and the meaning of the name "Therapeutae" as "servants". Relation to Buddhism Authors have pointed out similarities between the Therapeutae and early Buddhist monasticism, a tradition that is several centuries older. As described in the 1st century CE text Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Egypt had intense trade and cultural contacts with India during the period which, combined with evidence in the Indian Edicts of Ashoka of Buddhist missionary activity to the Mediterranean around 250 BCE, has led to the hypothesis that Therapeutae might have been a Buddhist sect composed of descendants of Ashoka's emissaries. Linguist Zacharias P. Thundy suggests that the word "Therapeutae" is only a Hellenistic corruption of "Theravada", the Indian Pali word for traditional Buddhists. Others suggest it would come more specifically from "Theraputta", the name applied to those of the Theravada school. See also Desert Fathers Hellenistic Judaism Monasticism References Further reading Simon, Marcel, Jewish Sects at the Time of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1967; 1980). Елизарова, М. М. Община терапевтов (Из истории ессейского общественно-религиозного движения 1 в. н.э.). М., 1972. Taylor, Joan E. Jewish Women Philosophers of First-Century Alexandria: Philo's "Therapeutae" Reconsidered (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). Celia Deutsch, "The Therapeutae, Text Work, Ritual, and Mystical Experience," in Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism. Ed. by April D. Deconick (Leiden, Brill, 2006), 287–312. Ullrich R. Kleinhempel, Traces of buddhist presence in Alexandria; Philo and the "Therapeutae"''.in: ALITER, 2019, pp. 3–31. https://www.academia.edu/39841429/Traces_of_Buddhist_Presence_in_Alexandria_Philo_and_the_Therapeutae_ External links History sourcebook: Philo Judaeus, The Contemplative Life On Ascetics Philo Judaeus, The Contemplative Life excerpts (in English) Philo Judaeus, The Contemplative Life Hellenistic Egypt Asceticism Greek words and phrases Latin words and phrases Buddhism in the ancient Mediterranean