Philippopolis

PHILIPPO´POLIS


1. （Φιλιππόπολις,Ptol. 3.11.12; Plb. 5.100; Steph. B. s. v.), a town of Thrace, founded by Philip of Macedon, on the site of a previously existing town, called Eumolpias or Poneropolis. (Ammian. 26.10.4; Plin. Nat. 4.11. s. 18.) From its situation on a hill with three peaks or summits, it was also called Trimontium. (Plin. l. c.;Ptol. l. c.) It lay on the SE. side of the Hebrus. The Thracians, however, regained possession of it (Polyb. l. c.;Liv. 39.53), and it remained in their hands till they were subdued by the Romans. Its size maybe inferred from the fact of the Goths having slaughtered 100,000 persons in it (Ammian. 31.5.17), though doubtless many persons from the environs had taken refuge there. The assumption that it likewise bore the name of Hadrianopolis, rests only on an interpolation in Ptolemy. It is still called Philippopoli, and continues to be one of the most considerable towns of Thrace. (Tac. Ann. 3.38; Itin. Ant. p. 136; Hierool. p. 635.) [T.H.D]


2. A city of Arabia, near Bostra, founded by the Roman emperor Philippus, who reigned A.D. 244—249, and who was a native of Bostra. (Aurel. Vict. de Caes. 28; Cedrenus, p. 257, ed. Paris., vol. 1. p. 451, ed. Bonn; Zonar. 12.19.) Some writers suppose that Philippopolis was only a later name of Bostra, and it must be admitted that the words of Cedrenus and Zonaras are ambiguous; but they are mentioned as two different places in the Councils. (Labbei, Concil. vol. viii. pp. 644, 675; Wesseling, ad Hierocl. p. 722.)