I. PHILIP THE ARAB
1. Accession
- Marcus Julius Phillipus – of Syrian origin
- Succession not clear – end of Herodian’s narrative
- Not the obvious successor to Gordian III
- Timethiseus had Philip and brother Julius Priscus on staff
- Promoted Priscus to praetorian prefecture with self
- When Timethiseus died Priscus promoted Philip
- Example of imperial role passing to lesser men
2. Reign
- Deification of Gordian III
- Mechanisms for stability and power sharing
- Nature of events in 3rd century meant that rule by a single individual was no longer viable
- Makes son Caesar
- Makes brother-in-law Severianus vice Caesaris in balkans
- Makes brother governor Mesopotamia and Corrector totius orientis
- Collects eastern tribute and acts as deputy emperor
- New post; important for what follows
- Problem of sharing power: if give significant imperium to another individual, essentially created a potential threat to own power
- Recognises necessity of sharing power but keeps it within his own family
- Attempt to solve problem of increasingly fragmented empire facing threats on multiple frontiers
- Symptom of the 3rd century
- Twin rule knitted into the initial framework of imperial rule – cf. Augustus and Agrippa
- Doesn’t neglect Rome (cf. Maximinus)
- There from 244 and celebrates millennium in 248
- Later Christian sources (Eusebius) remember Philip as the first Christian emperor
3. War
- Major concern again = Sapor
- Philip makes a treaty
- Gives away Armenia
- Agrees to payment of 500,000 aurei – in gold, silver debased?
- Major concession; Persia and Rome argued over border surrounding Euphrates for long time
- Priscus’ role in the east is to raise the 500,000
- Philip breaks the treaty
- Narrative hard to reconstruct
- Is it a reaction to Sapor’s aggression?
- Or simply that war is better than payment – hard to raise funds
- Also stops tribute to Gothic tribes in north
- Produces a brutal reaction
- Also fighting on northern frontier
II. DECIUS 249-251
1. Accession
- During the millennial year of 248 – trouble east and west
- Usurper Jotapianus in Syria – suppressed/killed
- Rioting in Alexandria
- Goths invade Lower Moesia
- Troops declare Marinus Pacatianus emperor
- Philip sends Decius, a Danubian senator
- Ends revolt… but his troops proclaim him emperor instead
- Sept 249: Philip launches attack against Decius & loses
2. Image
- Image problem (like all usuprers – series of solutions)
- Changes his name
- Blatant attempt to buy into image of Rome’s optimus princeps; takes name of Trajan
- Born C. Messius Quintus Decius Valerinus
- Changes to C. Messius Quintius Traianus Decius
- Emphasises Dacian origins
- Associates self with past ‘good emperors’
- Series of coins issued: Augustus, Vespasian, Titus, Nerva, Trajan, Antoninus Pius, Commodus, Septimius Severus, Severus Alexander
- Missing: Claudius, Pertinax, Gordians I, II and III
- List of good/bad emperors clearly up for debate
- Indication of changing memory
- Philip’s name erased from inscriptions
- Origins of story from Philips’ revolt?
III. CHRISTIANITY
1. Christianity on the Radar
- Christianity’s gradual rise makes it noticeable movement
- Later sources see Philip as the first Christian emperor
- Moving im imperial circles under Severans?
- And Decius as (first?) empire-wide persecutor
- Certainly, Decius issued edict re religion
- Actual edict didn’t surivce
2. An Edict of Universal Sacrifice
- We have records of effect edict – libelli
- Record act and statement of sacrifice, names and signatures of official witnesses
- No Christian names… and some very un-christian behaviour (Christians should refuse to sacrifice)
- Seems to have been for all citizens; edict of universal sacrifice cf. Caracalla’s edict of universal citizenship
- What was the intention?
- Persecution – to expose Christians?
- Attempts to self-legitimisation?
- Response to unease of millennium
- Extension of Caracalla’s edict o religious sphere – centralisation
- About harmony of empire? Consistency of worship
- Note vagueness of ‘ancestral gods’
- Response to empire’s difficulties?
- Christians fell on wrong side of history
- Local exploitation of new avenues in Roman law
- Fear of persecution is own local community
- Local communities taking advantage of new legal mechanisms
- Scraps of non-Christian evidence seem to suggest a different narrative
Here's a picture I took of a plaster cast of a bust depicting Philip the Arab, from the Cast Gallery in Cambridge.
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