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PHILIPPI

(Gk. Phílippoi)

A city in Macedonia, northeastern Greece, ca. 17 km. (10 mi.) inland from the Aegean Sea and NW of the port city of Kavala (ancient Neapolis). It was first occupied in the 6th century b.c.e. by settlers from Thasos who named it Krenides (“the springs”) because water sources in the region were abundant. The particular feature which drew settlers to the area was the enormous deposits of gold discovered in nearby Mt. Pangeo. The site was renamed Philippoi by Philip II of Macedon (Philip the Great, father of Alexander the Great) ca. 358 when he established a settlement of Macedonians to protect the gold mines from looters. Philippi was brought under Roman rule in 168.

The archaeological site of ancient Philippi lies on the Via Egnatia, which runs through it. Excavations have revealed ruins of Roman baths at the end of a colonnaded street, basilicas on either side of the street, temples, a Roman forum, a 4th-century theater which the Romans renovated for gladiatorial contests, remnants of several Christian churches, and an acropolis which gives evidence of occupation for the Macedonian to the Byzantine ages. The rocky slope on the north side of the road is dotted with numerous inscriptions, shrines, reliefs, and votive carvings which represent numerous religions, myths, cults, and deities that were part of this vibrant and pluralistic society. These include religious movements that spread widely throughout the Mediterranean (e.g., the veneration of Isis and Osiris) as well as purely local deities (e.g., Bendix and the Thracian rider-god).

Philippi was the site of one of the most significant military engagements in Roman history. In a series of battles there in 42 b.c.e., Mark Antony and Octavian (later endowed with the title “Augustus”) conquered the republican forces of the assassins of Julius Caesar, Cassius and Brutus. In some ways this battle marked the turning point between the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. The poet Horace fought in this battle, on the side of Cassius and Brutus, though he reports that he threw away his shield and ran for his life when his defeated leader Brutus killed himself. Little more than a decade later, when Augustus defeated Antony, his sole remaining competitor for Roman rule, at the battle of Actium (31 b.c.e.), Augustus turned Philippi into a Roman colony which he named Colonia Julia Augusta Victrix Philippensis. Here he planted veterans of the civil wars and the supporters of Mark Antony whose lands he took over and whom he dismissed from Italy. Special privileges were allowed to these Roman colonists, such as exemption from taxes and the right to own and market property.

According to Acts 16:9 Paul had a vision that he was to leave Asia Minor and come to Macedonia. He landed at Neapolis, where the major Roman highway, the Via Egnatia, came to its end. Ca. 50 c.e. he, Luke, and Silas came to Philippi and established a Christian fellowship there, founding the first church on European soil. He returned to the city on his second and third journeys. Paul found Philippi to be a cosmopolitan area, with Romans, Greeks, Jews, and people of quite diverse national and ethnic derivation. Because a considerable portion of the citizenry were Romans who enjoyed special privileges as colonists, Paul encountered there a community with a pronounced devotion to and pride in the Roman Empire. The political and religious loyalties of the people appear to have been an issue for Paul. Only in Philippians does he use language that speaks of civil or political identity, when he tells his readers to live in a way that is worthy of the gospel of Christ (Gk. politeúesthe; Phil. 1:27) and when he reminds them that they are citizens of heaven (políteuma; 3:20). Paul appears to have been trying to get the Philippian Christians to see themselves as Christians first and Romans second, not Romans first and Christians second.

Bibliography. C. Bakirtzis and H. Koester, eds., Philippi at the Time of Paul and after His Death (Harrisburg, 1998); S. E. Johnson, Paul the Apostle and His Cities (Wilmington, 1987), 70-76.

Richard A. Spencer

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PHILIPPI

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)