On the Creation (De opificio mundi)

E140941

allegorical treatise philosophical treatise religious text commentary

On the Creation (De opificio mundi) is a philosophical and allegorical treatise by Philo of Alexandria that interprets the biblical account of creation through the lens of Hellenistic, especially Platonic, thought.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
On the Creation	2
On the Creation (De opificio mundi) canonical	1
On the Workmanship of God	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1236854 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: On the Creation (De opificio mundi)
Context triple: [Philo of Alexandria, notableWork, On the Creation (De opificio mundi)]

A. Deus sive Natura
Deus sive Natura is Baruch Spinoza’s philosophical conception of God as identical with the single, all-encompassing substance of nature and reality.
B. The Origin of the World
The Origin of the World is an 1866 realist oil painting by Gustave Courbet that provocatively depicts a close-up view of a woman's genitals, challenging 19th-century artistic and social conventions.
C. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is Galileo Galilei’s influential 1632 work that presents and defends the Copernican heliocentric model through a comparative dialogue of astronomical theories.
D. De mundi systemate (On the system of the world)
De mundi systemate (On the System of the World) is the third book of Isaac Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, in which he applies his laws of motion and universal gravitation to explain the structure and dynamics of the cosmos.
E. Harmonices Mundi
Harmonices Mundi is Johannes Kepler’s 1619 treatise in which he explores the mathematical harmony of the cosmos and formulates his third law of planetary motion.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: On the Creation (De opificio mundi)
Target entity description: On the Creation (De opificio mundi) is a philosophical and allegorical treatise by Philo of Alexandria that interprets the biblical account of creation through the lens of Hellenistic, especially Platonic, thought.

A. Deus sive Natura
Deus sive Natura is Baruch Spinoza’s philosophical conception of God as identical with the single, all-encompassing substance of nature and reality.
B. The Origin of the World
The Origin of the World is an 1866 realist oil painting by Gustave Courbet that provocatively depicts a close-up view of a woman's genitals, challenging 19th-century artistic and social conventions.
C. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is Galileo Galilei’s influential 1632 work that presents and defends the Copernican heliocentric model through a comparative dialogue of astronomical theories.
D. De mundi systemate (On the system of the world)
De mundi systemate (On the System of the World) is the third book of Isaac Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, in which he applies his laws of motion and universal gravitation to explain the structure and dynamics of the cosmos.
E. Harmonices Mundi
Harmonices Mundi is Johannes Kepler’s 1619 treatise in which he explores the mathematical harmony of the cosmos and formulates his third law of planetary motion.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	allegorical treatise ⓘ philosophical treatise ⓘ religious text commentary ⓘ
aim	to provide an allegorical interpretation of Genesis 1 ⓘ to reconcile biblical revelation with Greek philosophy ⓘ
approximateDate	early 1st century CE ⓘ
audience	Greek-speaking intellectuals ⓘ educated Hellenistic Jews ⓘ
author	Philo of Alexandria ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	Roman province of Egypt ⓘ surface form: Roman Egypt
genre	Middle Platonist philosophy ⓘ biblical exegesis ⓘ philosophical theology ⓘ
hasInfluenced	early Christian theology ⓘ later Jewish philosophy ⓘ patristic exegesis ⓘ
historicalPeriod	Hellenistic period ⓘ
influencedBy	Book of Genesis ⓘ Tanakh ⓘ surface form: Hebrew Bible Plato ⓘ Timaeus ⓘ
interprets	Sabbath rest ⓘ creation of humanity ⓘ six days of creation ⓘ
keyConcept	Logos ⓘ divine reason ⓘ imago Dei ⓘ intelligible world ⓘ sensible world ⓘ
language	Ancient Greek ⓘ
mainSubject	Book of Genesis ⓘ allegorical interpretation of Scripture ⓘ biblical creation narrative ⓘ cosmology ⓘ creation of the world ⓘ
method	allegorical exegesis ⓘ philosophical commentary ⓘ
partOf	corpus of Philo of Alexandria ⓘ
philosophicalTradition	Hellenistic Jews ⓘ surface form: Hellenistic Judaism Middle Platonism ⓘ Platonism ⓘ
placeOfOrigin	Alexandria ⓘ
relatedWork	Allegorical Interpretation (Legum Allegoriae) ⓘ surface form: Allegorical Interpretation (Philo) On the Cherubim ⓘ On the Sacrifices of Abel and Cain ⓘ
religiousContext	Judaism ⓘ
title	De opificio mundi ⓘ On the Creation (De opificio mundi) self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: On the Creation

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Philo of Alexandria → notableWork → On the Creation (De opificio mundi) ⓘ

De Opificio Dei → titleTranslation → On the Creation (De opificio mundi) ⓘ

this entity surface form: On the Workmanship of God

On the Creation (De opificio mundi) → title → On the Creation (De opificio mundi) self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: On the Creation

On the Special Laws (De specialibus legibus) → relatedWork → On the Creation (De opificio mundi) ⓘ

subject surface form: On the Special Laws