the place where one is born, grew up, and has one’s familiar environment. Being attached to one’s patris is a natural feeling, which is quite universal among human beings. Logically enough, in Philo and Josephus homelands generally consist of “home cities”. Philo thus describes Jerusalem as Agrippa I’s patris—but his own homeland is Alexandria. Josephus’s patris is clearly Jerusalem, but he mentions numerous cities as patreis of fellow Jews, some of which were located in Judea, while others were found elsewhere. Philo depicts Jerusalem as a metropolis from which numerous “colonies” (apoikiai) originated, but this terminology does not imply that the city was seen as “homeland” by the descendants of the Jews who had settled abroad. For Philo Jerusalem is also a “holy city” (hieropolis), because of the temple that stood in its midth and its particular holiness. By extension, Judea (Jerusalem’s chōra) is occasionally referred to by Philo as “holy land.” Yet Philo never describes Judea as “homeland”. Conversely, while Josephus also calls Jerusalem a metropolis (a title that he gives to other cities as well, including non-Jewish ones), he refrains from designating Judea as “holy land” and instead occasionally refers to Judea as patris. Yet this is not a central use of the term in his writings. I conclude that neither Philo’s writings nor Josephus’s convey the notion of religious homeland sensu stricto. Even in Josephus, Judea is rarely considered a “homeland” for Jews in general, and when it is used in that sense, it is mainly in connection with exile and return from exile at specific historical moments. As for Jerusalem, it clearly represents the center of Jewish religious life for both authors. Yet Jerusalem is depicted as homeland mainly to those who, like Agrippa I or Josephus, had an intimate connection with it through birth, education or everyday life.