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Map of the Roman Empire - Philippi
Philippi
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Philippi. A city of Macedonia which was rebuilt by Philip II of Macedon and named Philippi. It became a Roman colony and after the assassination of Julius Caesar his avengers Marc Anthony and Octavian fought Marcus Brutus and Cassius, at the Battle of Philippi in a nearby plain west of Philippi in 42 BC. The Bible mentions that Philippi was visited by Paul, Acts 16:12ff.; Acts 20:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:2; Philippians 1:1ff.; Philippians 4:15. Today the Greeks call the city Philippoi and the Arabs call it Felibedjik.
Acts. 16:12ff. - And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, [and] a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.
Acts. 20:6 - And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.
1 Thess. 2:2 -But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.
Phil. 1:1ff. - Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Phil. 4:15 - Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.
Philippi (Φίλιπποι). A city of Macedonia, now Filibah. It was situated on the river Gangas or Gangites, and was founded by Philip on the site of an older town, Crenides (?????de?). In the vicinity were productive gold mines. Here Octavianus and Antony won a decisive victory over Brutus and Cassius in B.C. 42, and here the Apostle Paul first preached in Europe, in A.D. 53. The seaport of Philippi was Datus or Datum on the Strymonic Gulf. - Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.
Philippi (in Greek Φίλιπποι/ Philippoi) was a city in eastern
Macedonia, established by Philip II in 356 BC and abandoned in the 14th century
after the Ottoman conquest. The present municipality Filippoi is located near
the ruins of the ancient city and it is part of the periphery of East Macedonia
in Greece.
History of Philippi. The city reappears in the sources during the Roman
civil war that followed the assassination of Julius Caesar. His heirs Mark
Antony and Octavian confronted the assassins of Caesar, Marcus Junius Brutus and
Cassius, at the Battle of Philippi in the plain to the west of the city in
October, 42 BC. Antony and Octavian were victorious in this final battle against
the partisans of the Republic. They released some of their veteran soldiers,
probably from legion XXVIII and colonized them in the city, which was refounded
as Colonia Victrix Philippensium. In 30 BC, Octavian became Roman emperor,
reorganized the colony, and established more settlers there, veterans possibly
from the Praetorian Guard and other Italians. The city was renamed Colonia Iulia
Philippensis, and then Colonia Augusta Iulia Philippensis after January, 27 BC,
when Octavian received the title Augustus from the Roman Senate. Following this
second renaming, and perhaps after the first, the territory of Philippi was
centuriated (divided into squares of land) and distributed to the colonists. The
city kept its Macedonian walls, and its general plan was modified only partially
by the construction of a forum, a little to the east of the site of Greek agora.
It was a "miniature Rome," under the municipal law of Rome and governed by two
military officers, the duumviri, who were appointed directly from Rome. The
colony recognized its dependence on the mines that brought it its privileged
position on the Via Egnatia. This wealth was shown by the many monuments that
were particularly imposing considering the relatively small size of the urban
area: the forum, laid out in two terraces on both sides of the main road, was
constructed in several phases between the reigns of Claudius and Antoninus Pius,
and the theatre was enlarged and expanded in order to hold Roman games. There is
an abundance of Latin inscriptions testifying to the prosperity of the city. In
AD 49 or 50, the city was visited by the apostle Paul who was guided there by a
vision (Acts 16:9-10). Accompanied by Silas, Timothy and possibly Luke, the
author of the Acts of the Apostles, he preached for the first time on European
soil in Philippi (Acts 16:12-40) and baptized Lydia, a purple dye merchant, in a
river to the west of the city. While in Philippi, his exorcism of a demon from a
slave girl caused a great uproar in the city, which led to their (Paul and
Silas) arrest and public beating (Acts 16:16-24). An earthquake caused their
prison to be opened. When the jailer awoke, he prepared to kill himself,
thinking all the prisoners had escaped and knowing that he would be severely
punished. Paul stopped him, indicating that all the prisoners were in fact still
there. The jailer then became one of the first Christians in Europe (Acts
16:25-40). At this time, there was barely a Jewish community and no synagogue
(Acts 16:13). Those Jews present did not seem to include any men and met by the
river, a common meeting place in the absence of a synagogue. Paul visited the
city on two other occasions, in 56 and 57. The Epistle to the Philippians dates
from around 61-62 and shows the immediate impact of Paul's instruction. The
subsequent development of Christianity in Philippi is well-attested, notably by
a letter from Polycarp of Smyrna addressed to the community in Philippi around
160 and by funerary inscriptions. - Wikipedia