A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

(Φίλιππος), literary and ecclesiastical.

1. ABUCARA or ABUVARA.

2. Of AMPHIPOLIS, a Greek writer of unknown date, remarkable for his obscenity, of which Suidas (s. v. ἀποσιμῶσαι) has given a sufficiently significant specimen. He wrote, according to Suidas (s. r. Φίλιππος) :--1. Ρ̓οδιακὰ βιβλία iq, Rhodiaca Libris XIX., a history of Rhodes, which Suidas especially stigmatizes for the obscenity of its matter. 2. κωανὰ (s. Κωιακἂ, βιβλία βʼ, Coiaca Libris dvolams, a history of the island of Cos. 3. Θυσιακά, De Sacrificiis, or more probably Θασιακά, Thasiaca, a history of Thasos, also in two books. He wrote some other works not enumerated by Suidas. Theodorus Priscianus, an ancient medical writer (Logicus, 100.11), classes Philip of Amphipolis with Herodian and lamblichus the Syrian [IAMBLICHUS, No. 1], as a pleasant writer of amatory tales, whose works tended to allure the mind to the pursuit of pleasure. All his works appear to be lost. (Suidas ll. cc. ; Theodor. Priscian. l.c.; Fabric. BBL. Graec. vol. viii. pp. 159, 160; Vossius, De Hist. Graec. lib. iii.)

3. APOSTOLUS. [No. 11.]

4. CAESARIENSIS SYNODI RELATOR.

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5. CARICARUM RERUM SCRIPTOR. [No. 30.]

6. Of CHALCIS, a Greek historian mentioned by Plutarch (Alex. Mag. Vita, 100.46) as one of the writers who regarded the story of the visit of the queen of the Amazons to Alexander the Great, as a fable.

7. CHOLLIDEUS, or CHOLLIDENSIS (Χολιδεὺς, more correctly Χολλιδεὺς), mentioned in Plato's will, given by Diogenes Laertius (3.41), as the owner of land adjoining a farm or estate which Plato bequeathed to his son Adeimantius. Fabricius (Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. 181) notices this occurrence of the name of Philippus: and the compiler of the index to Fabricius has unwittingly converted the Attic landowner into a Platonic philosopher.

8. COMICUS, the COMIC WRITER

9. DIACONUS, the DEACON. [No. 11.]

10. EPIGRAMMATICUS.

11. EVANGELISTA, the EVANGELIST.

12. Of GORTYNA, a Christian writer of the second century. He was bishop of the Church at Gortyna in Crete, and was spoken of in the highest terms by Dionysius of Corinth [DIONYSIUS, literary, No. 22], in a letter to the Church at Gortyna and the other Churches in Crete (apud Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 4.23), as having inspired his flock with manly courage, apparently during the persecution of Marcus Aurelius.

13. GRAMMATICUS S. RHETOR S. SOPHISTA.

Nothing is known of the works or the writer, who must have lived at a later period than Herodian [HERODIANUS AELIUS], who belongs to the age of the Antonines.

14. ISANGELUS (ὁ εἰσαγγελεύς), a writer cited by Plutarch (Alex. Mag. Vita, 100.46) as one of those who affirmed that the account of the visit of the queen of the Amazons to Alexander was a fiction. It has been conjectured (vide Reiske, Not. ad Plutarch. l.c.) that ὁ εἰσαγγελεύς is a corrupt reading, and that it should be ὁ Θεαγ γελεύς. [No. 30.]

15. MACEDO, the MACEDONIAN.

Fabricius supposed him to have been a different person from Philip of Thessalonica (see below), and to have lived in the reign of Caligula, whose bridge at Puteoli has been thought to be referred to. But Jacobs (Animadvers. in loc.) considers the reference to be to the Portus Julius formed by Agrippa in Lake Lucrinus near Baiae, and places the Epigramma among those of Philip of Thessalonica.

16. MEDMAEUS (ὁ Μεδμαῖος), an astronomer of Medama or Medma in Magna Graecia (about 25 miles N. N. E. of Rhegium), and a disciple of Plato, under whose direction he turned his attention to the mathematical sciences. His observations, which were made in the Peloponnesus and

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in Locris, were used by the astronomers Hipparchus, Geminus the Rhodian, and Ptolemy.

In the Latin version of Proclus, by Franc. Ba?ocius (lib. 2. c.4), Philip is called Mendaeus, which is doubtless an error either of the printer or translator, or perhaps of the MS. which he used. Mende was in Macedonia, in the peninsula of Pallene.

17. MEGARICUS (ὁ Μεγαρικός), i. e. the MEGARIC PHILOSOPHER [comp. EUCLEIDES of MEGARA].

18. MENDAEUS. [No. 16.]

19. Of OPUS. Suidas (s. v. Φιλόσοφος) has this remarkable passage: "--, a philosopher who divided the Leges (s. De Legibus) of Plato into twelve books (for he is said to have added the thirteenth himself), and was a hearer of Socrates and of Plato himself; devoting himself to the contemplation of the heavens (σχολάσας τοῖς μετεώ ροις). He lived in the days of Philip of Macedon." Suidas then gives a long list of works written by Philip. It is evident that the passage as it stands in Suidas is imperfect, and that the name of the author of the numerous works which he mentions has been lost from the commencement of the passage. It appears, however, from the extract occupying its proper place in the Lexicon according to its present heading, that the defect existed in the source from which Suidas borrowed. Kuster, the editor of Suidas (not. in loc.), after long investigation, was enabled to supply the omission by comparing a passage in Diogenes Laertius (3.37), and to identify "the philosopher" of Suidas with Philip of the Locrian town of Opus, near the channel which separates Euboea from the main land. The passage in Laertius is as follows: "Some say that Philip the Opuntian transcribed his (Plato's) work, De Legibus, which was written in wax (i. e. on wooden tablets covered with a coat of wax). They say also that the Ἐπινομις, Epinomis (the thirteenth book of the De Legibus) is his," i. e. Philip's. The Epinomis, whether written by Philip or by Plato, is usually included amon, the works of the latter. [PLATO.] Diogenes Laertius elsewhere (3.46) enumerates Philip among the disciples of Plato. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. 104.)

20. ORI APOLLINIS INTERPRES

21. PARODUS, the PARODIST.

22. PRESBYTER.

Gennadius (De Viris Illustrib. 100.62) states that Philip the Presbyter was a disciple of Jerome, and that he died in the reign of Marcian and Avitus over the Eastern and Western Empires respectively, i.e. A. D. 456. [AVITUS ; MARCIANUS.]

23. Of PRUSA (ὁ Προυσιεύς), a stoic philosopher, contemporary with Plutarch, who has introduced him as one of the speakers in his Sympos. (vii. quaest. 7.)

24. RHETOR. [No. 13.]

25. SCRIPTOR DE AGRICULTURA.

26. Of SIDE (ὁ Σιδίτης, or Σιδέτης, or ὁ ἀπὸ Σίδης), a Christian writer of the first half of the fifth century. His birth must be placed in the latter part of the fourth century, but its exact date is not known. He was a native of Side in Pamphylia, and according to his own account in the fragment published by Dodwell (see below), when Rhodon, who succeeded Didymus in the charge of the Catechetical school of Alexandria, transferred that school to Side, Philip became one of his pupils. If we suppose Didymus to have retained the charge of the school till his death, A. D. 396 [DIDYMUS, No. 4], at the advanced age of 86, the removal of the school cannot have taken place long before the close of the century, and we may infer that Philip's birth could scarcely have been earlier than A. D. 380. He was a kinsman of Troilus of Side, the rhetorician, who was tutor to Socrates the ecclesiastical historic, and was indeed

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so eminent that Philip regarded his relationship to him as a subject of exultation (Socrates, H. E. 7.27). Having entered the church, he was ordained deacon, and had much intercourse with Chrysostom; in the titles of some MSS. he is styled his Syncellns, or personal attendant, which makes it probable that he was, from the early part of his ecclesiastical career, connected with the church at Constantinople. Liberatus (Breviar. 100.7) says he was ordained deacon by Chrysostom; but Socrates, when speaking of his intimacy with that eminent man, does not say he was ordained by him. Philip devoted himself to literary pursuits, and collected a large library. He cultivated the Asiatic or diffuse style of composition, and became a voluminous writer. At what period of his life his different works were produced is not known. His Ecclesiastical History was, as we shall see, written after his disappointment in obtaining the patriarchate : but as his being a candidate for that high office seems to imply some previous celebrity, it may be inferred that his work or works in reply to the emperor Julian's attacks on Christianity were written at an earlier period. On the death of Atticus patriarch of Constantinople A. D. 425 [ATTICUS] Philip, then a presbyter, apparently of the great church of Constantinople, and Proclus, another presbyter, were proposed, each by his own partizans, as candidates for the vacant see; but the whole people were bent upon the election of Sisinnius, also a presbyter, though not of Constantinople, but of a church in Elaea, one of the suburbs. (Socrates, H. E. 7.26.) The statement of Socrates as to the unanimity of the popular wish leads to the inference that the supporters of Philip and Proclus were among the clergy. Sisinnius was the successful candidate; and Philip, mortified at his defeat, made in his Ecclesiastical History such severe strictures on the election of his more fortunate rival, that Socrates could not venture to transcribe his remarks; and has expressed his strong disapproval of his headstrong temper. On the death of Sisinnius (A. D. 428) the supporters of Philip were again desirous of his appointment, but the emperor, to prevent disturbances, determined that no ecclesiastic of Constantinople should succeed to the vacancy; and the ill-fated heresiarch Nestorius [NESTORIUS], from Antioch, was consequently chosen. After the deposition of Nestorius at the council of Ephesus (A. D. 431), Philip was a third time candidate for the patriarchate, but was again unsuccessful. Nothing is known of him after this. It has been conjectured that he was dead before the next vacancy in the patriarchate A. D. 434, when his old competitor Proclus was chosen. Certainly there is no notice that Philip was again a candidate : but the prompt decision of the emperor Theodosius in Proclus' favour prevented all competition, so that no inference can be drawn from Philip's quiescence.

27. SOLITARIUS. The title Solitarius is given by bibliographers to a Greek monk of the time of the emperor Alexius I. Comnenus, of whom nothing further seems to be known than what may be gleaned from the titles and introductions of his extant works.

28. SOPHISTA. [No. 13.]

29. STUDITA. In the notice of the Adversaria Gerardi Langbaini contained in the Catalogus MStorum Angliae et Hiberniae, vol. i. p. 269. the eighth volume of Langbaine's collection is said to contain a notice, De Philippi Studitae Historia Graeca. Of the historian or his work there is, we believe, no notice in any extant writer; and as the preceding article in Langbaine's book is described as Scholae Alexandrinae Paedagogorum Successio, and is probably the fragment of the work of Philip of Side, already noticed [No. 26], we suspect that "Studitae" is an error for "Sidetae," and that the Historia Graeca is no other than his Historia Christiana, which is termed Graeca, not because it treats of Grecian affairs, but is written in the Greek language.

30. Of THEANGELA (ὁ Θεαγγελεύς), a writer cited by Athenaeus, (vi. p. 271b) and by Strabo (xiv. p.662). Theangela, from which Philip received his designation, apparently as being a native of it, was a city on the most eastern promontory of Caria, not far from Halicarnassus. Of the age of Philip nothing is known, except that he was earlier than Strabo; but if there is any reason for identifying him with Philip Isangelus (ὁ Εἰσαγγελεύς), mentioned by Plutarch (No. 14), he must be placed after the time of Alexander the Great.

31. THEOPOMPI EPITOMATOR. (Comp. Photius, Biblioth. cod. 176.)

32. Of THESSALONICA. [See below.] [J.C.M]

of Thessalonica, an epigrammatic poet, who, besides composing a large number of epigrams himself, compiled one of the ancient Greek Anthologies.

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