The 'Therapeutae' were a Jewish group of ascetic philosophers who lived outside Alexandria in the middle of the first century CE. They are described in Philo's treatise De Vita Contemplativa and have often been considered in comparison with early Christians, the Essenes, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. But who were they really? This study focuses particularly on issues of history, rhetoric, women, and gender in a wide exploration of the group, and comes to new conclusions about the 'Therapeutae' and their relationship with the Jewish allegorical school of exegesis in Alexandria. The volume includes a new translation of De Vita Contemplativa.

"Taylor makes a generally compelling case, combining careful literary analysis with coherent summaries of the complex archaeological data."

"Taylor examines the evidence and the interpretations offered site by site, with relentless rigor. ... her book is a model of historical enquiry, careful, thorough and judiciously critical, into problems where archaeological material has a crucial part to play in interpreting scraps of literary, often legendary, information. It is well illustrated with maps, diagrams, plans and photographs, essential for discussion of the archaeological evidence."

"This book is attractively produced and packed with interesting material, photographs and maps. ... a substantial contribution to Holy Land studies"

"a concise survey, based mainly on archaeological data, of the distribution of religious groups in Palestine from AD 135 to 324, from which the pagans emerge as the largest religious group... this well structured, erudite, and often stimulating study is an important contribution to the study of the history of Christian aspirations for, and interest in, the Holy Land in late antiquity."

Joan E. Taylor is Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of History at University College London and Honorary Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy at Waikato University, Hamilton, New Zealand