Philo of Alexandria developed an allegorical method that read Torah narratives as philosophical, ethical, and cosmological teaching. Characters, places, and laws could point beyond literal events to the soul, virtue, reason, and divine order.

This method made scripture legible in a Greek philosophical environment and became one of Alexandria’s major contributions to later interpretation.

Sources: Philo’s commentaries and philosophical treatises; Alexandrian exegetical practice; Greek moral philosophy.

Philo’s allegory allowed Torah narratives to operate on multiple levels. Abraham can become the soul learning virtue; Egypt can become passion or bondage; food laws can teach discipline; priestly garments can become cosmic symbols. This did not erase literal practice, but it made the text philosophically expansive. The node is placed under Alexandrian diaspora because the method depends on Greek paideia, rhetoric, and philosophical vocabulary. It later matters because allegorical reading becomes a major bridge into early Christian interpretation and wider Mediterranean intellectual theology.