Philon aus Alexandreia und der fünfte Tag der Schöpfung

Philo of Alexandria is influenced by three different traditions: (1) Judaism, (2) Greek philosophy, and (3) the Egyptian environment. In his account of the fifth day of creation (Opif.62–68), he follows the Stoic view on animals as non-rational beings; in his De animalibus he discusses the question of the rationality of animals with the same arguments one finds in contemporary pagan literature. Living in Alexandria, Philo was an eye-witness to the Egyptian worship of animals as manifestations of the divine. In denying animals' rationality, he separates them from the divine because in his view, the human mind bears exclusive likeness to God (Opif.69).