Philip the Arab and Christianity - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Philip the Arab
Philip the Arab
Philip the Arab , also known as Philip or Philippus Arabs, was Roman Emperor from 244 to 249. He came from Syria, and rose to become a major figure in the Roman Empire. He achieved power after the death of Gordian III, quickly negotiating peace with the Sassanid Empire...

was one of the few 3rd-century Roman emperors

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

sympathetic to Christians, although his relationship with Christianity is obscure and controversial. Philip was born in Auranitis, an Arab district east of the Sea of Galilee

Sea of Galilee

The Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias , is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately in circumference, about long, and wide. The lake has a total area of , and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m...

. The urban and Hellenized centers of the region were Christianized in the early years of the 3rd century via major Christian centers at Bosra

Bosra

Bosra , also known as Bostra, Busrana, Bozrah, Bozra, Busra Eski Şam, Busra ash-Sham, and Nova Trajana Bostra, is an ancient city administratively belonging to the Daraa Governorate in southern Syria...

and Edessa

Edessa

Edessa may refer to:*Edessa, Greece*Edessa, Mesopotamia, now Şanlıurfa, Turkey*County of Edessa, a crusader state*Osroene, an ancient kingdom and province of the Roman Empire...

; there is little evidence of Christian presence in the small villages of the region in this period, such as Philip's birthplace at Philippopolis

Shahba

Shahba , known in Late Antiquity as Philippopolis, is a city located 87 km south of Damascus in the Jabal el Druze in As-Suwayda Governorate of Syria, but formerly in the Roman province of Arabia Petraea.-Roman history:...

. Philip served as praetorian prefect

Praetorian prefect

Praetorian prefect was the title of a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief aides...

, commander of the Praetorian Guard

Praetorian Guard

The Praetorian Guard was a force of bodyguards used by Roman Emperors. The title was already used during the Roman Republic for the guards of Roman generals, at least since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around 275 BC...

, from 242; he was made emperor in 244. In 249, after a brief civil war, he died at the hands of his successor, Decius

Decius

Trajan Decius , was Roman Emperor from 249 to 251. In the last year of his reign, he co-ruled with his son Herennius Etruscus until they were both killed in the Battle of Abrittus.-Early life and rise to power:...

.

During the late 3rd century and into the 4th, it was held by some churchmen that Philip

Philip the Arab

Philip the Arab , also known as Philip or Philippus Arabs, was Roman Emperor from 244 to 249. He came from Syria, and rose to become a major figure in the Roman Empire. He achieved power after the death of Gordian III, quickly negotiating peace with the Sassanid Empire...

had been the first Christian emperor; he was described as such in Jerome

Jerome

Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...

's Chronicon
Chronicon (Jerome)
The Chronicle was a universal chronicle, one of Jerome's earliest attempts in the department of history...

(Chronicle), which was well-known during the Middle Ages, and in Orosius' highly popular Historia Adversus Paganos (History Against the Pagans). Most scholars hold that these and other early accounts ultimately derive from Eusebius of Caesarea

Eusebius of Caesarea

Eusebius of Caesarea also called Eusebius Pamphili, was a Roman historian, exegete and Christian polemicist. He became the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine about the year 314. Together with Pamphilus, he was a scholar of the Biblical canon...

's Historia Ecclesiastica (Ecclesiastical History).

The most important section of Eusebius' Historia on Philip's religious beliefs describes the emperor's visit to a church on Easter Eve

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday , sometimes known as Easter Eve or Black Saturday, is the day after Good Friday. It is the day before Easter and the last day of Holy Week in which Christians prepare for Easter...

when he was denied entry by the presiding bishop until he confessed his sins. The account is paralleled by Chrysostom's homily, which celebrates Saint Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, for denying a sinful emperor entry to his church; and quotations of Leontius in the Chronicon Paschale which describe Philip seeking penitence from Babylas for the sin of murdering his predecessor. Given the parallels between the accounts, most scholars believe that Eusebius, Chrysostom, and Leontius are referring to the same event (or legend).

With the growth of scholarly criticism in the 17th and 18th centuries, fewer historians believed Philip to be a Christian. Historians had become increasingly aware of secular texts, which did not describe Philip as a Christian—and which, indeed, recorded him participating as pontifex maximus (chief priest) over the millennial Secular Games

Secular games

The Secular Games were a religious celebration, involving sacrifices and theatrical performances, held in ancient Rome for three days and nights to mark the end of a saeculum and the beginning of the next...

in 248. Modern scholars are divided on the issue. Some, like Hans Pohlsander and Ernst Stein, argue that the ecclesiastic narratives are ambiguous, based on oral rumor, and do not vouch for a Christian Philip; others, like John York, Irfan Shahîd, and Warwick Ball

Warwick Ball

Warwick Ball is an Australian born Near Eastern archeologist.In the past 30 years, Ball has mainly excavated in Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.Ball was formerly director of excavations at The British School of Archaeology in Iraq....

, argue that the ecclesiastic narratives are clear and dependable enough that Philip can be described as a Christian; still others, like Glen Bowersock

Glen Bowersock

Glen Warren Bowersock is a contemporary American scholar of the ancient world and the history of ancient Greece, Rome and the Near East.-Biography:...

, argue that the sources are strong enough to describe Philip as a man interested in and sympathetic to Christianity, but not strong enough to call him a Christian.

Biography of Philip the Arab

Philip was born in a village in Auranitis

Hauran

Hauran, , also spelled Hawran or Houran, is a volcanic plateau, a geographic area and a people located in southwestern Syria and extending into the northwestern corner of Jordan. It gets its name from the Aramaic Hawran, meaning "cave land." In geographic and geomorphic terms, its boundaries...

, part of the district of Trachonitis

Trachonitis

Trachonitis was a region that once formed part of Herod Philip's tetrarchy. It now lies within the boundaries of modern Syria.It appears in the Bible only in the phrase tes Itouraias kai Trachbnitidos choras, literally, "of the Iturean and Trachonian region"...

, east of the Sea of Galilee

Sea of Galilee

. Philip renamed the village Philippopolis (the modern al-Shahbā'

Shahba

, Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

) during his reign as emperor. He was one of only three Easterners to be made emperor before the decisive separation of East and West in 395. (The other two were Elagabalus

Elagabalus

Elagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was Syrian on his mother's side, the son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus. Early in his youth he served as a priest of the god El-Gabal at his hometown, Emesa...

and Alexander Severus

Alexander Severus

Severus Alexander was Roman Emperor from 222 to 235. Alexander was the last emperor of the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his cousin Elagabalus upon the latter's assassination in 222, and was ultimately assassinated himself, marking the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century — nearly fifty...

). Even among Easterners Philip was atypical, as he was an Arab, not a Greek. His father was Julius Marinus; nothing besides his name is known, but the name indicates that he held Roman citizenship and that he must have been prominent in his community.

The early details of Philip's career are obscure, but his brother, Gaius Julius Priscus

Gaius Julius Priscus

Gaius Julius Priscus was military man and member of the Praetorian guard in the reign of Gordian III.- Life :Priscus was born in the Roman province of Syria, possibly in Damascus, son of a Julius Marinus a local Roman citizen, possibly of some importance...

, was made praetorian prefect

Praetorian prefect

under Emperor Gordian III

Gordian III

Gordian III , was Roman Emperor from 238 to 244. Gordian was the son of Antonia Gordiana and an unnamed Roman Senator who died before 238. Antonia Gordiana was the daughter of Emperor Gordian I and younger sister of Emperor Gordian II. Very little is known on his early life before his acclamation...

(r. 238–44). If a fragmentary inscription (Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae
Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae
Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, standard abbreviation ILS, is a three-volume selection of Latin inscriptions edited by Hermann Dessau. The work was published in five parts serially from 1892 to 1916, with numerous reprints. Supporting material and notes are all written in Latin...

1331) refers to Priscus, he would have moved through several equestrian offices (that is, administrative positions open to a member of the equestrian order) during Gordian's reign. In the spring of 242, Philip himself was made praetorian prefect, most likely with the help of his brother. Following a failed campaign against Persia in the winter of 243–44, Gordian died in camp. Rumors that Philip had murdered him were taken up by the senatorial opposition of the later 3rd century, and survive in the Latin histories and epitomes of the period. Philip was acclaimed emperor, and was secure in that title by late winter 244. Philip made his brother rector Orientis, an executive position with extraordinary powers, including command of the armies in the Eastern provinces. Philip began his reign by negotiating a peaceful end to his predecessor's war against Persia. In 248, Philip called the Secular Games

Secular games

to celebrate the 1000-year anniversary of the founding of Rome.

In the Near East, Philip's brother Priscus' tax collection methods provoked the revolt of Jotapianus

Jotapianus

Marcus Fulvius Rufus Jotapianus or Jotapian, he was also known as Iotapianus or Iotapian. Jotapianus was an usurper in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Philip the Arab, around 249...

. At the same time, Silbannacus

Silbannacus

Mar. Silbannacus is a mysterious figure believed to have been an usurper in the Roman Empire during the time of Philip the Arab , or between the fall of Aemilianus and the rise to power of Valerian ....

started a rebellion in the Rhenish provinces. He faced a third rebellion in 248 when the legions he had used in successful campaigns against the Carpi

Carpi (people)

The Carpi or Carpiani were an ancient people that resided, between not later than ca. AD 140 and until at least AD 318, in the former Principality of Moldavia ....

on the Danubian frontier revolted and proclaimed an officer named Pacatianus emperor. All three rebellions were suppressed quickly. In 249, to restore order after the defeat of Pacatianus, Philip gave Senator Decius

Decius

, a native of the region, command of the Danubian armies. In late spring 249, the armies proclaimed Decius emperor. The civil war that followed ended in a battle outside Verona. Decius emerged victorious, and Philip either died or was assassinated. When news of Philip's death reached Rome, the Praetorian Guard

Praetorian Guard

murdered his son and successor Marcus Julius Severus Philippus

Philippus II

Marcus Julius Philippus Severus, also known as Philippus II, Philip II and Philip the Younger was the son and heir of the Roman Emperor Philip the Arab by his wife Roman Empress Marcia Otacilia Severa...

Christianity and Philip's early life and career

No account or allusion to Philip's presumed conversion to Christianity survives. The Byzantinist and Arabist Irfan Shahîd, who argues in favor of Philip's Christianity in Rome and the Arabs, assumes that he had been a Christian before becoming emperor. He argues, therefore, that there is no need to explain the absence of evidence for Philip's conversion in contemporary Christian literature. Trachonitis, equidistant from Antioch in the north and Bosra in the south, and sited on a road connecting the two, could have been Christianized from either direction. Even if he was not himself Christian, Philip would probably have been familiar with Christians in his hometown as well as Bosra and other nearby settlements. Hans Pohlsander, a classicist and historian arguing against accounts of Philip's Christianity, allows that Philip "may have been curious about a religion which had its origins in an area so close to his place of birth. As an eastern provincial rather than an Italian, he may not have been so intense in his commitment to the traditional Roman religion that he could not keep an open mind on other religions." He also accepts that Philippopolis probably contained a Christian congregation during Philip's childhood. For the scholar of religion Frank Trombley, however, the absence of evidence for the early Christianization of Philippopolis makes Shahîd's assumption that Philip was Christian from early childhood unmerited.

If Philip had been a Christian during his military service, he would have not been a particularly unusual figure for his era—although membership in the army was prohibited by certain churchmen, and would have required participation in rites some Christians found sacrilegious, it was not uncommon among the Christian laity. The position of an emperor, however, was more explicitly pagan—emperors were expected to officiate over public rites and lead the religious ceremonies of the army. Christian scripture contains explicit prohibitions on this sort of behavior, such as the First Commandment

Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...

: "You shall have no other gods before me". Whatever the prohibitions, people raised on the "more tolerant Christianity of the camp" would have been able to justify participation in pagan ritual to themselves. We know that these people exist: the historical record includes Christian army officers, who would have been regularly guilty of idolatry, and the military martyrs

Military saint

The military saints or warrior saints of the Early Christian Church are prominent in the history of Christianity...

of the late 3rd century. Their ritual sacrifice excluded them from certain parts of the Christian community (ecclesiastical writers tended to ignore them, for example) but these people nonetheless believed themselves to be Christian and were recognized by others as Christians.

Christianity in Auranitis

Thanks to its proximity to the first Christian communities of Palestine, Provincia Arabia

Arabia Petraea

Arabia Petraea, also called Provincia Arabia or simply Arabia, was a frontier province of the Roman Empire beginning in the 2nd century; it consisted of the former Nabataean kingdom in modern Jordan, southern modern Syria, the Sinai Peninsula and northwestern Saudi Arabia. Its capital was Petra...

, of which Philippopolis was a part, was among the first regions to convert to Christianity. By the time of Philip's birth, the region had been extensively Christianized, especially in the north and in Hellenized settlements like those of Auranitis. The region is known to have had a fully developed synod

Synod

A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...

al system (in which bishops from the dioceses in the region met to discuss Church affairs) by the mid-3rd century. The region sent six bishops to the Council of Nicaea

First Council of Nicaea

The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...

in 325, and Eusebius' Onomasticon, a gazetteer of Biblical place-names, records a wholly Christian village called Cariathaim, or Caraiatha, near Madaba

Madaba

Madaba , is the capital city of Madaba Governorate of Jordan, which has a population of about 60,000. Madaba is the fifth most populous town in Jordan. It is best known for its Byzantine and Umayyad mosaics, especially a large Byzantine-era mosaic map of The Holy Land...

. Outside of the cities, however, there is less evidence of Christianization. Before the 5th century there is little evidence of the faith, and many villages remained unconverted in the sixth. Philippopolis, which was a small village for most of this period, does not have a Christian inscription that can be dated earlier than 552. It is not known when the village established a prelate

Prelate

A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...

ship, but it must have been sometime before 451, when it sent a bishop to the Council of Chalcedon

Council of Chalcedon

The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th...

.

Christian beliefs were present in the region's Arab community since about AD 200, when Abgar VIII

Abgar VIII

Abgar VIII of Edessa, also known as Abgar the Great, was an Assyrian/Syriac king of Osroene. It was maintained also that Abgar the Great should be regarded as Abgar IX, however, according to A. R. Bellinger and C. B...

, an ethnic Arab and king of the Roman client state

Client state

Client state is one of several terms used to describe the economic, political and/or military subordination of one state to a more powerful state in international affairs...

Osroene

Osroene, also spelled Osrohene and Osrhoene and sometimes known by the name of its capital city, Edessa , was a historic Syriac kingdom located in Mesopotamia, which enjoyed semi-autonomy to complete independence from the years of 132 BC to AD 244.It was a Syriac-speaking kingdom.Osroene, or...

, converted to Christianity. The religion was propagated from Abgar's capital at Edessa

Edessa

Edessa may refer to:*Edessa, Greece*Edessa, Mesopotamia, now Şanlıurfa, Turkey*County of Edessa, a crusader state*Osroene, an ancient kingdom and province of the Roman Empire...

until its destruction in 244. By the mid-3rd century, the city of Bosra

Bosra

had a Christian bishop, Beryllos. Beryllos offers an early example of the heretical beliefs Hellenic Christians imputed to the Arabs as a race: Beryllos believed that Christ did not exist before he was made flesh at the Incarnation

Incarnation (Christianity)

The Incarnation in traditional Christianity is the belief that Jesus Christ the second person of the Trinity, also known as God the Son or the Logos , "became flesh" by being conceived in the womb of a woman, the Virgin Mary, also known as the Theotokos .The Incarnation is a fundamental theological...

. According to Eusebius of Caesarea

Eusebius of Caesarea

, his views were condemned as heresy following debate at a local synod. The debate was most likely conducted in Greek, a language in common use among the well-Hellenized cities of the region.

Christianity in the mid-3rd century

The 3rd century was the age in which the initiative for persecution shifted from the masses to the Imperial office. In the 1st and 2nd centuries, persecutions were carried out under the authority of local government officials. Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...

(r. 193–211) and Maximin

Maximinus Thrax

Maximinus Thrax , also known as Maximinus I, was Roman Emperor from 235 to 238.Maximinus is described by several ancient sources, though none are contemporary except Herodian's Roman History. Maximinus was the first emperor never to set foot in Rome...

(r. 235–38) are alleged to have issued general rescripts against the religion and targeted its clergy, but the evidence for their acts is obscure and contested. There is no evidence that Philip effected any changes to the Christians' legal status. Pogrom

Pogrom

A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...

s against the Christians in Alexandria took place while Philip was still emperor. There is no evidence that Philip punished, participated in or assisted the pogrom.

No historian contests that Philip's successor Decius

Decius

(r. 249–51), called a general persecution against the Church, and most would list it as the first. Decius was anxious to secure himself in the imperial office. Before mid-December 249, Decius issued an edict demanding that all Romans, throughout the empire, make a show of sacrifice to the gods. Libelli
Libellus
A libellus was a document given to a Roman citizen to certify performance of a pagan sacrifice, hence demonstrating loyalty to the authorities of the Roman Empire...

were signed in Fayum in June and July 250 as demonstrations of this sacrifice. If the persecutions of Maximin and Septimius Severus are dismissed as fiction, Decius' edict was without precedent. If the Christians were believed to be Philip's friends (as Dionysius of Alexandria presents them), however, it might help explain Decius' motivations.

In Greek ecclesiastical writing

The ancient traditions regarding Philip's Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

can be divided into three categories: the Eusebian, or Caesarean; the Antioch

Antioch

Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...

ene; and the Latin. The Eusebian tradition consists of Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea

Eusebius of Caesarea

's Historia Ecclesiastica and the documents excerpted and cited therein, including the letters of Origen and Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria. The Antiochene tradition consists of the John Chrysostom

John Chrysostom

John Chrysostom , Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic...

's homily de S. Babyla and Leontius, bishop of Antioch's entries in the Chronicon Paschale
Chronicon Paschale
Chronicon Paschale is the conventional name of a 7th-century Greek Christian chronicle of the world...

. Most scholars hold that these accounts ultimately derive from Eusebius of Caesarea

Eusebius of Caesarea

's Historia Ecclesiastica (Ecclesiastical History), but some, like Irfan Shahîd, posit that Antioch had an independent oral tradition.

Eusebius

The most significant author to discuss Philip the Arab and Christianity is Eusebius

Eusebius of Caesarea

, who served as bishop of Caesarea in Roman Palestine from ca. 314 to his death in 339. Eusebius' major work is the Historia Ecclesiastica, written in several editions dating from ca. 300 to 325. The Historia is not an attempt at a full history of the Church in the classical style, but rather a collection of facts addressing six topics in Christian history from the Apostolic times

Apostolic Age

The Apostolic Age of the history of Christianity is traditionally the period of the Twelve Apostles, dating from the Crucifixion of Jesus and the Great Commission in Jerusalem until the death of John the Apostle in Anatolia...

to the late 3rd century: (1) lists of bishops of major sees

Episcopal See

An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...

; (2) Christian teachers and their writings; (3) heresies; (4) the tribulations of the Jews; (5) the persecutions of Christians by pagan authorities; and (6) the martyrs. His Vita Constantini, written between Constantine's death in 337 and Eusebius' own death in 339, is a combination of eulogistic

Eulogy

A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...

encomium

Encomium

Encomium is a Latin word deriving from the Classical Greek ἐγκώμιον meaning the praise of a person or thing. "Encomium" also refers to several distinct aspects of rhetoric:* A general category of oratory* A method within rhetorical pedagogy...

and continuation of the Historia (the two separate documents were combined and distributed by Eusebius' successor in the see of Caesarea, Acacius

Acacius of Caesarea

Acacius of Caesarea in Greek Ἀκάκιος Mονόφθαλμος was a Christian bishop, the pupil and successor in the Palestinian see of Caesarea of Eusebius AD 340, whose life he wrote. He is remembered chiefly for his bitter opposition to St. Cyril of Jerusalem and for the part he was afterwards enabled to...

).

Five references in Eusebius' Historia Ecclesiastica speak to Philip's Christianity; three directly, two by implication. At 6.34, he describes Philip visiting a church on Easter Eve

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday , sometimes known as Easter Eve or Black Saturday, is the day after Good Friday. It is the day before Easter and the last day of Holy Week in which Christians prepare for Easter...

and being denied entry by the presiding bishop because he had not yet confessed his sins. The bishop goes unnamed. At 6.36.3, he writes of letters from the Christian theologian Origen to Philip and to Philip's wife, Marcia Otacilia Severa. At 6.39, Eusebius writes that Decius persecuted Christians because he hated Philip. The remaining two references are quotations or paraphrases of Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, a contemporary of Philip (he held the patriarchate

Patriarchate

A patriarchate is the office or jurisdiction of a patriarch. A patriarch, as the term is used here, is either* one of the highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, earlier, the five that were included in the Pentarchy: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, but now nine,...

from 247 to 265). At 6.41.9, Dionysius contrasts the tolerant Philip's rule with the intolerant Decius'. At 7.10.3, Dionysius implies that Alexander Severus

Alexander Severus

(emperor from 222 to 235) and Philip were both openly Christian.

Text, sources, and interpretation

Most arguments regarding Philip's Christianity hinge on Eusebius' account of the emperor's visit to a church at 6.34. In the words of the 17th-century ecclesiastical historian Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont

Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont

Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont was a French ecclesiastical historian.He was born in Paris into a wealthy Jansenist family, and was educated at the Petites écoles of Port-Royal, where his historical interests were formed and encouraged...

, it is the "la ſeule action en laquelle on ſache qu'il ait honoré l'Église", the "only action in which we know him to have honored the Church".
In Shahîd's reconstruction, this event took place at Antioch on 13 April 244, while the emperor was on his way back to Rome from the Persian front. The 12th-century Byzantine historian Zonaras

Joannes Zonaras

Ioannes Zonaras was a Byzantine chronicler and theologian, who lived at Constantinople.Under Emperor Alexios I Komnenos he held the offices of head justice and private secretary to the emperor, but after Alexios' death, he retired to the monastery of St Glykeria, where he spent the rest of his...

repeats the story.

Eusebius introduces his account of Philip's visit with the words κατέχει λόγος' (katechei logos). The precise meaning of these words in modern European languages has been contested. Ernst Stein, in an account challenging the veracity of Eusebius' narrative, translated the phrase as "gerüchte", or "rumor"; the scholar John Gregg translated it as "the saying goes". Other renderings are possible, however; modern English translations of the Historia Ecclesiastica have "it is recorded" or "it is reported", as in the translation quoted above. The historian Robin Lane Fox

Robin Lane Fox

Robin Lane Fox is an English historian, currently a Fellow of New College, Oxford and University of Oxford Reader in Ancient History.-Life:Lane Fox was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford....

, who translates logos as "story" or "rumor" in scare quotes

Scare quotes

Scare quotes are quotation marks placed around a word or phrase to indicate that it does not signify its literal or conventional meaning.- History :Use of the term "scare quotes" appears to have arisen at some point during the first half of the 20th century...

, emphasizes that Eusebius draws a distinction between his "story" about Philip and the other material in the passage.

The substantiative issue involved is the nature of Eusebius' source; where "gerüchte" suggests hearsay (Frend explains that Eusebius' κατέχει λόγος' "usually means mere suggestion"), "it is recorded" suggests documentation. Given that Eusebius' major sources for 3rd-century history were written records, Shahîd contends that the typical translation misrepresents the original text. His source here is probably one of the two letters from Origen to Philip and Marcia Otacilia Severa

Marcia Otacilia Severa

Marcia Otacilia Severa or Otacilia Severa was the Empress of Rome and wife of Emperor Marcus Julius Philippus or Philip the Arab who reigned over the Roman Empire from 244 to 249....

, Philip's wife, mentioned at 6.36.3. Shahîd argues that an oral source is unlikely given that Eusebius composed his Historia in Caesarea and not Antioch; but others, like Stein and theologian Arthur Cushman McGiffert

Arthur Cushman McGiffert

Arthur Cushman McGiffert , American theologian, was born in Sauquoit, New York, the son of a Presbyterian clergyman of Scots-Irish descent....

, editor and translator of the Historia for the Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers
A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, usually known as the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers , is a set of books containing translations of early Christian writings into English. It was published between 1886 and 1900...

, contend nonetheless that the story has an oral source.

Shahîd's position is reinforced by C. H. Roberts and A. N. Sherwin-White, who reviewed his Rome and the Arabs before publication. That is, that the proper interpretation of κατέχει λόγος is as a reference to a written account. Roberts notes that Χριστιανὸν ὄντα (Christianon onta, "being a Christian") was probably an editorial insertion by Eusebius, and not included in the logos he relates in the passage. Shahîd takes this as an indication that Eusebius did indeed vouch for Philip's Christianity. Roberts suggested that κατέχει λόγος might be translated as "there is a wide-spread report", but added that a broader study of Eusebius' use of the expression elsewhere would be useful. Sherwin-White points out Eusebius' use of the phrase in his passage on the Thundering Legion

Legio XII Fulminata

Legio duodecima Fulminata , also known as Paterna, Victrix, Antiqua, Certa Constans, and Galliena, was a Roman legion, levied by Julius Caesar in 58 BC and which accompanied him during the Gallic wars until 49 BC. The unit was still guarding the Euphrates River crossing near Melitene at the...

(at Historia Ecclesiastica 5.5), where it represents a reference to written sources.

However, because Eusebius nowhere categorically asserts that he has read the letters (he only says that he has compiled them) and as moderns are disinclined to take him at his word, some, like Pohlsander, posit that Eusebius did not get the tale from the letters, and drew it instead from oral rumors. Whatever the case, the wording of the passage shows that Eusebius is unenthusiastic about his subject and skeptical of its significance. Jerome and the Latin Christian authors following him do not share his caution.

Contexts and parallels

For many scholars, the scene at 6.34 seems to anticipate and parallel the confrontation between Theodosius

Theodosius I

Theodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...

and Ambrose

Ambrose

Aurelius Ambrosius, better known in English as Saint Ambrose , was a bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century. He was one of the four original doctors of the Church.-Political career:Ambrose was born into a Roman Christian family between about...

in 390; Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus , known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and a theologian....

used the two situations as parallel exempla
Exemplum
An exemplum is a moral anecdote, brief or extended, real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point.-Exemplary literature:...

in a letter written to Francis I

Francis I of France

Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

in 1523. That later event has been taken as evidence against Philip's Christianity. Even in the later 4th century, in a society that had already been significantly Christianized

Christianization

The historical phenomenon of Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once...

, the argument goes, Theodosius' humiliation had shocked the sensibilities of the aristocratic elite. It is therefore inconceivable that 3rd century aristocrats, members of a society that had experienced only partial Christianization, would accept such self-abasement from their emperors. Shahîd contests this parallel, and argues that Philip's scene was far less humiliating than Theodosius': it did not take place against the same background (Theodosius had massacred seven thousand Thessalonicans some months before), no one was excommunicated (Theodosius was excommunicated for eight months), and it did not involve the same dramatic and humiliating dialogue between emperor and bishop. Philip made a quick repentance at a small church on his way back to Rome from the Persian front, a stark contrast to the grandeur of Theodosius' confrontation with Ambrose.

Other scholars, such as ecclesiastical historian H. M. Gwatkin

Henry Melvill Gwatkin

Reverend Henry Melvill Gwatkin was an English theologian and church historian.He was born at Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge...

, explain Philip's alleged visit to the church as evidence of simple "curiosity". That he was excluded from services is not surprising: as a "heathen" in official conduct, and, as an unbaptized man, it would have been unusual if he had been admitted. Shahîd rejects idle curiosity as an explanation, arguing that 3rd-century churches were too nondescript to attract much undue attention. That Philip was unbaptized is nowhere proven or stated, and, even if true, it would do little to explain the scene: Constantine participated in Christian services despite postponing baptism to the end of his life—and participation in services without baptism was not unusual for Christians of either period.

Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria

At 6.41, Eusebius quotes a letter from Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, to Fabius, bishop of Antioch, on the persecution at Alexandria under Decius. He begins (at 6.41.1) by describing the pogroms which began a year before Decius' decree of 250; that is, in 249, under Philip. At 6.41.9, Dionysius narrates the transition from Philip to Decius.
At 7.10.3, Eusebius quotes a letter from Dionysius to the otherwise-unknown Hermammon on the early years of Valerian

Valerian (emperor)

Valerian , also known as Valerian the Elder, was Roman Emperor from 253 to 260. He was taken captive by Persian king Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa, becoming the only Roman Emperor who was captured as a prisoner of war, resulting in wide-ranging instability across the Empire.-Origins and rise...

's (r. 253–260) rule. In this period the emperor implicitly tolerated Christianity; Eusebius would contrast his early reputation with his later policy of persecution.
Dionysius is quoted saying that Valerian was so friendly to Christians that he outdid "those who were said to be openly Christians" (οἰ λεχθέντες ἀναφανδὸν Χριοτιανοὶ γεγονέναι, tr. Shahîd). Most scholars, Shahîd and Stein included, understand this as a reference to Severus Alexander and Philip. Because the reference is to a plurality of emperors, implying that Severus Alexander and Philip were both Christians, Stein dismissed the passage as entirely without evidentiary value. Shahîd, however, contends that genuine information can be extracted from the spurious whole, and that, while the reference to Severus Alexander is hyperbole, the reference to Philip is not. He explains the reference to Severus Alexander as a Christian as an exaggeration of what was actually only an interest in the Christian religion. Shahîd references a passage in the often-dubious Historia Augusta
Augustan History
The Augustan History is a late Roman collection of biographies, in Latin, of the Roman Emperors, their junior colleagues and usurpers of the period 117 to 284...

s biography of the emperor, which states that Alexander had statues of Abraham

Abraham

Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...

, Christ, and Orpheus

Orpheus

Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...

in his private chapel, and that he prayed to them each morning. He also adduces the letters sent from Origen to Alexander's mother Mamaea

Julia Avita Mamaea

Julia Avita Mamaea was the second daughter of Julia Maesa, a powerful Roman woman of Syrian origin and Syrian noble Julius Avitus. She was a niece of empress Julia Domna and emperor Septimius Severus and sister of Julia Soaemias...

(Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 6.21, 6.28) to explain Dionysius' comment.

Origen's letters

The mention of those princes who were publicly supposed to be Christians...evidently alludes to Philip and his family... The epistles of Origen (which were extant in the time of Eusebius, see l. vi c. 36.) would most probably decide this curious, rather than important, question.

Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ed. D. Womersley (London: Penguin, 1994 [1776]), 1.554 n. 119.

Origen's letters do not survive. However, most scholars believe that the letters that circulated in the era of Eusebius and Jerome were genuine. It is also reasonable that Origen, a man with close contacts in the Christian Arab community, would have taken a particular interest in the first Arab emperor. The scholar K. J. Neumann argued that, since Origen would have known the faith of the imperial couple, he must have written about it in the letters listed at 6.36.3. Since Eusebius read these letters, and does not mention that the emperor was Christian (Neumann understands the passage at 6.34 to reflect Eusebius' disbelief in Philip's Christianity), we must conclude that Philip was not Christian, and was neither baptized nor made catechumen

Catechumen

In ecclesiology, a catechumen , “‘down’” + ἠχή , “‘sound’”) is one receiving instruction from a catechist in the principles of the Christian religion with a view to baptism...

. Against Neumann, Shahîd argues that, if Eusebius had found anything in the letters to disprove Philip's Christianity, he would have clearly outlined it in this passage—as the biographer of Constantine, it would have been in his interest to undermine any other claimants to the title "first Christian emperor". Moreover, this segment of the Historia is a catalog of Origen's works and correspondence; the contents of the letters are irrelevant.

Views on the Arabs

Eusebius' understanding of the Arab peoples is informed by his reading of the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

and his knowledge of the history of imperial Rome. He does not appear to have personally known any Arabs. In his Chronicon, all the Arabs that appear—save for one reference to Ishmael

Ishmael

Ishmael is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, and was Abraham's first born child according to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Ishmael was born of Abraham's marriage to Sarah's handmaiden Hagar...

—figure in the political history of the first three centuries of the Christian era. To Eusebius, the Saracen

Saracen

Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...

s of the 4th century are direct-line descendants of the biblical Ishmaelites

Ishmaelites

According to the Book of Genesis, Ishmaelites are the descendants of Ishmael, the elder son of Abraham.-Traditional Origins:According to the Book of Genesis, Abraham's first wife was named Sarah and his second wife Hagar. However Sarah was old and barren, and could not conceive...

, descendants of the handmaid, Hagar

Hagar (Bible)

Hagar , according to the Abrahamic faiths, was the second wife of Abraham, and the mother of his first son, Ishmael. Her story is recorded in the Book of Genesis, mentioned in Hadith, and alluded to in the Qur'an...

, and the patriarch, Abraham

Abraham

Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...

. They are thus outcasts, beyond God's Covenant with the favored son of Abraham, Isaac

Isaac

Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...

. The twin images of the Ishmaelite and the Saracen—outcasts and latrones, raiders of the frontiers—reinforce each other and give Eusebius' portrait of the Arab nation an unhappy color. He may have been reluctant to associate the first Christian emperor with a people of such unfortunate ancestry.

In his Historia, Eusebius does not identify either Philip or Abgar V of Edessa

Abgar V of Edessa

Abgar V the black or Abgarus V of Edessa BC - AD 7 and AD 13 - 50) was a historical Syriac ruler of the Syriac kingdom of Osroene, holding his capital at Edessa....

(whom he incorrectly presumed to be the first Christian prince; he does not mention Abgar VIII

Abgar VIII

, who was actually the first Christian prince), as Arabs. He does, however, identify Herod the Great

Herod the Great

Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...

as an Arab, thus tarring the Arab nation with the Massacre of the Innocents

Massacre of the Innocents

The Massacre of the Innocents is an episode of infanticide by the King of Judea, Herod the Great. According to the Gospel of Matthew Herod orders the execution of all young male children in the village of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth...

and the attempted murder of Christ himself. The Christianity of Provincia Arabia in the 3rd century also earns some brief notices: the heresy of Beryllos, bishop of Bostra, and his correction by Origen (6.33); the heretical opinions concerning the soul held by a group of Arabs until corrected by Origen (6.37); and the heresy of Helkesaites (6.38). Eusebius' account of Philip appears amidst these Arab heresies (at 6.34, 6.36, and 6.39), although, again—and in spite of the fact that Philip so often took on the epithet "the Arab", in antiquity as today—he never identifies him as an Arab. The image of the Arabs as heretics would persist in later ecclesiastical historians (like Epiphanius of Salamis

Epiphanius of Salamis

Epiphanius of Salamis was bishop of Salamis at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. He gained a reputation as a strong defender of orthodoxy...

). Shahîd, relating these facts, nonetheless concludes that "Eusebius cannot be accused in the account he gave of the Arabs and their place in the history of Christianity." The fact that he downplayed the role of Philip and Abgar in the establishment of Christianity as a state religion is understandable, given his desire to prop up Constantine

Constantine I

Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...

's reputation.

Views on Constantine

In Shahîd's judgment, the imprecision and unemphatic tone of Eusebius' passage at 6.34 is the major cause of the lack of scholarly consensus on Philip's Christianity. To Shahîd, Eusebius' wording choice is a reflection of his own lack of enthusiasm for Philip's Christianity, which is in turn a reflection of the special position Constantine held in his regards and in his written work. A number of scholars, following E. Schwartz, believe the later editions of Eusebius' Historia to have been extensively revised to adapt to the deterioration of Licinius

Licinius

Licinius I , was Roman Emperor from 308 to 324. Co-author of the Edict of Milan that granted official toleration to Christians in the Roman Empire, for the majority of his reign he was the rival of Constantine I...

in the public memory (and official damnatio memoriae
Damnatio memoriae
Damnatio memoriae is the Latin phrase literally meaning "condemnation of memory" in the sense of a judgment that a person must not be remembered. It was a form of dishonor that could be passed by the Roman Senate upon traitors or others who brought discredit to the Roman State...

) after Constantine deposed and executed him in 324–25. Passages of the Historia incompatible with Licinius' denigration were suppressed, and an account of the last years of his life was replaced with a summary of the Council of Nicaea

First Council of Nicaea

The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...

. Shahîd suggests that, in addition to these anti-Licinian deletions, Eusebius also edited out favorable notices on Philip to better glorify Constantine's achievement.

In 335, Eusebius wrote and delivered his Laudes Constantini, a panegyric

Panegyric

A panegyric is a formal public speech, or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. It is derived from the Greek πανηγυρικός meaning "a speech fit for a general assembly"...

on the thirtieth anniversary of the emperor's reign; his Vita Constantini, written over the next two years, has the same laudatory tone. The ecclesiastical historian, who framed his chronology on the reigns of emperors and related the entries in his history to each emperor's reign, understood Constantine's accession as something miraculous, especially as it came immediately after the Great Persecution. The final edition of his Historia has its climax in Constantine's reign, the ultimate "triumph of Christianity". Shahîd argues, it was therefore in his authorial interest to obscure the details of Philip, the first Christian emperor; hence, because of Eusebius' skill in narrative and deception, modern historians give Constantine that title.

Shahîd further argues that the facts of Philip's alleged Christianity would also discourage Eusebius from celebrating that emperor. Firstly, Philip lacks an exciting conversion narrative; secondly, his religion was private, unlike Constantine's very public patronage of the faith; and, thirdly, his reign only lasted five years, not long enough to enact much amelioration of the Christians' condition. In Shahîd's view, the insignificance of his reign to the progress of Christianity, Eusebius' subject, combined with Eusebius' role as Constantine's panegyrist, explain the tone and content of his account.

Vita Constantini

F. H. Daniel, in Philip's entry in the Smith–Wace Dictionary of Christian Biography, cites a passage of Eusebius' Vita Constantini as his first piece of evidence against Philip's alleged Christianity. In the passage, Eusebius names Constantine as (in the words of the dictionary) "the first Christian emperor".

Shahîd describes this passage as a mere flourish from Eusebius the panegyrist, "carried away by enthusiasm and whose statements must be construed as rhetorical exaggeration"; he does not take it as serious evidence against Eusebius' earlier accounts in the Historia, where he never refers to Constantine as the first Christian emperor. For Shahîd, the passage also represents the last stage in Eusebius' evolving portrait of the pair of emperors, Philip and Constantine: in the early 300s, in his Chronicon, he had nearly called Philip the first Christian emperor; in the 320s, during the revision of the Historia and the Chronicon, he turned wary and skeptical; in the late 330s, he could confidently assert that Constantine was the sole Christian emperor. John York argues that, in writing this passage, Eusebius was cowed by the anti-Licinian propaganda of the Constantinian era: as an ancestor of the emperor's last enemy, Philip could not receive the special distinction of the title "first Christian emperor"—Constantine had claimed it for himself. Perhaps, Shahîd observes, it is not coincidental that Eusebius would paint the Arabs in uncomplimentary terms (as idolaters and practitioners of human sacrifice) in his Laudes Constantini of 335.

Chrysostom and Leontius

John Chrysostom, deacon at Antioch from 381, was made priest in 386. As a special distinction, his bishop, Flavian, decided that he should preach in the city's principal church. Chrysostom's contribution to the literature on Philip and Christianity is a homily on Babylas, a martyr-bishop who died in 253, during the Decian persecution

Decian persecution

The Decian persecution under the emperor Decius was one in which the imperial Roman government issued tickets indicating that, as per requirement, citizens had sacrificed or burned incense ; and libellatici certifying that apostates had renounced Christianity.-See also:*Persecution of Christians...

. The treatise was composed about 382, when John was a deacon, and forms part of Chrysostom's corpus of panegyrics. Chrysostom's Babylas confronts an emperor; and, since Chrysostom is more interested in the bishop than his opponent, the emperor goes unnamed. He has since been identified with Philip.

Leontius was bishop of Antioch from 348 to 357. He is quoted in the Chronicon Paschale, or Paschal Chronicle, a universal chronicle of history based on the paschal cycle

Paschal cycle

The Paschal cycle in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, is the cycle of the moveable feasts built around Pascha . The cycle consists of approximately ten weeks before and seven weeks after Pascha. The ten weeks before Pascha are known as the period of the Triodion...

, as an authority on the martyrdom of Babylas. The quotation describes Philip seeking penitence from Babylas for the sin of murdering his predecessor.

Chrysostom and Leontius both lived in Antioch, the site of Philip's alleged humiliation and repentance, and wrote in the mid-4th century, one hundred years after the event took place. Shahîd takes this, along with the fact that Babylas is not named in Eusebius' account, as evidence of an independent local tradition. This tradition would have been perhaps partially oral in nature, and far removed from the written accounts in Eusebius' library at Caesarea. Many other historians trace Chrysostom and Leontius' accounts back to Eusebius: Hans Pohlsander counts Chrysostom and Leontius' accounts as later accretions to Eusebius original account, dependent on his Historia for their legendary core; John Gregg holds that this dependent relationship is most probable; and Stein claims all three Greeks as contributors to the same gerüchte.

In Latin ecclesiastical writing

The Latin tradition consists of three authors writing in the later fourth and early 5th centuries—Jerome, Orosius, and Vincent of Lérins. The tradition is represented in Jerome

Jerome

's Liber de viris inlustribus and Chronicon, Orosius' Historiarum Adversum Paganos, and Vincent of Lérins

Vincent of Lérins

Saint Vincent of Lérins was a Gallic author of early Christian writings.In earlier life he had been engaged in secular pursuits, whether civil or military is not clear, though the term he uses, "secularis militia," might possibly imply the latter...

' Commonitorum Primum. Most scholars hold that all of these accounts ultimately derive from Eusebius of Caesarea's Historia. These authors follow the Greek tradition, and probably takes all of their information from Eusebius, Eusebius' sources, or Jerome. These authors are more forceful in their claims than Eusebius, as demonstrated by their use of primus, or "first", as in "first Christian emperor", when referring to Philip. Jerome is the most important, both since he is the earliest of the three, and because, as the editor and translator of Eusebius' Chronicon (Chronicle), he is closest to Eusebius.

Jerome

Eusebius' first version of the Chronicon was written in 303, and his second in the mid-320s; Jerome's revision, translation and continuation dates to 380. The original Greek is lost; it is largely through Jerome's Latin and through an Armenian translation unrelated to Jerome that the substance of the original survives. Eusebius' original did cover Philip's rule—Jerome's continuation of the Chronicon only covers the period from 325 to 378—but the sections regarding Philip's Christianity do not survive in the Armenian translation. In the Armenian, all references to Arabs are omitted. Philip's celebration of the millennium is preserved, while his supposed Christianity is only implied in the entry on Decius' persecution. Jerome's Chronicon is, therefore, the nearest we can get to Eusebius' early statements on Philip's Christianity. That Jerome calls Philip primus in the Chronicon thus admits of two interpretations: either he found it in Eusebius, or he added it independently, based on other sources available to him. Shahîd argues that, while the text would offer a strong case for Philip's Christianity either way, the former interpretation is more plausible. Shahîd believes that primus appeared in Eusebius first version of the Chronicon, but may have been edited out for the second version—by the mid 320s, Eusebius had become Constantine's panegyrist, and was understandably loath to praise his subject's ignoble predecessors.

In his Liber de viris inlustribus, written twelve years later, in 392, Jerome mentions Philip in his chapter on Origen.

The passage contains two important features: first, the statement that the letters of Origen to Philip and his family were still extant in Jerome's time; and second, a strong affirmation of Philip's Christianity. The sentence also contains the false reference to Philip's mother (matrem) as the recipient of a letter from Origen—it was actually Philip's wife who received it. Jerome probably confused her with Alexander Severus' mother Mammaea. Bowersock characterizes the whole passage as a "confused copy" of Eusebius' evidence. Shahîd understands "quae usque hodie extant" to mean that Jerome had read the letters; that he refers to Philip as primus would thus mean that he either found positive evidence for Philip's Christianity in them or, at least, that he found nothing to disprove it.

Jerome otherwise had a dim view of the Arabs. His prejudices were those of a native Roman. Born in Strido

Stridon

Stridon was a town in the Roman province of Dalmatia. The town is located near modern Ljubljana but the exact location is unknown. The town is especially known as the birthplace of Saint Jerome. From Stridon also came Domnus of Stridon, a bishop who took part in the First Council of Nicaea, and...

(in modern Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

or Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

), near Aquileia

Aquileia

Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in what is now Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso , the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times...

, and educated in Rome, Jerome was a lover of Latin, Italy, and the city of Rome. In about 374, he found himself accused in a dream while in Antioch on the way to Palestine: "Ciceronianus es, non Christianus", "you are a Cicero

Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...

nian, not a Christian". In one of his letters, written while he was staying in the desert of Chalcis

Chalcis, Syria

Chalcis was an ancient city in Syria. Syrian Chalcis was the birthplace of 3rd century Neoplatonist philosopher Iamblichus.It is thought to be the site of the modern town of Qinnasrin, though Anjar in Lebanon has also been suggested as the site of ancient Chalcis....

, he tells of the joy he had when he discovered that his correspondents had written a letter to him in Latin. All he had to hear during the day were the "barbarous" languages of the natives (that is, Syriac

Syriac language

Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...

and Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

). From this evidence, Shahîd concludes that Jerome would not honor the memory of an Arab emperor without a strong rationale.

Orosius and the Origo Constantini Imperatoris

To Orosius, Constantine was the first Christian Roman emperor, except for Philip (he was the "primus imperatorum Christianus, excepto Philippo"). He probably took this judgment from Jerome—he had met the author in Bethlehem

Bethlehem

Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...

in 415, while on assignment from Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...

. Although his judgment is thus not independent of Jerome, Shahîd contends that it is nonetheless valuable since Orosius did not have a bias towards either emperor. It presents Philip in the role Christian history merited: as precursor to Constantine. Because Orosius' Historiae adversum paganos served as the standard manual of universal history during the middle ages, his judgment on this matter was inherited, and generally accepted, by medieval European writers.

Orosius' wording is echoed by the Origo Constantini Imperatoris, an anonymous work usually dated to the late 4th century. "Constantine was also the first Christian emperor, with the exception of Philippus, who seemed to me to have become a Christian merely in order that the one-thousandth year of Rome might be dedicated to Christ rather than to pagan idols." ("Item Constantinus imperator primus Christianus, excepto Philippo, qui Christianus admodum ad hoc tantum constitutus fuisse mihi visus est, ut millesimus Romae annus Christo potius quam idolis dicaretur", tr. J.C. Rolfe) The scholar Samuel N. C. Lieu holds that this passage is a later interpolation, designed to give the work's pagan core a Christian gloss. According to Lieu, this passage, along with others, was probably taken from Orosius' history and inserted

Interpolation (manuscripts)

An interpolation, in relation to literature and especially ancient manuscripts, is an entry or passage in a text that was not written by the original author...

into the Origo Constantini during the reign of Constantine III (r. 417–21), a period that witnessed substantial anti-pagan polemic. Shahîd argues that, since the author of the Origo Constantini was a biographer of Constantine, and not a historian of the 3rd and 4th centuries, his reference to Philip is unnecessary. The conflicting claims of Philip and Constantine to primacy may have been at issue at the turn of the 5th century, when the Origo Constantini and Historia adversum paganos were written.

Vincent of Lérins

In the chapter on Origen in Vincent of Lérins' Commonitorium primum, Vincent writes: "quos ad Philippum imperatorem, qui primus romanorum principum Christianus fuit, Christiani magisterii acutoritate conscripsit."; "with the authority which [Origen] assumed as a Christian Teacher, he wrote to the Emperor Philip, the first Roman prince that was a Christian." Vincent thus unites the commentary on Origen's letters with Philip's Christianity, as Jerome had done. It is possible that he was only following Jerome in so doing, but Shahîd argues that his note that the letters were written "Christiani magisterii auctoritate" implies that he has read the letters. Additionally, the variance between his wording and Jerome's (Vincent refers to Philip as a princeps, not a rex, and he calls the letters epistolae, not litterae), speaks for Vincent's independence of Jerome.

In Zosimus and other secular writing

But [Philip's] conduct as emperor and the universal silence of pagan sources in the matter of any Christian leanings make it highly unlikely that Philip had actually become a Christian. The silence of Zosimus is particularly impressive, inasmuch as he vigorously disliked both Arabs and Christians. His account is most unflattering in ethnic terms; and if there had been anything to say about his being a Christian, Zosimus would surely have said it.

Glen Bowersock, Roman Arabia (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980, 3rd rev. ed. 1994), 126.

Zosimus

Zosimus was a Byzantine historian, who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I . According to Photius, he was a comes, and held the office of "advocate" of the imperial treasury.- Historia Nova :...

, a pagan writing at the turn of the 6th century, wrote a work titled the Historia Nova (New History). Its detailed sections cover the period from the 3rd century AD to 410. Zosimus, like all secular historians in his era, addressed himself to the governing class of the later Roman empire: officers, bureaucrats, and the landed aristocracy. There was relatively little overlap between the reading audience of secular histories and the ecclesiastical histories of Eusebius and his successors. For most of the period it covers, the Historia is the most valuable—and sometimes the only—available source. Zosimus' history was written as a polemic, with the aim of establishing that barbarism and Christianity were the essential causes of the decline of the Roman state. Because of these themes, the Historia Nova is considered the first history of what moderns would call Rome's "decline and fall". Although skilled in literary rhetoric, Zosimus was a poor historian. He confuses dates and persons, is ignorant of geography, and treats his sources with naive simplicity. For the 3rd century, Zosimus follows Eunapius of Sardis

Eunapius

Eunapius was a Greek sophist and historian of the 4th century. His principal surviving work is the Lives of the Sophists, a collection of the biographies of twenty-three philosophers and sophists.-Life:He was born at Sardis, AD 347...

and Olympiodorus of Thebes in Egypt

Olympiodorus of Thebes

Olympiodorus was an historical writer of classical education, a "poet by profession" as he says of himself, who was born at Thebes in Egypt, and was sent on a mission to the Huns on the Black Sea by Emperor Honorius about 412, and later lived at the court of Theodosius II, to whom his History was...

. Since Eunapius' history began in 272, where the Chronicle of another historian, Dexippus

Dexippus

Publius Herennius Dexippus , Greek historian, statesman and general, was an hereditary priest of the Eleusinian family of the Kerykes, and held the offices of archon basileus and eponymous in Athens....

, ended, Zosimus probably used Dexippus' Chronicle, and perhaps his histories of the German wars between 250 and 270. Dexippus, however, was as poor a historian as Zosimus. The surviving fragments of his work show an uncritical author, without strong sources, who prefers rhetoric to fact. (The secular sources for this period are all quite weak.) Zosimus, like all ancient secular historians of the era, says nothing of Philip's alleged Christianity.

Zosimus had no great respect for Philip, and offers an unfavorable judgment on his reign. Nonetheless, he offers a curiously detailed narrative of his reign. He devotes five sections of his Historia Nova to the emperor (1.18–22)—more than Alexander Severus, who only gets half a section (1.8). He even reverts to Philip in the midst of a discussion of the Peace of Jovian (363) two books later (at 3.32), taking the opportunity to recall Philip's own "disgraceful" peace with the Persians. In Shahîd's judgment, Zosimus makes this editorial decision to emphasize his central theme—the decline and "barbarization" of Rome. Zosimus' views on the latter phenomenon reflect his racial prejudice, and his account of Philip carries anti-Semitic overtones. In Zosimus' view, Philip was a barbarian operating at the highest levels of power. The unsavory character of Philip is contrasted with his ethnically Roman predecessor, Gordian (who Philip helped overthrow), and his Roman successor, Decius, who wins glowing praise from the historian.

As he disliked both Arabs and Christians, some scholars, such as Bowersock, have taken Zosimus' silence on the matter as strong evidence against Philip's alleged Christianity. Others, like historian Warwick Ball, view Zosimus' evident distaste for Philip as noteworthy, and suggest that Zosimus' anti-Christian polemic is indirect in his writing on the emperor. Shahîd construes Zosimus' silence as an argument for Philip's Christianity. Zosimus, he argues, would never have shown such distaste for a pagan. Septimius Severus was a "barbarian", an African born at Leptis Magna whose mother tongue was Phoenician and whose wife, Julia Domna, was a provincial from Emesa. But Severus gets a good press from Zosimus (1.8). Nor would Philip's assistance in the execution of Gordian be enough: the 3rd century was hardly a stranger to such bloodshed and treachery. Zosimus' hostility begins to makes sense, Shahîd contends, once we assume that he was aware of the tradition that viewed Philip as the first Christian emperor (and perhaps even accepted it). And it becomes perfectly clear once we understand the importance Zosimus attributes to the Secular Games, and the schematic incongruity he would behold when a Christian emperor was presiding over them.

In 248, Philip held Secular Games

Secular games

(Ludi Saeculares) to celebrate the thousandth anniversary of Rome's legendary founding

Founding of Rome

The founding of Rome is reported by many legends, which in recent times are beginning to be supplemented by scientific reconstructions.- Development of the city :...

by Romulus. It is presumed that he would have officiated over the games in his capacity as pontifex maximus, chief priest of the state cults. Allard accepts that he made no public notice of his private religion, and that he ran the games as a "prince païen", a "pagan prince". Pohlsander cites a number of early Christian theologians in support of his contention that "Christians generally condemned 'games' of any kind." Tertullian's de Spectaculis, Novatian

Antipope Novatian

Novatian was a scholar, priest, theologian and antipope who held the title between 251 and 258. According to Greek authors, pope Damasus I and Prudentius gave his name as Novatus....

's treatise of the same name (which does not survive), and Cyprian's disapproving comments in his ad Donatum are offered as examples. The later followers of Jerome, however, like Orosius and Bede, mention Philip's games approvingly—Orosius even claims that Philip did not sacrifice during the games. Pohlsander concedes that public games continued under Christian emperors throughout the 4th century (they were eventually outlawed in 404 under Honorius

Honorius (emperor)

Honorius , was Western Roman Emperor from 395 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the eastern emperor Arcadius....

).

Zosimus provides the lengthiest account of the games (at Historia Nova 2.1–7), but does not mention Philip. The games had a starring role in Zosimus' scheme of Roman history. To him, the fortune of the empire was intimately related to the practice of the traditional civic rites. Any emperor who revived or supported those rites—Augustus, Claudius, Domitian, Septimius Severus—earns Zosimus' credit, while the emperor who ended them, Constantine I, earns his condemnation. All the misfortune of the 4th century can be directly attributed to Constantine's discontinuation of the old rites. In this context, Shahîd argues, Zosimus' silence on Philip's Christianity and Philip's involvement in the games makes sense. First, it would have given lie to his thesis on that the practice of the traditional rites guaranteed the fortunes of empire, since the period following the games was hardly a happy one (and this argument remains valid even if both Philip's Christianity and Zosimus' awareness of the tradition is denied). And second, it would have dulled his attack on Constantine by disentangling the potent alignment between imperial disaster, Christianity, and the traditional cult. The last emperor to celebrate the games was also the first emperor to embrace Christianity. The incongruity of this fact proved too much for the historian to handle, so he ignored it.

Historiography

Because of the continuing popularity of Jerome's Chronicon and Orosius' Historia, the medieval writers who wrote about Philip called him the first Christian emperor. The Chronica Gallica of 452

Chronica Gallica of 452

The Chronica Gallica of 452, also called the Gallic Chronicle of 452, is a chronicle of Late Antiquity, presented in the form of annals, which continues that of Jerome...

, Prosper of Aquitaine

Prosper of Aquitaine

Saint Prosper of Aquitaine , a Christian writer and disciple of Saint Augustine of Hippo, was the first continuator of Jerome's Universal Chronicle.- Life :...

(d. ca. 455), Cassiodorus

Cassiodorus

Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator , commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and writer, serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Senator was part of his surname, not his rank.- Life :Cassiodorus was born at Scylletium, near Catanzaro in...

(d. ca. 585), Jordanes

Jordanes

Jordanes, also written Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life....

(fl.

Floruit

Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...

551), Isidore of Seville

Isidore of Seville

Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...

(d. 636), and Bede

Bede

Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...

(d. 735) all follow Jerome on this point. One early medieval historian writing at the eve of the millennium, the Lombard Landolfus Sagax

Landolfus Sagax

Landolfus Sagax or Landolfo Sagace was a Lombard historian who wrote a Historia Romana in the last quarter of the tenth century or beginning of the eleventh....

, held that Philip had confessed to Fabian, Bishop of Rome

Pope Fabian

Pope Fabian was Pope from January 10, 236 to January 20, 250, succeeding Pope Anterus.Eusebius of Caesarea relates how the Christians, having assembled in Rome to elect a new bishop, saw a dove alight upon the head of Fabian, a layman and stranger to the city, who was thus marked out for this...

, instead of Babylas.

By the late 17th century, when Tillemont wrote his Histoire des Empereurs, it was no longer possible to make the argument that Philip was a Christian "ſans difficulté", "without difficulty". And when Jean-Baptiste Louis Crévier

Jean-Baptiste Louis Crevier

Jean-Baptiste Louis Crévier was a French author. He was born in Paris, where his father was a printer.He studied under Rollin, and held the professorship of rhetoric in the college of Beauvais for twenty years...

wrote his L'Histoire des empereurs des Romains, jusqu'à Constantin in 1749, he affirmed the contrary, that Philip was not a Christian at all: "...it is easy to judge what degree of credit ought to be given to this story of his penance; which, besides, is not fully and exactly related by any ancient author. To make out an account of it any way tolerable, they have been obliged to patch several evidences together, and to supply and alter the one by the other. The shortest and safest course is not to admit of a perplexed and ill supported narrative. We have no great temptation to torture history in order to claim such a Christian."

Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...

, in the first volume of his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is a non-fiction history book written by English historian Edward Gibbon and published in six volumes. Volume I was published in 1776, and went through six printings. Volumes II and III were published in 1781; volumes IV, V, VI in 1788–89...

(1776), would take the same position: "The public and even partial favour of Philip towards the sectaries of the new religion, and his constant reverence for the ministers of the church, gave some colour to the suspicion, which prevailed in his own times, that the emperor himself was become a convert to the faith; and afforded some grounds for a fable which was afterwards invented, that he had been purified by confession and penance from the guilt contracted by the murder of his innocent predecessor." And the fable has—"as usual"—"been embellished". To Gibbon, the matter is "curious, rather than important", and the man he credits with disposing of it, Friedrich Spanheim

Friedrich Spanheim

Friedrich Spanheim the elder was a Calvinistic theology professor at the University of Leiden.-Life:He entered in 1614 the University of Heidelberg where he studied philology and philosophy, and in 1619 removed to Geneva to study theology...

(d. 1649), is said to have shown "much superfluous learning" in the task.

Nineteenth- and 20th century French historians were more favorable to the notion. Paul Allard, in his Histoire des persecutions pendant la premiere moitié du troisième siecle (1881); René Aigrain, in his chapter "Arabie" in the Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie Ecclésiastique; Henri Grégoire

Henri Grégoire (historian)

Henri Grégoire was an eminent scholar of the Byzantine Empire, virtually the founder of Byzantine studies in Belgium.Grégoire spent most of his teaching career at the Université libre de Bruxelles...

, in Les persécutions dans l'empire romain (1964); and Jean Daniélou and Henri-Irénée Marrou

Henri-Irénée Marrou

Henri-Irénée Marrou was a leading French historian of the mid-twentieth century. A Christian humanist in outlook, his work was primarily in the spheres of Late Antiquity and the history of education...

, in The Christian Centuries 1: The First Six Hundred Years (English tr., 1964), all strongly supported the notion. English and German scholars were less likely to accept it. Ecclesiastical historians of the 19th century, like John Mason Neale, B. J. Kidd, and H. M. Gwatkin, gave the notion some credence, but less than their full support. Critical historians, like Ernst Stein, Karl Johannes Neumann, and John Gregg, denied it entirely.

In the late 20th century, a small number of articles and book chapters discussed the matter. John York's "The Image of Philip the Arab" (1972) argued that the literary material on Philip's reign was deeply biased against the emperor. York attempted to correct the narrative, and rehabilitate Philip's reputation. He held that Eusebius' logos was derived from an oral tradition originating in Antioch, and that Origen's letters cannot have definitively proven Philip's Christianity, since (he follows Jerome's Liber de viris inlustribus 54 here) those letters were addressed to Philip's son. Because of this fact, York declared that Philip's Christianity was only "probable", not certain. H. Crouzel's "Le christianisme de l'empereur Philippe l'Arabe" (1975) argued that the Antiochene tradition, as represented by Chrysostom and Leontius, was independent of Eusebius, and that Eusebius was, likewise, ignorant of it. The sources of Eusebius' logos were instead Origen's letters to Philip and Severa. Crouzel is not entirely certain on this point; it is only "très probable", "very probable". In spite of Crouzel's arguments, Pierre Nautin's Origène (1977) was very skeptical of accounts of Philip's Christianity, and Hans Pohlsander's "Philip the Arab and Christianity" (1980), adducing Philip's commitment to traditional civic religion as evidence, denied all accounts of Philip's Christianity.

In a lengthy chapter of his 1984 book Rome and the Arabs, Irfan Shahîd argued that Philip deserved the title of "First Christian Emperor". The chapter is divided into five parts: (1) a brief listing of the sources; (2) a lengthy address to Ernst Stein's arguments against accounts of Philip's Christianity; (3) an explanation of Eusebius' caution and dissimulation; (4) an exposition of the Latin authors' accounts of Philip's Christianity; and (5) Eusebius' relationship with the unnamed bishop in his passage, Babylas, and Babylas' importance in ecclesiastical history. He follows the main body of the chapter with an appendix addressing the articles by York, Crouzel, and Pohlsander, "Philip the Arab and Christianity", and noting the judgments of the scholars who reviewed his draft.

Currently, there is no consensus on the issue of Philip's Christianity. Timothy Barnes, who reviewed Shahîd's chapters on "The First Christian Emperor" and "Eusebius and the Arabs" in 1979, would only say that Eusebius "[presents] Philip as a Christian", in his Constantine and Eusebius (1981). Warwick Ball, author of Rome and the East: The transformation of an empire (2000), argued in favor of Philip's Christianity. David Potter, author of The Roman Empire at Bay (2004), treated the matter dismissively: accounts of Philip's Christianity were simply "bogus", Potter wrote, and works that accepted them should be treated with less respect on that count alone. Some scholars, like Glen Bowersock, took a middle route. Bowersock, reviewing Shahîd's Rome and the Arabs for the Classical Review in 1986, wrote: "I doubt many will be convinced by the extreme position that [Shahîd] has taken, but his arguments do offer some basis for believing that Philip was seriously interested in the religion". He reiterated that view in his Roman Arabia (1980, 3rd rev. ed. 1994).

For the French Byzantinologist Gilbert Dagron, Philip's Christianity is a legend - albeit a very old one - that intended, in a Late Roman/Early Byzantine context, to foster the idea of a Roman Empire that was Christian almost from the beginning, thereby melding Roman Imperial ideology and Christianism, and therefore offering a base for other later legends showing Roman emperors, beginning with Augustus

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

, to be aware and/or sympathetic to Christian revelation, forming a legendary corpus that was brought together during the 6th century by the chronicler John Malalas

John Malalas

John Malalas or Ioannes Malalas was a Greek chronicler from Antioch. Malalas is probably a Syriac word for "rhetor", "orator"; it is first applied to him by John of Damascus .-Life:Malalas was educated in Antioch, and probably was a jurist there, but moved to...

Citations

All citations to the Historia Augusta are to individual biographies, and are marked with a "HA".

Ancient sources

Ammianus Marcellinus. Res Gestae.
Yonge, Charles Duke, trans. Roman History. London: Bohn, 1862. Online at Tertullian. Accessed 15 August 2009.
Rolfe, J.C., trans. History. 3 vols. Loeb ed. London: Heinemann, 1939–52. Online at LacusCurtius. Accessed 15 August 2009.
Hamilton, Walter, trans. The Later Roman Empire (A.D. 354–378). Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986. [Abridged]
Aurelius Victor. Liber de Caesaribus.
Pichlmayr, Franz, ed. Liber de Caesaribvs Aurelii Victoris Historiae Abbreviatae (in Latin). Teubner ed. 1911. Online at the Latin Library. Accessed 10 October 2009.
Bird, H.W., trans. Liber de Caesaribus of Sextus Aurelius Victor. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1994.
Chronicon Paschale.
Dindorf, L.A., ed. Bonn, 1832. Volume 1, 2 online at Google Books. Accessed 6 October 2009.
Cyprian.
Epistulae (Letters).

Migne, J.P., ed. S. Thascii Cæcilii Cypriani episcopi carthaginensis et martyris (in Latin). Patrologia Latina 4. Paris, 1897. Online at Documenta Catholica Omnia. Accessed 7 November 2009.
Wallis, Robert Ernest, trans. Epistles of Cyprian of Carthage. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 5. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 1 November 2009.
- Eusebius of Caesarea.
- Historia Ecclesiastica (Church History) first seven books ca. 300, eighth and ninth book ca. 313, tenth book ca. 315, epilogue ca. 325.
Migne, J.P., ed. Eusebiou tou Pamphilou, episkopou tes en Palaistine Kaisareias ta euriskomena panta (in Greek). Patrologia Graeca 19–24. Paris, 1857. Online at Khazar Skeptik and Documenta Catholica Omnia. Accessed 4 November 2009.
McGiffert, Arthur Cushman, trans. Church History. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 28 September 2009.
Williamson, G.A., trans. Church History. London: Penguin, 1989.
- Laudes Constantini (In Praise of Constantine) 335.
Migne, J.P., ed. Eusebiou tou Pamphilou, episkopou tes en Palaistine Kaisareias ta euriskomena panta (in Greek). Patrologia Graeca 19–24. Paris, 1857. Online at Khazar Skeptik. Accessed 4 November 2009.
Richardson, Ernest Cushing, trans. Oration in Praise of Constantine. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 19 October 2009.
- Vita Constantini (The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine) ca. 336–39.
Migne, J.P., ed. Eusebiou tou Pamphilou, episkopou tes en Palaistine Kaisareias ta euriskomena panta (in Greek). Patrologia Graeca 19–24. Paris, 1857. Online at Khazar Skeptik. Accessed 4 November 2009.
Richardson, Ernest Cushing, trans. Life of Constantine. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 9 June 2009.
- Jerome.
- Chronicon (Chronicle) ca. 380.
Fotheringham, John Knight, ed. The Bodleian Manuscript of Jerome's Version of the Chronicle of Eusebius. Oxford: Clarendon, 1905. Online at the Internet Archive. Accessed 8 October 2009.
Pearse, Roger, et al., trans. The Chronicle of St. Jerome, in Early Church Fathers: Additional Texts. Tertullian, 2005. Online at Tertullian. Accessed 14 August 2009.
- de Viris Illustribus (On Illustrious Men) 392.
Herding, W., ed. De Viris Illustribus (in Latin). Leipzig: Teubner, 1879. Online at Google Books. Accessed 6 October 2009.
Liber de viris inlustribus (in Latin). Texte und Untersuchungen 14. Leipzig, 1896.
Richardson, Ernest Cushing, trans. De Viris Illustribus (On Illustrious Men). From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 3. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1892. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 15 August 2009.
- Epistulae (Letters).
Fremantle, W.H., G. Lewis and W.G. Martley, trans. Letters. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 19 October 2009.
- John Chrysostom. de S. Babyla (On St. Babylas) ca. 382.
- Migne, J.P., ed. S.P.N. Joannis Chrysostomi, Operae Omnia Quæ Exstant (in Greek). 2.1. Patrologia Graeca 50. Paris, 1862. Online at Google Books. Accessed 6 October 2009.
- Brandram, T.P., trans. On the Holy Martyr, S. Babylas. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 9. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 8 October 2009.
- Jordanes. De summa temporum vel origine actibusque gentis Romanorum. Ca. 551.
- Mommsen, T., ed. Monumenta Germaniae Historica (in Latin). Auctores Antiquissimi 5.1. Berlin, 1882. Online at Bayerische StaatsBibliothek and the Latin Library. Accessed 8 October 2009.
- Lactantius. Divinae Institutiones (Divine Institutes).
- Brandt, Samuel and Georg Laubmann, eds. L. Caeli Firmiani Lactanti Opera Omnia vol. 1. Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 19. Vienna: F. Tempsky, 1890. Online at the Internet Archive. Accessed 30 January 2010.
- Fletcher, William, trans. The Divine Institutes. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 30 January 2010.
- Liber Pontificalis (Book of Popes).
- Loomis, L.R., trans. The Book of Popes. New York: Columbia University Press, 1916. Online at the Internet Archive. Accessed 4 November 2009.
- Monumenta Germaniae Historica (in Latin). Mommsen, T., ed. Auctores Antiquissimi 5, 9, 11, 13. Berlin, 1892, 1894. Online at the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek. Accessed 8 October 2009.
- Oracula Sibyllina.
- Alexandre, Charles, ed. Oracula sibyllina (in Greek). Paris: Firmin Didot Fratres, 1869. Online at Google Books. Accessed 8 October 2009.
- Origen. Contra Celsum (Against Celsus) ca. 248.
- Migne, J.P., ed. Origenous ta euriskomena panta (in Greek). Patrologia Graeca 11–17. Paris, 1857–62. Online at Khazar Skeptik. Accessed 4 November 2009.
- Crombie, Frederick, trans. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 1 November 2009.
- Origo Constantini Imperatoris.
- Rolfe, J.C., trans. Excerpta Valesiana, in vol. 3 of Rolfe's translation of Ammianus Marcellinus' History. Loeb ed. London: Heinemann, 1952. Online at LacusCurtius. Accessed 16 August 2009.
- Stevenson, Jane, trans. The Origin of Constantine. In Samuel N. C. Lieu and Dominic Montserrat
  Dominic Montserrat
  Dominic Alexander Sebastian Montserrat was a British egyptologist and papyrologist.- Life :Montserrat studied Egyptology at Durham University and received his PhD in Classics at University College London, specializing in Greek, Coptic and Egyptian Papyrology. From 1992 to 1999 he taught Classics...
  
  , From Constantine to Julian: Pagan and Byzantine Views, 43–48. New York: Routledge, 1996.
- Orosius. Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII (Seven Books of History Against the Pagans) ca. 417.
- Migne, J.P., ed. Fl. Lucii Dextri, Pauli Orosii, Leporii Presbyteri, Evodii, Scriptorum Quorumdam S. Augustino Æqualium. Patrologia Latina 31.663–1174. Paris, 1846. Online at Google Books. Accessed 9 October 2009.
- Zangemeister, K.F.W., ed. Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII. Teubner ed. Leipzig, 1889. Online at the Internet Archive: 1, 2. Revised and edited for Attalus by Max Bänziger. Online at Attalus. Accessed 8 October 2009.
- Unknown trans. A History against the Pagans. Online at Demon Tortoise. Accessed 4 November 2009.
- Philostorgius. Historia Ecclesiastica.
- Walford, Edward, trans. Epitome of the Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgius, Compiled by Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855. Online at Tertullian. Accessed 15 August 2009.
- Scriptores Historiae Augustae (Authors of the Historia Augusta). Historia Augusta (Augustan History).
- Magie, David, trans. Historia Augusta. 3 vols. Loeb ed. London: Heinemann, 1921–32. Online at LacusCurtius. Accessed 26 August 2009.
- Birley, Anthony R., trans. Lives of the Later Caesars. London: Penguin, 1976.
- Tertullian. De Spectaculis.
- Thelwall, S., trans. The Shows. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 3. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 9 October 2009.
- Vincent of Lérins.
- Migne, J.P., ed. S. Vincentii Lirensis, Commonitorum Primum (Ex editione Baluziana). Patrologia Latina 50. Paris, 1874. Online at Documenta Catholica Omnia. Accessed 6 October 2009.
- Heurtley, C.A., trans. Against The Profane Novelties Of All Heresies. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 11. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1894. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 6 October 2009.
- Zonaras. Annales (Annals).
- Migne, J.P., ed. Ioannou tou Zonara ta euriskomena panta: historica, canonica, dogmatica (in Greek). Patrologia Graeca 134–35. Paris, 1864–87. Online at Khazar Skeptik. Accessed 4 November 2009.
- Niebhur, B.G., ed. Ioannes Zonaras Annales (in Greek and Latin). Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae. Bonn, 1844. Books 1–6, 7–12 online at Documenta Catholica Omnia. Accessed 9 October 2009.
- Zosimus. Historia Nova (New History).
- Unknown, trans. The History of Count Zosimus. London: Green and Champlin, 1814. Online at Tertullian. Accessed 15 August 2009. [An unsatisfactory edition.]

Modern sources

Allard, Paul. Histoire des persécutions pendant la première moitié du troisième siècle (in French). 1st ed. Paris: Victor Lecoffre, 1886. Online at Google Books. Accessed 10 October 2009.
Allard, Paul. Le christianisme et l'empire romain: de Néron a Théodose (in French). 2nd ed. Paris: Victor Lecoffre, 1897. Online at the Internet Archive. Accessed 10 October 2009.
Ball, Warwick. Rome in the East: The transformation of an empire. London: Routledge, 2000.
Barnes, Timothy D. "Legislation against the Christians". Journal of Roman Studies 58:1–2 (1968): 32–50.
Barnes, Timothy D. Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981.
Bowersock, Glen W. Review of Irfan Shahîd's Rome and the Arabs and Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century. The Classical Review 36:1 (1986): 111–17.
Bowersock, Glen W. Roman Arabia. 3rd ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.
Cameron, Averil. "Education and literary culture." In The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume XIII: The Late Empire, A.D. 337–425, edited by Averil Cameron and Peter Garnsey, 665–707. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Clarke, Graeme. "Third-Century Christianity." In The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume XII: The Crisis of Empire, edited by Alan Bowman, Averil Cameron, and Peter Garnsey, 589–671. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Dagron, G. Emperor and Priest: the Imperial Office in Byzantium. Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 0-521-03697-6
Drake, H. A. Constantine and the Bishops: The Politics of Intolerance. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.
Elliott, T. G. The Christianity of Constantine the Great. Scranton, PA: University of Scranton Press, 1996.
Frend, W. H. C. Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1981 [rept. of Basil Blackwell, 1965 ed.].
Frend, W. H. C. The Rise of Christianity. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1984.
Frend, W. H. C. "Persecutions: Genesis and Legacy." In The Cambridge History of Christianity, Volume I: Origins to Constantine, edited by Margaret M. Mitchell and Frances M. Young, 503–523. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Edited by David Womersley. London: Allen Lane, 1994 [1776–88]. [The 1906 Bury edition is available, without pagination, at The Online Library of Liberty. Accessed 23 October 2009.]
Goffart, Walter. "Zosimus, The First Historian of Rome's Fall". American Historical Review 76:2 (1971): 412–41.
Gregg, John A. F. The Decian Persecution. Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1897. Online at the Internet Archive. Accessed 8 October 2009
Gwatkin, H. M. Early Church History to A.D. 313. 2 vols. 2nd ed. London: Macmillan, 1912. Vols. 1, 2 online at the Internet Archive. Accessed 9 October 2009.
Jones, A. H. M. The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937.
Kidd, B. J. A History of the Church to A.D. 461. 3 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922.
Lane Fox, Robin. Pagans and Christians. London: Penguin, 1986.
Lieu, Samuel N. C., and Dominic Montserrat. From Constantine to Julian: Pagan and Byzantine Views. New York: Routledge, 1996.
Louth, Andrew. "Introduction". In Eusebius: The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, translated by G. A. Williamson, edited and revised by Andrew Louth, ix–xxxv. London: Penguin, 1989.
Millar, Fergus. The Roman Near East: 31 BC – AD 337. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993.
Neale, John Mason. A History of the Holy Eastern Church: The Patriarchate of Antioch. London: Rivingtons, 1873.
Peachin, Michael. "Philip's Progress: From Mesopotamia to Rome in A.D. 244". Historia 40:3 (1991): 331–42.
Pohlsander, Hans A. "Philip the Arab and Christianity". Historia 29:4 (1980): 463–73.
Pohlsander, Hans A. "Did Decius Kill the Philippi?" Historia 31:2 (1982): 214–22.
Potter, David. The Roman Empire at Bay: AD 180–395. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Quasten, Johannes. Patrology. 4 vols. Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1950–1986.
Rives, J. B. "The Decree of Decius and the Religion of Empire". Journal of Roman Studies 89 (1999): 135–54.
de Sainte-Croix, G. E. M. "Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted?" Past & Present 26 (1963): 6–38.
Shahîd, Irfan
Irfan Shahid
Irfan Shahid, also written Shahîd in Arabic: عرفان شهيد, is Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University. Since 1982 he has been the Oman Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies....

. Rome and the Arabs: A Prolegomenon to the Study of Byzantium and the Arabs. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1984.
Shahîd, Irfan. Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1984.
Tillemont, Louis-Sébastien le Nain. Histoire des Empereurs, vol. 3: Qui Comprend Depuis Severe juſques à l'election de Diocletien (in French). New ed. Paris: Charles Robustel, 1720. Online at Google Books. Accessed 22 October 2009.
Trombley, Frank R. Hellenic Religion and Christianization c. 370–529. 2 vols. Boston: E. J. Brill, 1995.
York, John M. "The Image of Philip the Arab". Historia 21:2 (1972): 320–32.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.