Joseph C. Miller Memorial Lecture Maren Niehoff

This lecture explores to what extent one can discern a concept of personal freedom as a basic right in the first century CE. Philo's tractate "On the Freedom of the Righteous" is of particular importance in this context, as it discusses specific cases of slavery and freedom, sometimes in a metaphorical and sometimes in a literal sense. Moreover, Philo reports that the Essenes, a group of Jewish philosophers in Roman-era Palestine, rejected the idea of slavery on principal grounds and refused to be served. Philo's testimony will be analyzed in detail and compared to the views of other first-century authors.