The few biographical details known about Philo are found in his own works, especially in Legatio ad Gaium (Embassy to Gaius) of which only two of the original five volumes survive, and in Josephus.The only event in his life that can be decisively dated is his participation in the embassy to Rome in 40 CE. He represented the Alexandrian Jews before Roman Emperor Caligula because of civil strife between the Alexandrian Jewish and Greek communities.