Christian
Körner: Philippus Arabs, ein Soldatenkaiser in der Tradition des antoninisch-severischen
Prinzipats. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2002 (Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur
und Geschichte 61). XV, 435 S. Euro 98,--. ISBN 3-11-017205-4.
Körner starts by introducing the literary sources to the reign of Philip
(Die Quellen zu Philippus Arabs). The majority of those comes from later
centuries, but as they go back mostly to older sources (now lost) they can still be
useful. Of contemporary texts, according to the author only the XIIIth Sibylline Oracle
is preserved, a pseudo-prophetic narrative covering a large part of the third century. The
oration To a King, preserved as no 35 in the corpus of Aelius Aristides but
according to many to be dated to the reign of Philip, is disregarded only in a footnote,
although the problem ought to have received more attention in the book, since it is quite
relevant for an interpretation of Philip's reign.[5] In ch. 2 (Die
Herkunft und Familie Philipps) Körner explores the roots of Philip by listing the
often negative descriptions in Late-Roman sources. Most of them emphasise that he was an
Arab or that he came from Arabia, but it should also have been
mentioned that the earliest source available refers to him, indirectly, as coming
from Syria.[6]
In any case, in the Roman period Arab was not a tag applied to categorise
those belonging to a specific ethnically defined group, although some recent
interpretations of Philip have made too much of his Orientalness.[7]
A number of the later sources also suggests that he was of low origin,[8]
but Körner rightly points to the fact that, with two of his sons occupying a position of
Praetorian Prefect, Philip's father can hardly have been anything else than head of a
nicht unbedeutenden Familie (32). However, with a view towards their Roman
citizenship, it is unlikely that this was a family of nomads,[9]
and it is more plausible (although this cannot be proven either) to see them with Fergus
Millar as quite substantial landowners.[10] Körner goes on to analyse
coinage, titulature and honours related to Philip's wife Marcia Otacilia Severa, their son
Philip II, his father Marinus (who came to receive divine honours in his hometown), his
brother Priscus, and Severianus, who was either Marcia's brother or her father. What
stands out is, firstly, their contribution to the creation of a new dynastical framework,
and, secondly, the continuation of established patterns of imperial representation.
After a very short overview of his reign in ch. 3 (Chronologie der
Regierungszeit Philipps), Philip's rise to the purple is followed in ch. 4
(Philipps Aufstieg und Machtübernahme). Most conspicuous in Körner's
analysis of Philip's career is the way in which he prefers to see the emperor being
involved in the death of his predecessor, Gordian III. It is certain that the latter died
in the context of his war against the Persians, but on the details the various sources
differ substantially. The King of Kings, in a famous trilingual inscription,[11]
claimed that Gordian found his death at the battle of Mesiche, a scenario supported partly
by a couple of Byzantine chronicles. The large majority of the late-Roman and
early-Byzantine sources, however, apparently uninformed about that battle, follows
traditions in which Gordian as the victim of Philip's conspiracy died either at Circesium
or at Ktesiphon. Körner's own solution to the insoluble problem is to combine data from
different sources: there was a battle, and Philip conspired: Die Überlieferung, die
Philipp für den Tod Gordians verantwortlich macht, lässt sich somit kaum zurückweisen.
Der Ermordung ging die Schlacht bei Mesiche voran, an deren Historizität nicht zu
zweifeln ist, da trotz aller propagandistischen Verherrlichung in der Schapurinschrift
keine Schlacht neu erfunden werden konnte (89).
Ch. 5 (Philipps Münzprägung) shows how Philip's minting program was
firmly based on Antonine and Severan themes. Ch. 6 (Grenzpolitik) is divided
into two main sections. The first deals with the peace treaty which Philip struck with
Shapur I. Körner pays attention to both the Persian and the Roman presentation of this
deal on the basis of the famous rock reliefs of the King of Kings, and Classical
literature, imperial coinage and titulature in inscriptions respectively. The second
section aims to reconstruct the history of the barbaric invasions of the Danube provinces.
The trouble makers Carpi and Goths are acknowledged, but Körner dismisses the suggestion
by some modern historians that a third tribe was involved as well: Der Titel Germanicus
Maximus erklärt sich vielmehr daraus, dass die Römer die Donauvölker allgemein als
Germanen bezeichneten und keine feinen Unterscheidungen zogen (151-152).
Based above all on the ca eighty rescripta which are dated to Philip's reign and
preserved in the later judicial compilations, ch. 7 (Philipps Rechtsprechung)
deals with the emperor's stand on the typical matters brought before the imperial court,
from which is clear that also in this aspect the principate's tradition, especially in the
format known from the Severan emperors, was adhered to. The same point is argued in ch. 8
(Senatoren und Procuratoren unter Philipp, with prosopographical details in
Appendix I): it is clear that under the so-called Arab emperor der
italische Adel nach wie vor dominierte (209) in the make-up of the Senate, and also
for procurators is eine Orientalisierung nicht belegbar (209).
Ch. 9 (Philippopolis und Philipps Politik im Osten) discusses briefly
the new imperial showcase formerly known as Shahba, a minor settlement in the Syrian
Hauran which thanks to the efforts of its most famous son became the most complete
expression of the export to the edge of the steppe of the Graeco-Roman ideal of a
city.[12]
But not just Shahba profited from Philip's rise to power: Bostra became a metropolis,
Damascus and Neapolis received colonial status, and building activities took place at
Baalbek and Dmeir. In itself, this would not be sufficient evidence to postulate a
particular interest of Philip in the region where once his cradle had stood, but as
Körner points out in ch. 10 (Philipp und das Reich', die Bedeutung, die
dem Osten unter Philipp zukam, tritt noch deutlicher hervor, wenn zum Vergleich die
Zeugnisse aus dem übrigen Reich herangezogen werden (232). It was a chance of
history that a man from Shahba came to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Rome as its
distinguised head in AD 248. Or rather, as is pointed out in ch. 11 (Die
Tausendjahrfeier), its 1001st anniversary, as counting from the city's legendary
foundation in 753 BC, one would expect the festivities to have started in AD 247.
Invasions of the Danube provinces, however, and the emperor's need to respond properly,
caused the slight delay. As for Philip's relation to the christian faith, as has sometimes
been claimed[13]
with reference to Eusebius' presentation of Origen's correspondence with the emperor (HE
VI.36.3) and of the latter's attendance at services, Körner convincingly points out in
ch. 12 (Philipp und das Christentum und die Unruhen in Alexandria) that there
is no good evidence to corroborate this view. It was the contrast of Philip's reign with
the notorious persecutions under his successor Decius, in combination with the legend (or
even historical fact) of Origen's letters, that has led both late antique and modern
authors to interpret Philip as a follower of Christ. Ch. 13 (Die Usurpationen unter
Philipp, with a discussion of fictitious usurpers in Appendix II ) deals with the
various attempts to usurp Philip's emperorship, and ch. 14 (Philipps Ende)
analyses the different source traditions concerning the emperor's death following the
final and eventually successful usurpation by Decius.
With this work of reference Körner has reconstructed a picture of a man who wanted
to present himself to all levels of society as a verantwortungsbewusster
Kaiser (327-328), along the lines of his Antonine and Severan predecessors. Philip's
Oriental background did not prevent that seine Politik ist gerade so
römisch wie die eines Augustus oder eines Marc Aurel (327). Körner
himself has announced a populärwissenschaftliche (IX) biography based on the
findings of this more scholarly work. As for an English biography of the enigmatic
emperor, still a desideratum, Körner's collection and analysis of the relevant sources
will certainly facilitate its writing.
Ted
Kaizer, Corpus Christi College, Oxford
ted.kaizer@corpus-christi.oxford.ac.uk
[14]
[1]
Y. Zahran: Philip the Arab, a Study in Prejudice. London 2001, with the quotation from p.
15.
[2]
W. Ball: Rome in the East. The Transformation of an Empire. London/New York 2000, p. 418.
[3]
L. de Blois: The reign of the emperor Philip the Arabian. Talanta
10-11, 1978-1979, p.11-43. Cf. C. Prickartz : Philippe l'Arabe (244-249), civilis
princeps. Antiquité Classique 64, 1995, p. 129-153.
[4]
A
study by M. Sommer: Die Soldatenkaiser. Darmstadt 2003, in press, is eagerly awaited.
[5]
Sie
scheidet daher als historische Quelle für die Regierung Philipps aus (5 n.1).
Körner refers only to a forthcoming paper of his, which is now published as Die
Rede EIS BASILEA des Pseudo-Aelius Aristides in Museum Helveticum 59, 2002,
p. 211-228, in which he argued, at p. 227, that die in der Kaiserrede
aufgeführten Herrschertugenden werden nicht durch konkrete Beispiele aus dem Leben des
Kaisers untermauert, sondern lediglich aufgezählt. The
main defender of a date in Philip's reign is L. de Blois, The EIS BASILEA of
Ps-Aelius Aristides in Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 27, 1986, p. 279-288. For
other interpretations of its authorship, see e.g. C.P. Jones, Aelius Aristides' EIS
BASILEA in JRS 62, 1972, p. 134-152 (dating it to the reign of Antoninus Pius),
and D. Librale, L'EIS BASILEA dello pseudo-Aristide e l'ideologia
traianea in ANRW II.34.2 (1994), p. 1271-1313 (dating it to the reign of Trajan).
[6]
Sib.
Or.
XIII,22, with F. Millar, The Roman Near East. Cambridge,
MA/London, 1993, p. 530. Note
that D.S. Potter, Prophecy and History in the Crisis of the Roman Empire, a Historical
Commentary on the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle. Oxford 1990, p. 216-218, argued that
the description of Philip as a Syrian exemplifies a common type of geographical
confusion. However, it is not entirely certain that the Hauran had become part of provincia
Arabia by the time Philip was born, see Millar, The Roman Near East, p. 531. Cf. G.
Bowersock, Roman Arabia. Cambridge,
MA/London 1983, p. 112-114.
[7]
Note
the poor and anachronistic comments concerning Philip's cultural and ethnic identity by
Ball, Rome in the East, p. 418: as his nickname implies, Philip was Arab.
Portraits depict him with the features and tight curly hair that one sees in Syria even
today. That Philip was first and foremost a Roman is called irrelevant:
what is important is what Philip meant to the Arabs themselves ... His reign is one
of the more important in the chain of events that culminated in the eventual triumph of
the Arabs in the seventh century when the Near East ceased to be Roman and became
Arab.
[8]
Note
Körner's interesting observation that in this context zwischen geographischer
Herkunft und sozialem Status zumeist nicht geschieden wurde (30).
[9]
Contra
Körner: Sein Vater Marinus könnte ein Nomadenführer gewesen sein, besass daneben
aber auch das römische Bürgerrecht (323).
[10]
Thus
F. Millar: The Roman coloniae of the Near East: a study of cultural
relations in H. Solin and M. Kajava (eds.), Roman Eastern Policy and Other Studies
in Roman History. Helsinki 1990, p. 54.
[11]
On
which see most recently P. Huyse: Die dreisprachige Inschrift Sabuhrs I. an der Kaba-i
Zardust. London 1999.
[12]
Thus
Millar, The Roman Near East, p. 531.
[13]
Notably
again in the recent work by Ball, Rome in the East, p.418, where it is claimed, without
good evidence, that it was Philip, not Constantine, who was Rome's first Christian
emperor ... He would have kept quiet about it and been even more scrupulous to follow
Roman public ceremonial to the letter. But the precedent was nonetheless made, and the
importance of Philip's conversion as a precedent for Constantine cannot be
overestimated.
[14]
Thanks
are due to the British Academy for support through the award of a Postdoctoral Fellowship.