Philo of Byblos

Herennios Philon ( Philo of Byblos, Herennius Philo Latinized ) was a Phoenician scholar, grammarian and historian. He lived in the late 1st and 2nd centuries.

Life

Little is known about the life of Philo. The main source is the entry about him in the Suda, a Byzantine encyclopedia of the 10th century. This entry contains inconsistent information on the chronology, their interpretation in research is controversial. According to the Suda, he was around the time of the emperor Nero ( 54-68 ) was born and lived to a great age. After Philo's own statements, to which the author of the Suda entry invokes, he was 78 years old when Herennius Severus was consul in 220 after the Olympics Greek era ( 101-104 years ). However, the actual time of Herennius Severus' consulate is unknown. If Philo reached his achtundsiebzigstes age during that period, he would have been born long before Nero's accession to the throne. Then he wrote about the Emperor Hadrian, he must ( 117-138 ) have not yet experienced its reign. Probably drops his birth to the time around 70; His death ought to be according to that of Hadrian (138 ) to be set.

His Roman name is based on that of his patron Herennius Severus and perhaps has unfree origin and release.

Works

From Herennios ' rich literary production of only small residues are present. Among his works, which were all written in Greek, were:

• A " Phoenician History " ( Phoinikikḗ historía ) in nine books, which is not mentioned in the Suda. Are preserved longer fragments that survived of the church writer Eusebius of Caesarea in his Praeparatio evangelica. Philo refers to the authority of a mysterious Phoenician scholar named Sanchuniathon who had lived before the time of the Trojan War. He claims to have the historical account of the Sanchuniathon from Phoenician translated into his " Phoenician History " into Greek. From such sources Phoenician Hesiod have drawn, without understanding it correctly, and much in Greek mythology was of Phoenician origin and was misunderstood by the Greeks, who took it over. The most ancient peoples ( the Phoenicians and Egyptians ) had not worshiped the gods, but human benefactors. Philo thus proves to be a representative of a euhemeristischen interpretation of religious origin, which states the gods cult had arisen from the veneration significant and therefore deified man. The Christian Eusebius quoted Philo because he could use his explanation of the origin of the traditional polytheistic religion of his polemic against " paganism ". Philo's work is as a source of the Phoenician mythology and religion of high value. It is unclear how old and how credible his historical information are, where he moved and assess how its disclosures about the alleged source Sanchuniathon.
• A book "On the reign of Hadrian ," none of which is known apart from the traditional to the Suda title
• " About cities and their famous citizen" in 30 books, an applied based on geographic region, probably alphabetical parent culture history, in which he summarized everything it achievable geographical, historical and biographical material.

Texts and Comments

• January Radicke (ed.): Felix Jacoby ' The fragments of Greek historians ' continued, Part IV A: Biography, Fasc. 7: Imperial and undated authors, Brill, Leiden 1999, pp. 36-61 (No. 1060 ). ISBN 90-04-11304-5 [ with comment]
• Albert I. Baumgarten, The Phoenician History of Philo of Byblos. A Commentary. Brill, Leiden 1981, ISBN 90-04-06369-2 ( pp. 8-30 contains a critical edition of Philo and fragments of source certificates of Jacoby )