Dear Greg,
First off, you are correct that in Philo the Essenes are Jews par
excellance, i.e., exemplars of Jewish virtues, as is well known in the
secondary literature. Many of the virtues Philo attributed to the Essenes
and/or Therapeutae he elsewhere attributes to the Jews. I also agree that in
Pliny the Essenes occupy a similar role as typifying the Jews as a whole in
their best light.
You are also correct in your comments that Pliny's Essenes as "true Jews"
could almost be taken out of Philo. There is a reason for this, one might
say a mechanism, namely, that Philo (like Josephus) in all probability drew
largely on Nicolas of Damascus, Pliny's source by way of Juba. Just as
Nicolas of Damascus portrayed the Essenes (Herod's favored sect) as the best
of the Jews, so likewise Philo, following Nicolas. (And similarly note how
huge Josephus' description of the Essenes is compared to the Sadducees and
Pharisees.) That is, sources literarily dependent on Nicolas of Damascus
exaggerated the importance and virtue of the Essenes in line with Herodian
propaganda, in which the Essenes were (as you say) practically were the only
Jews worth speaking of.
Incidentally, Philo's description of the Essenes and Therapeutae in many
ways echo the legend of Sodom's destruction which also influences Pliny's
source. Philo's virtuous Jews flee the vices of the city (including money
and sex), much as Lot (or Pliny's Essenes) did the same. Philo's
condemnation of homosexual banquets in The Contemplative Life 62 (the
literary opposite of the sober Therapeutae gatherings) as a pestilential
sickness that desolates cities, leading to barrenness and sterility very
closely echoes his comments on Sodom in _On Abraham_ 133-36. That is, the
retiring order of Therapeutae in essence fled the wickedness of Sodom.
Another very interesting parallel between Pliny and Philo is the emphasis
that the place of refuge was elevated and with wholesome air. This common
denominator probably derives from Nicolas of Damascus.
Note that Nicolas may have emphasized the elevation of the Essenes due to
the Biblical imagery of Lot's refuge in the mountains away from the wicked
cities of the plain. There seems to be something deliberate in the Essenes
of Pliny "escaping the harmful [fumes]," with the word fumes or exhalations
omitted, though obviously alluded to (see Diodorus, etc.). This may be
because in this highly literary image, the deadliness that the Essenes fled
was the company of women, indeed all sexual urges [the implication here being
homosexuality], and money. That is, the Essenes (like Lot) fled the "deadly
[nocent]" vices of Sodom - Nicolas implying a comparison between such vices
and the noxious, hellish fumes from Dead Sea.
Finally. the description of the Essenes as "the most remarkable of all the
tribes in the world" was intended to promote the Jews -- specifically the
Essenes -- in an ethnological treatise intended for extra-Jewish publication
(namely Nicolas' _Collection of Remarkable Customs_, which gathers together
ethnological marvels much as you describe, though with more of a focus on
bizarre socio-political institutions).
Hope you find these musings useful.
Best regards,
Russell Gmirkin
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