Il Nilo e Mosè: dalla Vita di Mosè di Filone alle Etiopiche di Eliodoro

The aim of this paper is drawing attention to a passage of the Ethiopian Stories by Heliodorus of Emesa (9,9,3) on the divinization of the Nile borrowed from Life of Moses (2,195) by Philo of Alexandria. This textual relationship, well known to Philo’s scholars, has so far not been considered instead by most Heliodorus’ scholars. Other possible intertextual references (lexical parallels, stylisations and analogies), noticed in this paper, point to the work by Philon as deliberately exploited inspiration for some passages of Heliodorus’ novel. All this is of greater importance for the Ethiopian novel and his author.