Philon
Φίλων
(Φίλων), literary and ecclesiastical. Many persons of this name occur, of most of whom notices will be found in Jonsius (De Script. Hist. Phil. 3.44), and Fabricius (Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. p. 750, &c.). To these articles a general reference is made. The philosophers are spoken of below separately; but the other persons of this name that deserve particular notice are :--
Philon
1. Of ATHENS. While Demetrius prevailed at Athens, Sophocles of the Sunian district (Σουνινεύς), got a law passed, ordaining that no philo sopher should teach in Athens, without the express consent of the boule and the people, on pain of death. This had the effect of driving Theophrastus, tus, and all the other philosophers, from Athens. (D. L. 5.38.) Hence Athenaeus erroneonsly neously represents this Iaw as expressly banishing them (xiii. p. 610. f.; compare Pollux, 9.42, where the law is said to have been aimed at the Sophists). This law was opposed by Philon, a friend of Aristotle, and defended by Demochares, the nephew of Demosthenes. (Athen. l.c.) The exertions of Philon were successful, and next year the philosophers returned, Demochares being sentenced to pay a fine of five talents. (Diog. Laert. l.c., where for Φιλλίωνος read Φιλώνος. The date of this transaction is doubtful. Alexis (apud Athen. l.c.) merely mentions Demetrius, without enabling us to judge whether it is Phalereus, reus, B. C. 316, or Poliorcetes, B. C. 307. Clinton leans to the former opinion. F.H. vol. ii. p. 169.) But he gives references to the opinions of others, who think it referable to the time of Demetrius Poliorcetes--to whom may be added Ritter. >His of Ancient Philosophy, vol. iii. p 379. Engl. Transl.) Jonsius (De Script. Hist. Phil.) places it as low as about B. C. 300. It is not improbable that this Philon is the slave of Aristotle, whom, in his will, he ordered to receive his freedom, (D. L. 5.15.)
Philon
2. Of BYZANTIUM, a celebrated mechanician, and a contemporary of Ctesibius. As much confusion has arisen regarding the era of these two men, and of Heron the pupil of Ctesibius (see Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. pp. 222, 234; Anthlolog. Graec. ed. Jacobs, vol. xiii. p. 899; Montucla, Histoire des Mathencatiqules, vol. i. p. 268), it will be necessary to attend to the correct date. Athenaeus, the mechanician, mentions that Ctesibius dedicated his work to Marcellus. This Marcellus has been supposed to be the illustrious captor of Syracuse, without any evidence. Again, the epigrammatist Hedylus speaks (Athen. 11.497c.) of Ctesibius in connection with a temple to Arsinoe, the wife and sister of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Hence it has been stated that Ctesibius flourished about the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus and Euergetes I B. C. 285-222, and Athenaeus, in that of Archimedes, who was slain B. C. 212. The inference drawn from the hydraulic invention of Ctesibius is untenable, as he might well be employed to ornament a temple already existing, and there is no ground for believing that the Marcellus, to whom Athenaeus dedicated his work, is the person assumed. On the contrary, Philon, and therefore the rest, must have lived after the time of Archimedes, as we learn from Tzetzes (Chil. 2.5.152) that Philon, in one of his works, mentions Archimedes. There is no reason, therefore, why we should reject the express statement of Athenaeus (iv. p. 174c.), where he mentions Ctesibius as flourishing in the time of the second Euergetes, Ptolemy Physcon, who began to reign B. C. 146. Fabricius, with odd inconsistency, places the era of Philon at A. U. C. 601=B. C. 153, which is sufficiently correct. Consequently Heron must be placed latcer. (See Schweighäuser, ad Athenaeum, vol. vii. p. 637, &c.; Clinton, F. H. vol. iii. p. 535.) All that we know of his history is derived from his own notices in the work to be mentioned immediately; that he had been at Alexandria and Rhodes, and had profited by his intercourse with the engineers of both places (pp. 51, 80, 84).
Works
Among his works is one wherein he took a wide range, treating of the formation of harbours, of levers, and the other mechanical powers; as well as all other contrivances connected with the besieging and the defending of cities. Hence, Vitruvius (vii. Praefat.) mentions him among the writers on military engineering.
Military Engineering
Books four and five
Of this, two books, the fourth and fifth, have come down to us.
Editions
These books are printed in the Veterum Mathematicorum Opera, of Thevenot, Paris, 1693, wherein Pouchard revised the fragment of Philon, which occurs pp. 49-104.
ἐκ τῶν Φιλώνος βελοποιικῶν
The fourth book is headed, ἐκ τῶν Φιλώνος βελοποιικῶν, and the general subject is the manufacture of missiles. He mentions in it an invention of his own, which he denominates ὀξυβέλης (p. 56). In the fifth book we are shocked to find that while recommending a besieging army to devastate the open country on the approach of an enemy, he advises them to poison the springs and the grain which they cannot dispose of (p. 103); and what renders this the worse, he mentions his having treated of poisons in his book on the preparations that should be made for a war. What principally attracted attention to this work in modern times is his notice of the invention of Ctesibius (p. 77. &c.). The instrument described by him, named ἀερότονος, acted on the property of air when condensed, and is, evidently, in principle the same with the modern air-gun. The subject is investigated by Albert Louis Meister in a short treatise entitled De Catapulta polybola Commentatio, qua locus Philoeis Mechanici, in libro iv. de telorum constructio extans, illustratur, Gottingae, 1768. It has also attracted the notice of Dutens, in his Origine de Découvertes attributes aux Modernes, vol. i. p. 265, ed. Paris. 1776. Further details of this fragment will be found in Fabricius, vol. iv. p. 231, &c.
Works on Geomery and Mechanics
According to Montucla, Philon was well skilled in Geometry, and his solution of the problem of the two mean proportionals (Pappus, Coll. Math. lib. viii.), although the same in principle with that of Apollonius, has its peculiar merits in practice. We learn from Pappus (l.c.) that he wrote a treatise on mechanics, the object of which was nearly the same as Heron's. (Montucla, vel. i. p. 268.)
Περὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ θεαμάτων (On the Seven Wonders of the World.
To Philon of Byzantium is attributed another work, Περὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ θεαμάτων, On the Seven Wonders of the World. But Fabricius (Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. p. 233) thinks that it is impossible that an eminent mechanician like Philon Byzantinus could have written this work, and conjectures that it was written by Philon Heracleiotes. No one can doubt that he is right in his first conjecture, but it seems more probable that it is the production of a later rhetorical writer, who gave it the name of Philon of Byzantium, as that of a man, who, from his life and writings, might be supposed to have chosen it as a subject for composition. It exists in only one MS. which, originally in the Vatican, was in 1816, in Paris, No. 389.
The wonders treated of are the Hanging Gardens, the Pyramids, the statue of Jupiter Olympius, the Walls of Babylon, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and, we may presume, from the prooeminm, the Mausoleum; but the last is entirely wanting, and we have only a fragment of the Ephesian temple. The style, though not wholly devoid of elegance, is florid and rhetorical. Orelli regrets the lost portions, as he thinks that the author had actually beheld the three last wonders. There does not appear to be much ground for this, and the whole seems to have been adopted from the reports of others.
Editions
It was first edited by Allatius, Rome, 1640, with a loose Latin translation, and desultory, though learned notes. It was re-edited from the same MS. by Dionysius Salvagnius Boessius, ambassador from the French court to the pope, and included in his Miscella, printed at Leyden, 1661. This edition has a more correct translation than that of Allatius, but abounds in typographical errors, there being no fewer than 150 in 14 pages. Gronovius reprinted the edition of Allatius, in his Thesaurus Antiquitatum Graecarum, vol. vii. pp. 2645-2686. It was finally reprinted at Leipzig, 1816, edited by J. C. Orelli. This edition, which is undoubtedly the best, contains the Greek, with the translations of both Allatius and Boessius, (with the exception of a fragment of a mutilated chapter, reprinted from the translation of L. Holstein, which originally appeared in Gronovius, ibid. vol. vii. p. 389), the notes of Allatius and others, along with some passages from other writers who had treated of the same or similar subjects, the fragments of the sophist Callinicus, and Adrian the Tyrian, and an Index Graecitatis.
Philon CARPATHIUS
3. CARPATHIUS (from Carpathus, an island north-east of Crete), or rather CARPASIUS (from Carpasia, a town in the north of Cyprus).
His birth-place is unknown; but he derived this cognomen from his having been ordained bishop of Carpasia, by Epiphanius, the well-known bishop of Constantia. According to the statement of Joannes and Polybius, bishop of Rhinoscuri, in their life of Epiphanius, Philon, at that time a deacon, was sent, along with some others, by the sister of the emperors Arcadius and Honorius, to bring Epiphanius to Rome, that, through his prayers and the laying on of hands, she might be saved from a dangerous disease under which she was labouring. Pleased with Philon, Epiphanius not only ordained him bishop of Carpasia, but gave him charge of his own diocese during his absence. This was about the beginning of the fifth century (Cave, Hist. Litt. p. 240, ed. Genev.).
Works
Commentary on the Canticles
Philo Carpasius is principally known from his Commentary on the Canticles, which he treats allegorically.
Editions
A Latin translation, or rather paraphrase of this commentary, with ill-assorted interpolations, from the commentary of Gregorius I., by Salutatus, was published, Paris, 1537, and reprinted in the Biblioth. Pat. Lugdun. vol. v.
Fragments of Philon's Commentary are inserted in that on the Canticles, which is falsely ascribed to Eusebius, edited by Meursius, Lugd. Batav. 1617. In these, he is simply named Philon, without the surname. Bandurius, a Benedictine monk, promised in 1705 a genuine edition, which he never fulfilled. It was published from a Vatican MS. in 1750, under the name of Epiphanius, and edited by Fogginius. The most important edition, however, is that of Giacomellus, Rome, 1772, from two MSS. This has the original Greek, a Latin translation, with notes, and is accompanied by the entire Greek text of the Canticles, principally from the Alexandrian recension. This is reprinted in Galland, N. Bibl. PP. vol. ix. p. 713: Ernesti (Neuesten Theolog. Bibl vol. iii. part 6), in a review of this edition, of which he thinks highly, is of opinion that the commentary, as we now have it, is but an abridgement of the original.
Other Commentaries
Besides this commentary, Philon wrote on various parts both of the Old and New Testament, fragments of which are contained in the various Catenae.
Further Information
Suidas, s. v.; Cave, l.c.; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. pp. 398, 611, viii. p. 645, x. p. 479.
Philon
4. Of GADARA, and a pupil of Sporus. He extended to 10,000 decimal places the approximation of the proportion of the diameter to the circumference of the circle. (Eutoc. Comment. in Archinncd. de Dim. Cire. in Montucla, vol. i. p. 340.)
Philon
5. The GEOGRAPHER, is mentioned by Strabo (ii. p.77) as having written an account of a voyage to Aethiopia. According to a conjecture of Vossius (De Hist. Graec. p. 486, ed. Westermann) this is the same with the Philon quoted by Antigonus Carystius (Hist. Mirab. 100.160).
Philon HERACLEIOTES.
6. HERACLEIOTES. Porphyry refers to a work of his, Περὶ θαυμασιῶν. (Stob. >Eclog. Physic. p. 130, ed. 1609.) He is probably the same with the Philon, the first book of whose work is quoted as an authority by Suidas (s.v. Παλαίφατος). This work is there entitled, Περὶ παραδόξου ἱστορία. Some absurdities are quoted by Aelian, from a similar work written by a Philon (H. A. 12.37). We have no means of determining his age, but as he states that Palaephatus was a favourite of Aristotle, he must have lived subsequently to that philosopher. (Snidas. l.c.) To him has been conjecturally referred the work, De Septem Orbis Mliraeulis, described under PHILON OF BYZANTIUM. [No. 2.] (Fabric. Bibl. Graee. vol. iv. p. 233.)
Philon Byblius
7. HERENNIUS BYBLIUS. Suidas (s. v. Φίλων) styles this Philon only Herennius. According to him he was a grammarian, and, if the text be correct, filled the office of consul. But, if Suidas actually made this statement, it must, as is remarked by Kuster (ad locum), have been through oversight. He was born about the time of Nero, and lived to a good old age, having written of the reign of Hadrian. This is all that we know of his life, except on his own authority, as given by Suidas, that he was in his 78th year in the consulship of Herennius Severus, from whose patronage he doubtless received his surname. This consulship, Suidas states, occurred in the 220th Olympiad, the last year of which was A. D. 104. Now, granting that this is the year meant, it has been deemed highly mprobabie that he should have lived to chronicle the reign of Hadrian, who succeeded A. D. 117, when, according to this computation, Philon must have been 91 years old, especially as Hadrian reigned 21 years. The consulship of Herennius Severus unfortunately cannot aid us, for there is no consul of that name about this period; there is a Catili is Severus, A. D. 120, and Haeniins Severus, A. D. 141, and Herennius must have been a consul suffectus. Sealiger, Tillemont, and Clinton, have proposed various emenldations on the text of Suidas, Clinton conjecturally assigning his birth to A. D. 47, and consequently his 78th year to A. D. 124. (Fasti Rom. pp. 31, 111). After all, the text of Suidas may be correct enough. He expressly says that the life of Philon was very long protracted, παρέτεινεν εἰς μακρόν; and regarding Hadrian all he says is, he wrote περὶ τῆς βασιλείας, not that he wrote a history of his reign.
Philon Byblius vs. Philon Herennius
Eusebius also mentions a Philon, whom he styles Byblius. This Philon Byblius had, according to the account of Eusebius, translated the work of a certain ancient Phoenician named Sanchoniathon (Σαγχουνιάθων), which was the result of multifarious inquiries into the Phoenician mythology. Eusebius gives the preface of Philon Byblius, and copious extracts, but not seemingly at first hand. He states that he had found them in the writings of Porphyry. (Praep. Evany. ii. p. 31, &c.). Byblius is evidently a patronymic from Byblus, a Phoenician town. Now Suidas (s. v. Ἕρμιππος), states that Hermippus of Berytus, also a Phoenician town, was his disciple. Hence, it has long been held--as there is nothing in date to contradict it--that the Philon Herennius of Suidas, and the Philon Byblius of Porphyry, are one and the same. (See Dodwell's Discourse concerning Sanchoniathon, printed at the end of Two Letters of Advice, 1691.) This opinion will deserve examination in the inquiry into the writings of Sanchoniathon.
Works
Philon was a voluminous writer. Suidas mentions:
1. His work on Hadrians reign
Mentioned above.
2. a work in thirty books on cities and their illustrious men
This was abridged by Aelius Serenus in three books (s. v. Σεπῆνος), which is confirmed in the Etymologicon Magnum (s. vv. Ἀρσινοή, Βουκέρας);
3. a work, Περὶ κτήσεως καὶ ἐκλογῆς βλβλίων
in 12 books. Of this, the treatise Περὶ χρηστομαθείας is probably a part (Etym. Mug. s.v. Γέρανος). He states that he wrote other works, but does not enumerate them. Eudocia (p. 424) assigns to him,
4. four books of Epigrams
From these we have perhaps a distich in the Anthologia Graeca. (Jacobs, vol. iii. p. 110.) There are besides attributed to him,
5. a Commentary on the Metaphysica of Aristotle.
(Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. 258.)
6. A rhetorical work, Ῥητορικὸν
perhaps a dictionary of rhetoric (Etymol. Mag. s.v. Δέμα.) In the Etymologicon Magnum, we have noticed his Ῥηματικά (s. v. Ἀέντες, &c.), and Ῥωμαίων διαλέξεως (s. v. ἁλτὴρ); but these seem all divisions of the same rhetorical work.
7. Περὶ διαφόρων σημαινομένων
This is said to be extant in one of the public libraries of Paris. Eustathius quotes extensively from this or the rhetorical work. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. v. p. 718.) Manegius (ad Laertii Anaximenem, p. 71) attributes to him the similar treatise generally ascribed to Ammonius; and Valckenaer appends to his edition of Ammoniius 1739, a treatise by Eranius Philon, De Differenlia Significationis, which will be found along with the treatise of Ammonius at the end of Scapula's Lexicon. (See Valckenacr's Preface to Ammonius.) This he thinks to be the work of a later writer, who has appropriated, and that incorrectly, Philon's name.
8. Περὶ ἰατρικῶν
on the authority of Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v. Κύρτος). This Fabricius thinks to have contained a history of eminent physicians, and he deeply regrets its loss (vol. xiii. p. 367, ed. vet.).
9. Ἱστορία παράδοξον, in three books.
(Euseb. P. E. p. 32.)
10. A work on the Jews.
(Euseb. P.E. p. 40.)
11. Ἐφωδιῶν ὑπομνήματα.
(Euseb. P. E. p. 41.) Vossius (De Hist. Graec. p. 292, ed. Westermann) inadvertently attributes the last three to Porphyry, and has been partially followed by Fourmont (Reflexions sur L'Histoire des Anciens Peuples, vol. i. p. 21).
The last three three must be assigned, on the authority of Eusebius, to Herennius Philon, if he is the same as Philon Byblius, who alone is mentioned by Eusebius, just as the former name alone, or standing without Herennius, is found elsewhere. (See Salmasius, Plin. Exercit. p. 866.)
Αἰθιπικά
Lastly it may be mentioned that Vossius (ibid. p. 254) attributes to him the Αἰθιπικά, which with more probability he elsewhere assigns (p. 486) to Philon the geographer.
Sanchoniathon
But the work which has made his name most celebrated in modern times, and of which alone we have any fragments of consequence, is the translation of the Phoenician work already referred to. For the controversy regarding the genuineness and authenticity of this work, see SANCHONIATHON.
Philon METAPONTINUS
8. METAPONTINUS, a musician and poet. (Steph. Byz. s.v. Μεταπόντιον).
Philon
9. MONK. An ascetic treatise, bearing the name of Philon Monachus, whom Cave (H. L. p. 176, Diss.) deems to be much later than the other ecclesiastical writers of the same name, is preserved in the library of Vienna (Cod. Tleol. 325, No. 15). It is entitled, Contra Pulehritudinem Feminarum.
Philon or Philon the Pythagorean
10. The PYTHAGOREAN. Clemens Alexandrinus (Strom. i. p. 305), and Sozomenes (1.12), mention Philon ὁ Πυθαγόρειος. It is probable from their language that they both mean by the person so designated PHLON JUDAEUS. Jonsius (ibid. 3.100.4, p. 17) is strongly of opinion that Philon the elder, and this Philon mentioned by Clemens, are the same. Fabricius, who once held this opinion, was led to change his views (Fabric. Bibl. vol. i. p. 862), and tacitly assumes (vol. iv. p. 738) that Sozomenes indicated Philon Judaeus by this epithet.
Philon
11. RHETORICIAN and PHILOSOPHER. Cave, Giacomellus, and Ernesti, are of opinion that this is no other than Philon Carpasius. His era agrees with this, for the philosopher is quoted by Athanasius Sinaita, who flourished about A. D. 561. We need not be startled at the term philosopher as applied to an ecclesiastic. This was not uncommon. Michael Psellus was termed the prince of philosophers, and Nicetas was surnamed, in the same way as Philon, ῥήτωρ καὶ φιλοσόφος. Besides, Polybius, in the life of Epiphanius alluded to above, expressly calls Philon of Carpasia κληρικόν ἀπὸ ῥητόρων, which Tillemont and others erroneously understand to mean a man who has changed from the profession of the law to that of the church. Cave shows that the ῥήτωρ held an office in the church itself, somewhat analogous to our professorship of ecclesiastical history. Our only knowledge of Philon, under this name, whether it be Philon Carpasius or not, is from an inedited work of Anastasius Sinaita, preserved in the library of Vienna and the Bodleian. Glycas (Annal. p. 282, &c.), it is true, quotes as if from Philon, but he has only borrowed verbatim and without acknowledgment. from Anastasius. The work of Anastasius referred to, is entitled by Cave, Demonstratio Historica de Magna et Angelica summi Sacerdotis Dignitate. Philon's work, therein quoted, is styled a Church history, but, if we may judge from the only specimen of it we have, we need hardly regret its loss. It consists of a tale regarding a monk, that being excommunicated by his bishop, and having afterwards suffered martyrdom, he was brought in his coffin to the church, but could not rest till the bishop, warned in a dream, had formally absolved him. (Cave, Hist. Litt. p. 176, ed. Genevae, 1720; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. p. 420.)
Philon
12. SENIOR. Josephus (Apion. 1.23), when enumerating the heathen writers who had treated of Jewish history, mentions together Demetrius Phalereus, Philon, and Eupolemon. Philon he calls the elder (ὁ πρεσβύτερος), probably to distinguish him from Philon Judaeus, and he cannot mean Herennius Philon, who lived after his time. Clemens Alexandrinus (Stromat. i. p. 146) also couples together the names of Philon the elder and Demetrius, stating that their lists of Jewish kings differed. Hence Vossius thinks that both authors refer to the same person. (De Hist. Grae. p. 486, ed. Westermann.) And in this Jonsius agrees with him, while he notices the error of Josephus, in giving Demetrius the surname of Phalerens. (De Script. Hist. Phil. 3.4. p. 17.) As Huetius (Demonstrat. Evangel. p. 62) was of opinion that the apocryphal Book of Wisdom was written by this Philon, he was necessitated to consider him as an Hellenistic Jew, who, unskilled in the original Hebrew, had it translated, and then expanded it, in language peculiar to his class. (Ibid. pp. 62, 246, &c.) Fabricius thinks that the Philon mentioned by Josephus, may have been a Gentile, and that a Philon different from either Philon Judaeus, or senior, was the author of the Book of Wisdom. Eusebius (Praep. Evangel. 9.20, 24) quotes fifteen obscure hexameters from Philon, without giving hint of who he is, and merely citing them as from Alexander Polyhistor. These evidently form part of a history of the Jews in verse, and were written either by a Jew, in the character of a heathen, as Fabricius hints is possible, or by a heathen acquainted with the Jewish Scriptures. This is, in all probability, the author, and the work referred to by Josephus and Clemens Alexandrinus. Of course the author must have lived before the time of Alexander Polyhistor, who came to Rome, B. C. 83. It is doubtful whether he is the same writer with the geographer of the same name, mentioned above.
Philon
13. Of TARSUS, a deacon. He was a companion of Ignatius of Antioch, and accompanied the martyr from the East to Rome, A. D. 107. He is twice mentioned in the epistles of Ignatius (ad Philadelph. 100.11, ad Smyrnaeos, 100.13). He is supposed to have written, along with Rheus Agathopus, the Martyrium Ignatii, for which see IGNATIUS, in this work, Vol. II. p. 566b. (Comp. Cave, Hist Litt. p. 28. ed. Genevae 1720
Philon
14. Of THEBES. is quoted by Plutarch as an au thority in his Life of Alexander (c.46). He is probably the same Philon, who is mentioned as an authority for the Indian Antissa by Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v. Ἄντισσα).
Philon THYANENSIS
15. THYANENSIS, a geometrician of profound abilities, if we may judge from the subject of his writings, which regarded the most transcendental parts of ancient geometry, the consideration of curve lines. In particular, he investigated the lines formed by the intersection of a plane with certain curved surfaces. These lines are called by Pappus πλεκτοίδες (Coll. Mlath. iv. post prop. 40). The nature of the surfaces or the lines is unknown; but Pappus informs us that their investigation excited the admiration of many geometricians; among others, of Menelaus of Alexandria. As Menelaus was in Rome A. D. 98, Philon must have preceded him. (Montuela, vol. i. p. 316.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.