Philippus
（
Φίλιππος).
I. Minor Historical Persons
1.
The son of Alexander I. of Macedonia, and brother of Perdiccas II., against whom he
rebelled in conjunction with Derdas. The rebels were aided by the Athenians, B.C. 432.
2.
The son of Herod the Great, king of Iudea, by his wife Cleopatra , was appointed by his
father's will tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, the sovereignty of which was confirmed to
him by the decision of Augustus. He continued to reign over the dominions thus intrusted to
his charge for thirty-seven years (B.C. 4-A.D. 34). He founded the city of Caesarea,
surnamed Paneas, but more commonly known as Caesarea Philippi, near the sources of the
Jordan, which he named in honour of Augustus.
3.
A son of Herod the Great, by Mariamné, whose proper name was Herodes Philippus.
He must not be confounded with the preceding Philip. He was the first husband of Herodias,
who afterwards divorced him, contrary to the Jewish law, and married his half-brother, Herod
Antipas. It is Herod Philip, and not the preceding, who is meant by the Evangelists (Matt.
xiv. 3; Mark, vi. 17; Luke, iii. 19), when they speak of Philip, the brother of
II. Kings of Macedonia.
1.
Philippus I., son of Argaeus, was the third king, according to
Herodotus and Thucydides, who, not reckoning Caranus and his two immediate successors
(Cœnus and Thurimas or Turimmas), look upon Perdiccas I. as the founder of the
monarchy. Philip left a son, named Aëropus, who succeeded him.
2.
Philippus II., the youngest son of Amyntas II. and
Eurydicé, reigned B.C. 359-336. He was born in 382, and was brought up at Thebes,
whither he had been carried as a hostage by Pelopidas, and where he received a most careful
education. Upon the death of his brother Perdiccas III., who was slain in battle against the
Illyrians, Philip obtained the government of Macedonia, at first merely as regent and
guardian to his infant nephew Amyntas; but at the end of a few months he was enabled to set
aside the claims of the young prince, and to assume for himself the title of king. Macedonia
was beset by dangers on every side. Its territory was ravaged by the Illyrians on the west,
and the Paeonians on the north, while Pausanias and Argaeus took advantage of the crisis to
put forward their pretensions to the throne. Philip was fully equal to the emergency.
By his tact and eloquence he sustained the failing spirits of the Macedonians, while at the
same time he introduced among them a stricter military discipline, and organized their army
on the plan of the phalanx. He first turned his army against Argaeus, the most formidable of
the pretenders, since he was supported by the Athenians. He defeated Argaeus in battle, and
then concluded a peace with the Athenians. He next attacked the Paeonians, whom he reduced
to subjection, and immediately afterwards defeated the Illyrians in a decisive battle, and
compelled them to accept a peace, by which they lost a portion of their territory. Thus in
the short period of one year, and at the age of twenty-four, had Philip delivered himself
from his dangerous position, and provided for the security of his kingdom. But energy and
talents such as his were not satisfied with mere security, and henceforth his views were
directed not to defence, but to aggrandizement. His first efforts were directed to obtain
possession of the various Greek cities upon the Macedonian coast. Soon after his accession
he had withdrawn his garrison from Amphipolis, and had declared it a free city, because the
Athenians had supported Argaeus with the hope of recovering Amphipolis, and his continuing
to hold the place would have interposed difficulties in the way of a peace with Athens,
which was at that time an object of great importance to him. But he had never meant
seriously to abandon this important town; and accordingly, having obtained pretexts for war
with the Amphipolitans, he laid siege to the town and gained possession of it in 358. The
Athenians had sent no assistance to Amphipolis, because Philip, in a secret negotiation with
the Athenians, led them to believe that he was willing to restore the city to them when he
had taken it, and would do so on condition of their making him master of Pydna. After the
capture of Amphipo
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Gold Coin of Philip the Great.
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lis, he proceeded at once to Pydna, which seems to have yielded to him without a
struggle, and the acquisition of which, by his own arms, and not through the Athenians, gave
him a pretext for declining to stand by his secret engagement with them. The hostile feeling
which such conduct necessarily excited against him at Athens made it most important for him
to secure the good will of the powerful town of Olynthus, and to detach the Olynthians from
the Athenians. Accordingly, he gave to the Olynthians the town of Potidaea, which he took
from the Athenians in 356. Soon after this he attacked and took a settlement of the
Thacians, called Crenides, and, having introduced into the place a number of new colonists,
he named it Philippi after himself. One great advantage of this acquisition was, that it put
him in possession of the gold mines of the district. From this point there is for some time
a pause in the active operations of Philip. In 352 he took Methoné after a
lengthened siege, in the course of which he himself lost an eye. The
capture of this place was a necessary preliminary in any movement toward the south, lying as
it did between him and the Thessalian border. He now marched into Thessaly to aid the
Aleuadae against Lycophron, the tyrant of Pherae. The Phocians sent a force to support
Lycophron, but they were defeated by Philip, and their general Onomarchus slain. This
victory gave Philip the ascendency in Thessaly. He established at Pherae what he wished the
Greeks to consider a free government, and then advanced southward to Thermopylae. The pass,
however, he found guarded by a strong Athenian force, and he was compelled, or at least
thought it expedient, to retire. He now turned his arms against Thrace, and succeeded in
establishing his ascendency in that country also. Meanwhile Philip's movements in Thessaly
had opened the eyes of Demosthenes to the real danger of Athens and Greece, and his first
Philippic (delivered in 352) was his earliest attempt to rouse his countrymen to energetic
efforts against their enemy; but he did not produce much effect upon the Athenians. In 349
Philip commenced his attacks on the Chalcidian cities. Olynthus, in alarm, applied to Athens
for aid, and Demosthenes, in his three Olynthiac orations, roused the people to efforts
against the common enemy, not very vigorous at first, and fruitless in the end. In the
course of three years Philip gained possession of all the Chalcidian cities, and the war was
brought to a conclusion by the capture of Olynthus itself in 347. In the following year
(B.C. 346) he concluded peace with the Athenians, and straightway marched into Phocis, and
brought the Phocian War to an end. The Phocian cities were destroyed, and their place in the
Amphictyonic council was made over to the king of Macedonia, who was appointed also, jointly
with the Thebans and Thessalians, to the presidency of the Pythian Games. Ruling as he did
over a barbaric nation, such a recognition of his Hellenic character was of the greatest
value to him, especially as he looked forward to an invasion of the Persian empire in the
name of Greece, united under him in a great national confederacy. During the next few years
Philip steadily pursued his ambitious projects. From 342 to 340 he was engaged in an
expedition in Thrace, and attempted to bring under his power all the Greek cities in that
country. In the last of these years he laid siege to Perinthus and Byzantium; but the
Athenians, who had long viewed Philip's aggrandizement with fear and alarm, now resolved to
send assistance to these cities. Phocion was appointed to the command of the armament
destined for this service, and succeeded in compelling Philip to raise the siege of both the
cities (B.C. 339). Philip now proceeded to carry on war against his northern neighbours, and
seemed to give himself no further concern about the affairs of Greece. But meanwhile his
hirelings were treacherously promoting his designs against the liberties of Greece. In 339
the Amphictyons declared war against the Locrians of Amphissa for having taken possession of
a district of the sacred land; but as the general they had appointed to the command of the
Amphictyonic army was unable to effect any thing against the enemy, the Amphictyons, at
their next meeting in 337, conferred upon Philip the command of their army. Philip
straightway marched through Thermopylae and seized Elatea. The Athenians heard of his
approach with alarm; they succeeded, mainly through the influence of Demosthenes, in
forming an alliance with the Thebans; but their united army was defeated by Philip in the
month of August, 338, in the decisive battle of Chaeronea, which put an end to the
independence of Greece. Thebes paid dear for her resistance, but Athens was treated with
more favor than she could have expected. Philip now seemed to have within his reach the
accomplishment of the great object of his ambition, the invasion and conquest of the Persian
Empire. In a congress held at Corinth, which was attended by deputies from every Grecian
State with the exception of Sparta, war with Persia was determined on, and the king of
Macedonia was appointed to command the forces of the national confederacy. In 337, Philip's
marriage with Cleopatra , the daughter of Attalus, one of his generals, led to the most
serious disturbances in his family. Olympias and Alexander withdrew in great indignation
from Macedonia; and though they returned home soon afterwards, they continued to be on
hostile terms with Philip. Meanwhile, his preparations for his Asiatic expedition were not
neglected, and early in 336 he sent forces into Asia, under Parmenion, to draw over the
Greek cities to his cause. But in the summer of this year he was murdered at a grand
festival which he held at Aegae, to solemnize the nuptials of his daughter with Alexander of
Epirus. His murderer was a youth of noble blood, named Pausanias, who stabbed him as he was
walking in the procession. The assassin was immediately pursued and slain by some of the
royal guards. His motive for the deed is stated by Aristotle to have been private resentment
against Philip, to whom he had complained in vain of a gross outrage offered to him by
Attalus. Olympias and Alexander, however, were suspected of being implicated in the plot.
(See
Olympias.) Philip died in the forty-seventh
year of his age and the twenty-fourth of his reign, and was succeeded by Alexander the
Great. Philip had a great number of wives and concubines. Besides Olympias and Cleopatra ,
we may mention— (
a) His first wife Audata, an Illyrian
princess, and the mother of Cynané; (
b) Phila, sister of
Derdas and Machatas, a princess of Elymiotis; (
c) Nicesipolis of
Pherae, the mother of Thessalonica; (
d) Philinna of Larissa, the
mother of Arrhidaeus; (
e) Meda, daughter of Cithelas, king of Thrace;
(
f) Arsinoë, the mother of Ptolemy I., king of Egypt, with
whom she was pregnant when she married Lagus. To these numerous connections temperament as
well as policy seems to have inclined him. He was strongly addicted, indeed, to sensual
enjoyment of every kind; but his passions, however strong, were always kept in subjection to
his interests and ambitious views. He was fond of science and literature, in the patronage
of which he appears to have been liberal; and his appreciation of great minds is shown by
his connection with Aristotle. In the pursuit of his political objects he was, as we have
seen, unscrupulous, and ever ready to resort to duplicity and corruption; but when we
consider his humanity and generous clemency, we may admit that he does not appear to
disadvantage, even morally speaking, by the side of his fellow conquerors of mankind. See
Curteis,
Rise of the Macedonian Empire (New York, 1878).
3.
The name of Philip was bestowed by the Macedonian army upon Arrhidaeus, the bastard son of
Philip II., when he was raised to the throne after the death of
Alexander the Great. He accordingly appears in the list of Macedonian kings as Philip III.
For his life and reign see
Arrhidaeus.
4.
Eldest son of Cassander, whom he succeeded on the throne, B.C. 296. He reigned only a few
months, and was carried off by a consumptive disorder.
5.
Son of Demetrius II., reigned B.C. 220-178. He was only eight years old at the death of
his father Demetrius (B.C. 229); and the sovereign power was consequently assumed by his
uncle Antigonus Doson, who, though he certainly ruled as king rather than merely as guardian
of his nephew, was faithful to the interests of Philip, to whom he transferred the
sovereignty at his death in 220, to the exclusion of his own children. Philip was only
seventeen years old at the time of his accession, but he soon showed that he possessed
ability and wisdom superior to his years. In consequence of the defeat of the Achaeans and
Aratus by the Aetolians, the former applied for aid to Philip. This was granted; and for the
next three years Philip conducted with distinguished success the war against the Aetolians.
This war, usually called the Social War, was brought to a conclusion in 217, and at once
gained for Philip a distinguished reputation throughout Greece, while his clemency and
moderation secured him an equal measure of popularity. But a change came over his character
soon after the close of the Social War. He became suspicious and cruel; and having become
jealous
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Coin of Philip V.
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of his former friend and counsellor Aratus, he caused him to be removed by a slow
and secret poison in 213. Meantime he had become engaged in war with the Romans. In 215 he
concluded an alliance with Hannibal; but he did not prosecute the war with any activity
against the Romans, who on their part were too much engaged with their formidable adversary
in Italy to send any powerful armament against the Macedonian king. In 211 the war assumed a
new character in consequence of the alliance entered into by the Romans with the Aetolians.
It was now carried on with greater vigour and alternate success; but as Philip gained
several advantages over the Aetolians, the latter people made peace with Philip in 205. In
the course of the same year the Romans likewise concluded a peace with Philip, as they were
desirous to give their undivided attention to the war in Africa. It is probable that both
parties looked upon this peace as little more than a suspension of hostilities. Such was
clearly the view with which the Romans had accepted it; and Philip not only proceeded to
carry out his views for his own aggrandizement in Greece, without any regard to the Roman
alliances in that country, but he even sent a body of auxiliaries to the Carthaginians in
Africa, who fought at Zama under Hannibal. As soon as the Romans had brought the Second
Punic War to an end, they again declared war against Philip, in 200. This war lasted between
three and four years, and was brought to an end by the defeat of Philip by the consul
Flamininus at the battle of Cynoscephalae in the autumn of 197. (See
Flamininus.) By the peace finally granted to Philip
(B.C. 196), the king was compelled to abandon all his conquests, both in Europe and Asia,
surrender his whole fleet to the Romans, and limit his standing army to 5000 men, besides
paying a sum of 1000 talents. Philip was now effectually humbled, and endeavoured to
cultivate the friendship of the all-powerful Republic. But towards the end of his reign he
determined to try once more the fortune of war, and began to make active preparations for
this purpose. His declining years were embittered by disputes between his sons Perseus and
Demetrius; and the former, by forged letters, persuaded the king that Demetrius was plotting
against his life, and induced him to order his execution. Philip afterwards learned of the
trick that had been played upon him and was struck with such remorse as probably led to his
death, which took place in B.C. 179 (
Livy, xl. 6, 21Livy, 54; Polyb. xxiv. 7, 8).
III. Roman Citizens
1.
Q. Marcius Philippus, praetor B.C. 188, with Sicily as his
province, and consul 186, when he carried on war in Liguria with his colleague Sp. Postumius
Albinus. He was defeated by the enemy in the country of the Apuani, and the recollection of
his defeat was preserved by the name of the Saltus Marcius. In 169 Philippus was consul a
second time, and carried on the war in Macedonia against Perseus, but accomplished nothing
of importance. (See
Perseus.) In 164 Philippus was
censor with L. Aemilius Paulus, and in his censorship he set up in the city a new sun-dial.
(See
Horologium.)
2.
L. Marcius Philippus was a tribune of the plebs 104, when he
brought forward an agrarian law, and was consul in 91 with Sex. Iulius Caesar. In this year
Philippus, who belonged to the popular party, opposed with the greatest vigour the measures
of the tribune Drusus, who at first enjoyed the full confidence of the Senate. But his
opposition was all in vain; the laws of the tribune were carried. Soon afterwards Drusus
began to be regarded with mistrust and suspicion; Philippus became reconciled to the Senate,
and on his proposition a senatus consultum was passed, declaring all the laws of Drusus to
be null and void, as having been carried against the auspices. (See
Drusus.) In the Civil Wars between Marius and Sulla , Philippus took no
part. He survived the death of Sulla ; and he is mentioned afterwards as one of those who
advocated sending Pompey to conduct the war in Spain against Sertorius. Philippus was one of
the most distinguished orators of his time (
Epist. i. 7, 46). As an orator he
was reckoned inferior only to Crassus and Antonius. He was a man of luxurious habits, which
his wealth enabled him to gratify: his fish-ponds were particularly celebrated for their
magnificence and extent, and are mentioned by the ancients along with those of Lucullus and
Hortensius. Besides his son, L. Philippus, who is spoken of below, he had a step-son,
Gellius Publicola. (See
Publicola.)
3.
L. Marcius Philippus, son of the preceding, was consul in 56.
Upon the death of C. Octavius, the father of Augustus, Philippus married his widow Atia, and
thus became the step-father of Augustus. Philippus was a timid man. Notwithstanding his
close connection with Caesar's family, he remained neutral in the Civil
Wars; and after the assassination of Caesar, he endeavoured to dissuade his step-son, the
young Octavianus, from accepting the inheritance which the dictator had left him. He lived
till his step-son had acquired the supremacy of the Roman world. He restored the temple of
Hercules and the Muses, and surrounded it with a colonnade, which is frequently mentioned
under the name of Porticus Philippi (Ovid,
Fasti, vi. 801).
IV. Roman Emperors
1.
M. Iulius Philippus I., Roman emperor A.D. 244-249, was an
Arabian by birth, and entered the Roman army, in which he rose to high rank. He accompanied
Gordianus III. in his expedition against the Persians; and upon the death of the excellent
Misitheus (see Misitheus), he was promoted to the vacant office of
praetorian praefect. He availed himself of the influence of his high office to excite
discontent among the soldiers, who at length assassinated Gordian, and proclaimed Philippus
emperor, 244. Philippus proclaimed his son Caesar, concluded a disgraceful peace with Sapor,
founded the city of Philippopolis, and then returned to Rome. In 245 he was engaged in
prosecuting a successful war against the Carpi on the Danube. In 248, rebellions, headed by
Iotapinus and Marinus, broke out simultaneously in the East and in Moesia. Both pretenders
speedily perished, but Decius, having been dispatched 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 encounter his rival, was slain
near Verona either in battle or by his own soldiers. The great domestic event of the reign
of Philippus was the exhibition of the Secular Games, which were celebrated with even more
than the ordinary degree of splendour, since Rome had now, according to the received
tradition, attained the thousandth year of her existence (A.D. 248).
2.
M. Iulius Philippus II., son of the foregoing, was a boy of
seven at the accession (A.D. 244) of his father, by whom he was proclaimed Caesar, and three
years afterwards (A.D. 247) received the title of Augustus. In 249 he was slain, according
to Zosimus, at the battle of Verona, or murdered, according to Victor, at Rome by the
Praetorians, when intelligence arrived of the defeat and death of the emperor.
V. Writers
1.
Of Medma, in the south of Italy, a Greek astronomer, and a disciple of Plato. His
observations, which were made in the Peloponnesus and in Locris, were used by the
astronomers Hipparchus, Geminus the Rhodian, and Ptolemy.
2.
Of Thessalonica, an epigrammatic poet, who, besides composing a large number of epigrams
himself, compiled one of the ancient Greek Anthologies. The whole number of epigrams
ascribed to him in the Greek Anthology is nearly ninety; but of these, six (xxxvi.-xli.)
ought to be ascribed to Lucillius, and a few others are manifestly borrowed from earlier
poets, while others are mere imitations. He probably wrote in the reign of Trajan.
