Philip the Arab (244-249 A.D.)
Michael L. Meckler

Ohio State University

Marcus Julius Philippus rose from obscure origins to rule for five and one-half years as Rome's emperor. Only sketchy details of his life and reign have survived in the historical record. One of those details -- his ethnicity -- was latched onto by later historians, who called the emperor by the name Philip the Arab.

Background and Early Career
Philip the Arab seems to have been born sometime during the reign of Septimius Severus.[[1]] He was born in the Roman province of Arabia, in what today is the village of Shahba, roughly 55 miles south-southeast of Damascus. The village was obscure at the time of Philip's birth, though once he became emperor, Philip renamed the community Philippopolis and embarked on a major building campaign. Little is known of Philip's father, save the name Julius Marinus. This name, however, indicates that the family held Roman citizenship and must have been locally prominent. Nothing is known of Philip's mother. At some point, probably in the 230s, Philip married Marcia Otacilia Severa. A son was born by 238 and named Marcus Julius Severus Philippus. Philip's early career is also obscure, though it was undoubtedly helped by that of his brother, Julius Priscus. Priscus was appointed praetorian prefect by Gordian III and had previously served as prefect of the Roman province of Mesopotamia. If a fragmentary inscription from Rome can be connected to Priscus, Philip's brother rose quickly during Gordian III's reign through a variety of equestrian offices, including procurator of Macedonia, vice prefect of Egypt, and judge at Alexandria.[[2]]

Priscus' appointment as praetorian prefect probably came at the beginning of the Roman campaign to reconquer upper Mesopotamia in the spring of 242. The success of the campaign must have reflected well on Priscus, and when his colleague Timesitheus (who was also Gordian III's father-in-law) died the following year, Priscus' brother Philip joined him as praetorian prefect.[[3]] The brothers remained the young emperor's most powerful deputies during the disastrous campaign against the Persians in the winter of 243-44. On the retreat back up the Euphrates after the Roman defeat at Misikhe, Gordian was killed sometime during the winter months of 244. Most sources state that Philip was involved in Gordian's death; some claim that Philip engineered a mutiny by diverting the grain that was supposed to feed Gordian's troops.[[4]]

The Emperor and the Military
Philip was acclaimed the new emperor and was firmly in control by late winter 244.[[5]] Like his predecessor Macrinus, Philip faced, as his first important task, the problem of ending a war in the East. Philip was more fortunate in his negotiations than Macrinus had been. Philip made a peace treaty with the Persian king Shapur in which Philip agreed to pay the equivalent of 50 million sesterces, and possibly an annual tribute. The treaty enabled the new emperor to travel westward to Rome.[[6]] It remains unknown why Philip was displayed before the soldiers as their new emperor instead of his more accomplished brother Priscus, but Priscus went on to have extraordinary power in the East during the new regime. Priscus is described in one inscription as rector Orientis, and he exercised supreme authority over armies and provinces from his headquarters in Antioch.[[7]]

The following year the Carpi, a people native to the northern bank of the lower Danube, crossed the river and attacked settlements in the Roman province of Moesia (today, northern Bulgaria), where Philip's brother-in-law Severianus had been put in command.[[8]] Fighting lasted several years and may have spread westward into Pannonia because of incursions by German tribes. Victory was proclaimed in 248, but the legions in Moesia and Pannonia were dissatisfied with the war's results. The armies there revolted, proclaiming Tiberius Claudius Marinus Pacatianus as emperor.[[9]] While Philip could point to some success on the Danube frontier, he could not claim victory in his battles with the Moors. The emperor preferred to pay for an ignominious peace rather than lose an ignominious war. The heavy-handedness of his brother Priscus in collecting taxes in the East caused another revolt, this one led by a man named Iotapianus, who claimed to be a kinsman of Severus Alexander.[[10]] Coins that may also be from this period show two other men who tried to become emperors, Silbannacus and Sponsianus.[[11]] Neither is otherwise attested, and each revolt must have been short-lived.

The Millennium and Christianity
Despite growing instability in the provinces, Romans in the year 248 were fascinated by the celebrations of the 1,000th anniversary of their city's foundation. The festivities may have been patterned after the Secular Games (last held under Septimius Severus 44 years earlier) and included magnificent spectacles for the arena.[[12]] Millennarianism extended into the literary world, with the author Asinius Quadratus honoring the event by writing his Thousand-Year History.[[13]]

Philip's religious beliefs have garnered the most attention from modern historians. Writing but 75 years after Philip's reign, the Church father Eusebius relayed a report that Philip was a Christian who was once compelled by a church official to confess his sins before being allowed to attend an Easter service.[[14]] Later sources locate the story in Antioch and connect the tale to Babylas, a bishop later martyred in the persecution mounted by Philip's successor, Decius.[[15]] The Decian persecution is itself blamed by Eusebius on Decius' personal hatred for Philip.[[16]] Eusebius also reported that the Christian teacher and apologist Origen wrote one letter to Philip and another to Otacilia Severa.[[17]] While it is quite likely that Philip was well acquainted with Christianity and may even have been respectful of its teachings and leaders, he could not have been a Christian in any meaningful way. Philip appears indistinguishable from other third-century emperors in his use of pagan symbols and titles. Philip made no improvements in the legal status of Christians or their religion. Moreover, Philip's alleged Christianity was never corroborated by non-Christian authors.[[18]]

Within six months of the beginning of his reign, Philip had appointed his son as Caesar and heir. Three years later, in the summer of 247, the boy was named Augustus and co-ruler, even though he was probably not yet 10 years old. His mother, Otacilia Severa, is last named on coins in the year 248, leading to speculation that she may have died in that year. Nothing is known of the emperor's brother Priscus after the outbreak of Iotapianus' revolt: and it seems likely that he died either naturally or as a result of the uprising.

Defeat and Death
Iotapianus was eventually defeated and killed in the East, as was Pacatianus along the Danube.[[19]] To restore discipline among the Danubian troops, Philip sent as the new commander Decius, a native of the region. The appointment proved a dangerous blunder. The disgruntled soldiers, still eager for decisive leadership and decisive victories, revolted yet again in the late spring of 249 and proclaimed Decius emperor. Philip marched out from Rome to face the approaching troops of Decius. In late summer, the two armies met outside Verona. Philip's troops were bested, and the emperor either died in the battle or was assassinated by his troops. When news of Philip's defeat and death reached Rome, the praetorian guard murdered Philip's son and colleague.[[20]]

Philip the Arabian remains an enigmatic figure because different authors evaluated his reign with wildly divergent interpretations. Christian authors of late antiquity praised the man they regarded as the first Christian emperor. Pagan historians saw Philip as indecisive, treacherous and weak. Our lack of detailed knowledge about the reign makes any analysis highly speculative. Nonetheless, Philip's provincial and administrative background represents continuity with features of Severan government. His career has its closest parallel with that of Macrinus, an equestrian from the provinces who, a quarter of a century earlier, capped an administrative career by moving from the office of praetorian prefect to that of emperor. In the struggle to maintain legitimacy, Philip faced revolts and upheavals in several corners of the empire. He was able to overcome these challenges for half a decade. The empire remained fundamentally sound and stable during his reign. The great disruptions of the third century were yet to come.

PRIMARY SOURCES:
Zosimus, New History, 1.19-22 (available in English translations of Ronald T. Ridley [Canberra: Australian National University, 1982]; James J. Buchanan and Harold T. Davis [Austin: University of Texas, 1967]).

Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 6.34-39 (available in English translation in the Loeb Classical Library).

Historia Augusta, Life of Gordian 28-34 (available in English translation in the Loeb Classical Library).

Aurelius Victor, Lives of the Caesars 28 (available in English translation in the Liverpool series Translated Texts for Historians).

Eutropius, Breviarium 9.2-3 (available in English translation in the Liverpool series Translated Texts for Historians).

Epitome de Caesaribus 28.

Zonaras, Epitome 12.18-19.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Denis Feissel and Jean Gascou, "Documents d'archives romains inédits du moyen Euphrate (IIIe siècle après J.-C.)," Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (CRAI) 1989, 535-61.


Xavier Loriot, "Chronologie du règne de Philippe l'Arabe (244-249 après J.C.)," Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt II.2 (Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1975), pp. 788-97.


Michael Peachin, Roman Imperial Titulature and Chronology, A.D. 235-284 (Amsterdam: Gieben, 1990).


David S. Potter, Prophecy and History in the Crisis of the Roman Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990).

Hans A. Pohlsander, "Philip the Arab and Christianity," Historia 29 (1980), 463-73.

id., "Did Decius Kill the Philippi?" Historia 31( 1982), 214-22.

Irfan Shahîd, Rome and the Arabs (Washington: Dumbarton Oaks, 1984)

Dennis E. Trout, "Victoria Redux and the First Year of the Reign of Philip the Arab," Chiron 19 (1989), 221-33.

Ruprecht Ziegler, "Thessalonike in der Politik des Traianus Decius und der Tod des Philippus Arabs," Roma Renascens (Festschrift Ilona Opelt, Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1988), pp. 385-414.

Notes:
[[1]] The Chronicon Paschale, in an imaginative tale, claims that Philip was 45 years old at the time of his death in 249, which would place his birth in 204. Aurelius Victor 28.10 writes that Philip's body was weakened by age in the year 249. One would expect a praetorian prefect, the office held by Philip in 243, to be at least in his 40s. A year of birth ca. 200 is probably not far off the mark.

[[2]] ILS 1331; see Potter, Prophecy, pp. 213-15.

[[3]] Zonaras 12.18; HA Gord. 28.1, 29.1.

[[4]] e.g., Zosimus 1.18; Zonaras 12.18; HA Gord. 29.2-30.9; on the confused tradition, see Potter, pp. 204-12.

[[5]] On Philip's dies imperii, see Peachin, Titulature, pp. 29-30; Loriot, "Chronologie," pp. 788-89.

[[6]] Trout, "Victoria Redux"; Res Gestae Divi Saporis, line 9.

[[7]] Zosimus 1.19.2, 1.20.2; ILS 9005. Priscus is described in one petition from the year 245 as "holding consular authority," which may indicate a special appointment as governor of Syria, see Feissel and Gascou, pp. 552-54.

[[8]] Zosimus 1.19.2.

[[9]] Peachin, p. 63; Zosimus 1.20.2.

[[10]] Aurelius Victor 29.2; Zosimus 1.20.2-21.2.

[[11]] RIC 4.3, pp. 66-7, 105-6.

[[12]] Both HA Gord. 33.1 and Epitome de Caesaribus 28.3 call the festivities Ludi Saeculares; the list given in HA Gord. of exotic animals killed at Philip's games should not necessarily be trusted.

[[13]] Fr. Gr. Hist. no.97.

[[14]] Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 6.34.

[[15]] John Chrysostom, Saint Babylas; Chronicon Paschale.

[[16]] Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 6.39.1.

[[17]] Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 6.36.3.

[[18]] Pohlsander, "Philip and Christianity." For a contrasting view, see Shahîd, Rome and Arabs, pp. 65-93.

[[19]] Zosimus 1.21.2.

[[20]] The Latin historiographical tradition uniformly places the battle at Verona, the murder of Philip's son at Rome. Zosimus 1.22.2 claimed that both father and son died in an unlocated battle fighting Decius. A fragment from the seventh-century Byzantine historian John of Antioch ( fragment 148 in Carolus Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, vol. 4 [Paris: Firmin Didot, 1851], pp. 597-98) places the battle in Beroea. The sources have been well sifted by Pohlsander, "Decius." On the dating, see Peachin, pp. 30-31; Loriot, pp. 795-96. Ziegler, pp. 397-400, argued for Macedonian Beroea (modern Véroia) as the site of the battle.



Copyright (C) 1999, Michael L. Meckler and Christian Körner. This file may be copied on the condition that the entire contents, including the header and this copyright notice, remain intact.