Philip the Arab

Philip I
Statue of Philip
Roman emperor
ReignFebruary 244 – September 249
PredecessorGordian III
SuccessorDecius
Co-emperorPhilip II (248–249)
Bornc. 204
Philippopolis, Arabia Petraea
DiedSeptember 249 (aged 45)
Verona, Italia
SpouseMarcia Otacilia Severa
IssuePhilip II
Names
Marcus Julius Philippus
Regnal name
Imperator Caesar Marcus Julius Philippus Augustus[1]
FatherJulius Marinus
ReligionAncient Roman religion (publicly)
Christianity (speculated)[2]

Philip the Arab (Latin: Marcus Julius Philippus "Arabs"; c. 204 – September 249) was Roman emperor from 244 to 249. He was born in Aurantis, Arabia, in a city situated in modern-day Syria. After the death of Gordian III in February 244, Philip, who had been Praetorian prefect, achieved power. He quickly negotiated peace with the Persian Sassanid Empire and returned to Rome to be confirmed by the Senate. During his reign, the city of Rome celebrated its millennium.

Philip was betrayed and killed at the Battle of Verona in September 249 following a rebellion led by his successor, Gaius Messius Quintus Decius. Philip's reign of five years was uncommonly stable in a turbulent third century.[a][b]

During the late 3rd century and into the 4th, it was held by some churchmen that Philip had been the first Christian emperor; he was described as such in Jerome's Chronicon (Chronicle), which was well known during the Middle Ages, in Orosius' highly popular Historia Adversus Paganos (History Against the Pagans), and was presented as a Christian in Eusebius of Caesarea's Historia Ecclesiastica (Ecclesiastical History).[5] Modern scholars are divided on the issue.

  1. ^ Cooley, Alison E. (2012). The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy. Cambridge University Press. p. 498. ISBN 978-0-521-84026-2.
  2. ^ McGuckin, John Anthony (15 December 2010). The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-4443-9254-8.
  3. ^ Bowersock 1983, p. 124.
  4. ^ Ball 2000, p. 468.
  5. ^ Shahîd 1984, pp. 65–93.


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