Philip the Arab was one of the few 3rd-century Roman emperors sympathetic to Christians, although his relationship with Christianity is obscure and controversial. Philip was born in Auranitis, an Arab district in Syria, east of the Sea of Galilee (modern-day Shahba). The urban and Hellenized centers of the region were Christianized in the early years of the 3rd century via major Christian centers at Bosra and Edessa, but there is little evidence of Christian presence in the small villages of the region in this period, such as Philip's birthplace at Philippopolis. Philip served as praetorian prefect, commander of the Praetorian Guard, from 242; he was made emperor in 244. In 249, after a brief civil war, he was killed at the hands of his successor, Decius.

During the late 3rd century and into the 4th, it was held by some churchmen that Philip had been the first Christian emperor; he was described as such in Jerome's Chronicon (Chronicle), which was well known during the Middle Ages, and in Paulus 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's Historia Ecclesiastica (Church History).E.g., Gregg, 43; Pohlsander, "Philip the Arab and Christianity", 466; E. Stein apud Shahîd, Rome and the Arabs, 69.

The most important section of Eusebius's Historia on Philip's religious beliefs describes the emperor's visit to a church during the Easter Vigil when he was denied entry by the presiding bishop until he confessed his sins. The account is paralleled by John 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.

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

Background

Biography of Philip the Arab

Philip was born in a village in Auranitis, part of the district of Trachonitis, east of the Sea of Galilee in Palestine. Philip renamed the village Philippopolis (the modern Shahba, Syria) during his reign as emperor.Jones, Cities, 234; Pohlsander, "Philip the Arab and Christianity", 468; Shahîd, Rome and the Arabs, 37, 72. On the foundation of Philippolis, see also: Jones, Cities, 286. For details and arguments regarding the boundaries of the Provincia Arabia at Philip's birth, see Millar, 530–31. 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 and Alexander Severus). Even among Easterners Philip was atypical, as he was an Arab, not a Greek.Perry Anderson, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism (London: NLB, 1974), 87–88. 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.Michael L. Meckler and Christian Körner, "Philip the Arab and Rival Claimants of the later 240s", De Imperatoribus Romanus (1999), citing Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 1331 . Accessed 6 December 2009.

The early details of Philip's career are obscure, but his brother, Gaius Julius Priscus, was made praetorian prefect under Emperor Gordian III (r. 238–44). If a fragmentary inscription (Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 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.York, passim. 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 to celebrate the 1000-year anniversary of the founding of Rome.

In the Near East, Philip's brother Priscus's tax collection methods provoked the revolt of Jotapianus. At the same time, Silbannacus 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 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, 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 murdered his son and successor Marcus Julius Severus Philippus.Geoffrey Nathan and Robin McMahon, "Trajan Decius (249-251 A.D.) and Usurpers During His Reign", De Imperatoribus Romanus (2002). Accessed 11 March 2010.

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.Shahîd, Rome and the Arabs, 69–70. Allard came to a similar position on Philip's childhood: "because Philip was, in St. Jerome's phrase, the first of the Christian sovereigns of Rome, and, because no historian marks the occasion or cause of his conversion, we must believe that he was a Christian from birth" (Allard, Histoire des persécutions, 217). 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.Allard, Histoire des persécutions, 217–18. 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.Bowersock, Roman Arabia, 126; cf. Shahîd, Rome and the Arabs, 72. 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.Pohlsander, "Philip the Arab and Christianity", 468; the italics are his. Pohlsander points to Alexander Severus and Julia Mamaea, fellow Arabs and Syrians, as examples and precedents for such open-mindedness on religious matters (Pohlsander, "Philip the Arab and Christianity", 468); Glen Bowersock traces this religious curiosity back to Julia Domna, Mammaea's aunt (Bowersock, Roman Arabia, 126). 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.Trombley, 2.347 n. 180.

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.Elliott, 24, 24 n. 39, citing Tertullian, De corona 11, cf. Apologeticum 42. 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.Elliott, 24, citing A. D. Nock, "The Roman Army and the Roman Religious Year", Harvard Theological Review 45 (1952): 186–252, rept. in Essays on Religion and the Ancient World (Oxford, 1972), ed. Zeph Stewart, 2.736–90. Christian scripture contains explicit prohibitions on this sort of behavior, such as the First Commandment: "You shall have no other gods before me".Elliott, 25–26. Whatever the prohibitions, people raised on the "more tolerant Christianity of the camp"Elliott, 26. would have been able to justify participation in pagan ritual to themselves. Such people did exist: the historical record includes Christian army officers, who would have been regularly guilty of idolatry, and the military martyrs of the late 3rd century. Their ritual sacrifice excluded them from certain parts of the Christian community (ecclesiastical writers tended to ignore them, for exampleElliott, 26, 26 n. 48, citing Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.1.8 as an example.) but these people nonetheless believed themselves to be Christian and were recognized by others as Christians.Elliott, 26–27, with an additional citation (at 26 n. 47) to J. Straub, "Konstantins Verzicht auf den Gang zum Kapitol", Historia 4 (1955) 306, on apostates among Christian civilians.

Christianity in Auranitis