Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/284

Rh 272 PHILIPPUS. he can scarcely on chronological grounds be the same with the following. 27. One of the friends and ministers of Antio- chus Epiphanes, king of Syria, who was appointed by him on his deathbed (b.c. 164) to be the guardian of his son Antiochus V. He returned to Syria, bearing with him the signet ring of the deceased monarch, and assumed the government during the absence of the young king and Lysias (who had been previously appointed regent) in Judaea. But on receiving the intelligence Lysias hastened to make peace with Judas Maccabaeus, and returned to oppose Philip, whom he defeated and put to death. (Joseph. Ant. xii. 9. §§ 2, 6, 7.) [E. H. B.] PHILIPPUS, an architect, entitled imtximus on his epitaph, which was found at Nimes. Whether he was the architect of any of the great Roman works which still adorn that city, such as the Maison carree and the amphitheatre, is a matter of pure conjecture. (Gruter, p. dcxxiii. 5.) [P. S.] PHILIPPUS, AURE'LIUS, the teacher of Alexander Severus, afterwards wrote the life of this emperor. (Lamprid. Aleoc. Sev. 3.) PHILIPPUS {^iKiinros), son of HEROD the Great, king of Judaea, by his wife Cleopatra, was appointed by his father's will tetrarch of the dis- tricts of Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, and Batanaea, the sovereignty of which was confirmed to him by the decision of Augustus. He continued to reign over the dominions thus entrusted to his charge for the space of thirty-seven years (b. c. 4 — A. d.34), a period of uniform tranquillity, during which his mild and equitable rule made him universally be- loved by his subjects. He founded the city of Caesareia, surnamed Paneas, but more commonly known as Caesareia Philippi, near the sources of the Jordan, which he named in honour of Au- gustus, while he bestowed the name of Julias upon the town of Bethsaida, which he had greatly enlarged and embellished. Among other edifices he erected there a magnificent monument, in which his remains were deposited after his death. As he left no children, his dominions were after his de- cease annexed to the Roman province of Syria. (Joseph. Ant. xvii. 8. § 1, xviii, 2. § 1, 4. § 6, B.J. i. 33. § 8, ii. 6. § 3.) This Philip must not be confounded with Herod surnamed Philip, who was the son of Herod the Great by Mariamne [Herodes Philippus]. [E. H. B.j PHILIPPUS I., M. JU'LIUS, Roman em- peror A. D, 244 — 249, was an Arabian by birth, a native of Trachonitis, according to Victor ; of the colony of Bostra, according to Zonaras. Of his early history wc know nothing, except that he is said to have been the son of a celebrated robber captain, and we are equally ignorant of the various steps in his military career. Upon the death of the excellent Misitheus [Misithkus ; Gordian(js III.], during the Persian campaign of the third Gordian, Philippus was at once promoted to the vacant office of praetorian praefect. The treach- erous arts by which he procured the ruin of the 5'oung prince his master, and his own elevation to the throne, are detailed elsewhere [Gordian us III.]. The senate having ratified the choice of the troops, the new sovereign proclaimed his son Caesar, concluded a disgraceful peace with Sapor, founded the city of Philippopolis, and then returned to Rome. These events took place in the early part of A. D. 244. The annals of this period, which are sin- PHILIPPUS. gularly imperfect, for the history of Herodian ends with the death of Balbinus and Pupienus, and the Augustan history here presents a blank, indicate that the emperor was employed for two or three years in prosecuting a successful war against the Carpi, a Scythian or Gothic tribe, bordering on the Lower Danube, thus gaining for himself and son the titles of Germanicus Mawimus and Caspicus Alawimus^ which appear on coins and public monuments. In 248, rebellions, headed by lotapinus and Marinus [lo- TAPiNus ; Marinus], broke out simultaneously in the East and in Moesia. Both pretenders speedily perished, but Decius [Decius] having been des- patched to recall the legions on the Danube to their duty, was himself forcibly invested with the purple by the troops, and compelled by them to march upon Italy. Philippus having gone forth to en- counter his rival, was slain near Verona either in battle (Aur. Vict, de Cues, xxviii. ; Zosim. i. 23) or by his own soldiers (Aur. Vict. Epit. xxviii. ; Eutrop. ix. 3 ) ; and although it does not appear that he had rendered himself odious by any tyrannical abuse of power, yet the recollection of the foul arts by which he had accomplished the ruin of his much loved predecessor, caused his downfal to be hailed with delight. If we can trust the Alexandrian chronicle, he was only forty-five years old at the period of his death. The great domestic event of the reign was the exhibition of the secular games, which were cele- brated with even more than the ordinary degree of enthusiasm and splendour, since the imperial city had now, according to the received tradition, at- tained the thousandth year of her existence. The disputes and mistakes of chronologers with regard to the epoch in question can, in the present in- stance, be satisfactorily decided and corrected by the unquestionable testimony of medals, from which we learn that the festival was held in the third consulship of Philippus, that is, in the year A. D. 248 ; but unless we could ascertain the month, it is impossible to determine whether the solemnities were performed while the tenth century was yet current or after it was fully completed. Many writers have maintained that Philippus was a Christian ; a position which has given rise to an animated controversy. It is evident from several passages in Eusebius, that such an opinion was prevalent in his day, but the bishop of Caesa- reia abstains from expressing his own sentiments with regard to its truth, except in so far as he re- marks that the persecution of Decius arose from the hatred entertained by that prince towards his predecessor, and makes mention of certain letters addressed by Origen to Philippus and the empress, without calling in question their authenticity. Hieronymus again broadly asserts the fact, as do Vincentius Lirinensis and Orosius, who are fol- lowed by many later authorities. It is certain, moreover, that a report gained general credit in the following century, that this emperor was not only a true believer, but actually performed a public penance, imposed, as has been inferred from a pas- sage in St. Chrysostora, by St. Babylas, bishop of Antioch. On the other hand, we are reminded that he bestowed the title of divus upon Gordian, that, far from making any attempt to repress the rites of pagan worship, he took an active part in all the superstitious observances of the secular games, that he bestowed no marks of favour or encouragement, beyond simple toleration, on the professors of the