Abstract
Regarding the feminine, Philo seems to reflect in his treatises a way of thinking similar to that of the hellenized world of his time, with slight variations of expression. The feminine paradigms shaped in his speeches or exegetical commentaries are close to the cultural paradigms we find in the other strata of Greco-Roman society, though much different in the way he approaches the issue. It is mainly by the method of allegorical interpretation that he justifies the affirmed inferiority status of women as well as exalts and magnifies her hability to surpass the limitations of her natural condition, to the point of becoming the incarnation of wisdom and the inspiring source of all virtues. At the same time, he is careful to underline the fact that, besides and behind her, there is usually the figure of a man - her father, husband or philosophy teacher - to educate and encourage her to follow the ways of consummate philosophy. He leaves us with the general impression that women need to be male-minded in order to be perfect.
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