Philippi

Philippi (Turk. Filibejik), a city of ancient Macedonia, on a steep hill near the river Gangites (mod. Angista), overlooking an extensive plain and at no great distance from the coast of the Aegean, on the highway between Neapolis (Kavalla) and Thessalonica. Originally called Crenides (Fountains), it took its later name from Philip II. of Macedon, who made himself master of the neighbouring gold mines of the Hill of Dionysus, and fortified the city as one of his frontier-towns. In 42 B.C., after the victory gained over the senatorial party by Octavius and Antony, it became a Roman colony, Colonia Julia Philippensis, which was probably increased after the battle of Actium (Col. Aug. Julia Phil.). The inhabitants received the Jus Italicum, and Philippi was one of the specially designated "first cities" (Acts xvi. 12; see Marquardt, Rom. Staatsverwaltung, i. 187). The city was twice visited by St Paul, whose Epistle to the Philippians was addressed to his converts here. The site, now uninhabited, is marked by ruins - the substructions of an amphitheatre, parts of a great temple - which have furnished interesting inscriptions. A little to the east is the huge stone monument of C. Vibius, known to the Turks as Dikelitashlar and to the Greeks as the Manger of Bucephalus.

See Heuzey and Daumet, Mission arch. en Macedoine, Paris (1865),(1865), and other authorities in bibliography of MACEDONIA; Corp. Inscr. Lat. iii. 1. (J. D. B.)