On the Cherubim

E581569

allegorical treatise philosophical treatise religious text

"On the Cherubim" is a philosophical and allegorical treatise by the Hellenistic Jewish thinker Philo of Alexandria, exploring the symbolic meaning of the cherubim described in the Hebrew Bible.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Benjamin as dwelling between God’s shoulders	1
On the Cherubim canonical	1
On the Cherubim (De cherubim)	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T6287779 — 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 Cherubim
Context triple: [On the Creation (De opificio mundi), relatedWork, On the Cherubim]

A. Seraphic Doctor
The Seraphic Doctor is the traditional honorific title of Saint Bonaventure, a 13th-century Franciscan theologian and philosopher renowned for his mystical and systematic contributions to medieval Christian thought.
B. A Paean
"A Paean" is an early poem by Edgar Allan Poe that he later expanded and revised into the better-known work "Lenore."
C. The Coming of God
The Coming of God is a major theological work by Jürgen Moltmann that explores Christian eschatology, focusing on God’s future, hope, and the ultimate renewal of creation.
D. The World to Come
The World to Come is a 2020 period drama film about a forbidden romance between two neighboring farmer’s wives in 19th-century rural America, in which Vanessa Kirby plays one of the leads.
E. On the Gods
On the Gods is a lost work of ancient scholarship by Apollodorus of Athens that likely examined Greek religious beliefs and deities.
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 Cherubim
Target entity description: "On the Cherubim" is a philosophical and allegorical treatise by the Hellenistic Jewish thinker Philo of Alexandria, exploring the symbolic meaning of the cherubim described in the Hebrew Bible.

A. Seraphic Doctor
The Seraphic Doctor is the traditional honorific title of Saint Bonaventure, a 13th-century Franciscan theologian and philosopher renowned for his mystical and systematic contributions to medieval Christian thought.
B. A Paean
"A Paean" is an early poem by Edgar Allan Poe that he later expanded and revised into the better-known work "Lenore."
C. The Coming of God
The Coming of God is a major theological work by Jürgen Moltmann that explores Christian eschatology, focusing on God’s future, hope, and the ultimate renewal of creation.
D. The World to Come
The World to Come is a 2020 period drama film about a forbidden romance between two neighboring farmer’s wives in 19th-century rural America, in which Vanessa Kirby plays one of the leads.
E. On the Gods
On the Gods is a lost work of ancient scholarship by Apollodorus of Athens that likely examined Greek religious beliefs and deities.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (44)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	allegorical treatise ⓘ philosophical treatise ⓘ religious text ⓘ
author	Philo of Alexandria ⓘ
basedOn	Book of Genesis ⓘ Torah ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	Roman Egypt ⓘ linked to: Ptolemaic–Roman Egypt
dateWritten	1st century CE ⓘ
discusses	Garden of Eden narrative ⓘ guarding of the way to the tree of life ⓘ
explores	allegorical interpretation of Scripture ⓘ nature of divine protection ⓘ relationship between God and humanity ⓘ role of angels in Jewish thought ⓘ symbolic meaning of cherubim ⓘ
genre	Hellenistic Jewish philosophy ⓘ allegorical commentary ⓘ
hasTheologicalFocus	divine providence ⓘ divine transcendence ⓘ monotheism ⓘ
historicalContext	Hellenistic period ⓘ Second Temple Judaism ⓘ
influencedBy	Greek philosophy ⓘ Jewish scriptural tradition ⓘ Platonic thought ⓘ
intendedAudience	Greek‑speaking readers interested in Judaism ⓘ educated Hellenistic Jews ⓘ
interprets	biblical imagery philosophically ⓘ cherubim as symbolic figures ⓘ
language	Koine Greek ⓘ
literaryForm	prose ⓘ
mainSubject	Hebrew Bible ⓘ linked to: Tanakh biblical exegesis ⓘ cherubim ⓘ
partOf	Philo’s allegorical commentaries on the Pentateuch ⓘ
philosophicalTradition	Middle Platonism ⓘ
placeOfOrigin	Alexandria ⓘ
preservedIn	Greek manuscript tradition ⓘ
religiousTradition	Judaism ⓘ
studiedIn	Jewish philosophy ⓘ history of biblical interpretation ⓘ patristic and late antique theology scholarship ⓘ
workOf	Philo of Alexandria ⓘ
workSequence	early treatise in Philo’s allegorical series on Genesis ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

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

On the Creation (De opificio mundi) → relatedWork → On the Cherubim ⓘ

Deuteronomy 33:12 → describes → Benjamin as dwelling between God’s shoulders ⓘ

linked to: On the Cherubim

corpus of Philo of Alexandria → containsWork → On the Cherubim (De cherubim) ⓘ