PHILIPPI fĭl’ ə pī (οἱ Φίλιπποι, city of Philip). A city of Macedonia, visited by the Apostle Paul (Acts 16:1, 12-40; 20:6; Phil 1:1; 1 Thess 2:2).

1. Topography. The city was located in eastern Macedonia in a plain E of Mount Pangaeus between the Strymon and Nestos Rivers. It was near the banks of a deep and rapid stream, the Gangites, about ten m. from the sea. To the SE ran the Via Egnatia over a very rocky ridge to the port of Neapolis. Hence, Paul is said to have “sailed away from Philippi” (20:6). In ancient times, the city derived its importance from the fertile plain that it commanded, its strategic location along the Via Egnatia and the gold mines in the mountains to the north.

2. History. The site was first inhabited by colonists from the island of Thasos, who worked the gold mines. It was known as Krenides, “springs.” Philip II of Macedon recognized its importance and sent a large colony there in 356 b.c. He changed its name to Philippi (Diodorus, XVI. vii. 6, 7). The mines, though almost exhausted, still provided Philip with more than a thousand talents a year.

After the Macedonians were defeated by the Romans in 167 b.c. Philippi was part of the first district, but the capital of the region was Amphipolis. In 146 b.c. it became part of the reorganized province of Macedonia, whose capital was Thessalonica. The decisive battle of the second civil war was fought at Philippi in 42 b.c. Brutus and Cassius had drawn up their forces near the Via Egnatia to the W of the city. Antony successfully attacked Cassius’ camp. The latter committed suicide without knowing that Brutus’ forces had been successful against Octavian. Three weeks later, Brutus was defeated and the war ended.

The city was enlarged by a colony of Rom. veterans after the war. Augustus Caesar later opened up the city for supporters of Antony who had been stripped of their holdings in Italy. The first colony, Colonia Victrix Philippensium, is attested only by coinage. The second colony was known as Colonia Julia Philippensis, later changed to Colonia Augusta Julia Philippensis. Because it was a Rom. colony, it had a form of government independent of the provincial administration. There were two chief magistrates, στρατηγοί, who were assisted by lictors, RSV “police” (Acts 16:35).

3. Archeology. The ancient city has been partially excavated by the French School at Athens from 1914 to 1938. The forum lay to the S of the Via Egnatia. In the center of it was found a large rostrum, which may have been where Paul and Silas were dragged by the owners of the demon-possessed slave girl. Two large temples are identified along with numerous public and private buildings of the 2nd cent. a.d. A Rom. theater of the same period was built into the side of the acropolis. A mile W of the city are the ruins of a Rom. arch near the River Gangites. An arch usually symbolized the city limits or pomerium of a Rom. settlement. Within the pomerium nothing impure, such as cemeteries or sanctuaries of foreign religions, could be established. This may account for the fact that Paul and Silas went “outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer” (Acts 16:13). Nonrabbinic sources attest the ancient habit of the Jews to recite prayers near rivers or the seashore (Philo Flaccus 14; Jos. Antiq. XIV. x. 23).

4. Biblical importance. The text of Acts 16:12 in regard to the standing of the city is difficult. א, A and E read πρώτη τῆς μερίδος Μακεδονίας πόλις, κολωνία, “the leading city of Macedonia, and a Roman colony.” Numerous variant readings show that the text was widely misunderstood. Crell has suggested that it should be changed to read πρώτης τῆς μερίδος Μακεδονίας πόλις, κολωνία, “a city and colony of the first part [district] of Macedonia.” Others have suggested that the city had some distinction in the 1st cent. a.d. that has not been recorded. Ramsay maintains that there is a touch of pride in Luke’s description, because he was a native of Philippi. The city had a famous school of medicine, which was connected with one of the guilds of physicians that sent its adherents throughout the Hel. world. Luke may, therefore, claim that Philippi was the first city of Macedonia, just as Pergamum, Smyrna and Ephesus all claimed to be the “first city of Asia.”

The Apostle Paul first preached in Europe at Philippi. He came there from Troy by way of Neapolis on the second missionary journey. He went to a place of prayer beside the river on the sabbath where he sat down with a group of women, among them, Lydia, a seller of purple dye from Thyatira. On the way there he was admonished by a slave girl with a spirit of divination, who annoyed him for some time thereafter. Finally, he exorcized the demon to the displeasure of her owners. They dragged Paul and Silas before the magistrates of the city and accused them of disturbing the peace by advocating customs that the Romans did not accept. The crowd joined in and the magistrates gave orders for Paul and Silas to be scourged. They were then put in stocks in the inner prison. At midnight an earthquake shook the prison to its foundation. Fearful that his prisoners had escaped, the jailer contemplated suicide. Paul indicated to him that he and Silas were still there. As a result of Paul’s witness, the man believed, and he and his family were baptized. The next day the authorities learned that Paul and Silas were Rom. citizens, apologized to them and asked them to leave the city. They then visited Lydia and other believers before they departed for Thessalonica (Acts 16:12-40).

At this point in the narrative of Acts the pronoun of the first person is dropped until Paul returned to Macedonia on the third missionary journey (Acts 20:5). Many conjecture that Luke, a native of Philippi or, at least, a medical student there at one time, was left behind to work among the churches of Macedonia.

Paul expressed a deep affection for the church at Philippi in a letter written to it while he was in prison either at Rome or Ephesus. The letter was written to thank the church for the gifts of funds and clothing that Epaphroditus had brought to him. After his imprisonment, Paul may again have visited Philippi (1 Tim 1:3).

Philippi reemerged into literary history for a brief moment in the early 2nd cent. a.d. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was condemned to death as a Christian and sent to Rome under guard by the Emperor Trajan. He traveled through Philadelphia, Smyrna, and Troy to Philippi, and thence presumably to Dyrrachium along the Via Egnatia. The church at Philippi welcomed and escorted him on the way. Two letters from the church were sent, one to the church at Antioch to console it, and one to Polycarp of Smyrna to ask for copies of Ignatius’ correspondence. Polycarp’s Epistle to the Philippians recites these details and tells also of a scandal caused at Philippi by one Valens and his wife. Later bishops of the church at Philippi were mentioned at the Councils of Laodicea, Ephesus, and Chalcedon.

Bibliography P. Collart, Philippes ville de Macédone depuis ses origines jusqu’à la fin de l’epoque romaine (1937); J. Schmidt, Pauly-Wissowa, s.v. “Philippoi” (1938); P. Lemerle, Philippes et la Macedoine orientale a l’epoque chretienne et byzantine (1945).