Philippopolis

Philippopolis

Titular see in Arabia, suffragan of Bostra. Its bishop, Hormisdas, was present at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 (LeQuien, "Oriens christianus", II, 861). An inscription makes known another bishop, Basil, in 553 ("Echos d'Orient", XII, 1909, 103). Philippopolis figures as a see in the "Notitiae Episcopatuum" in the sixth century (op. cit., X, 1907, 145). There were also several titular bishops in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (Eubel, "Hierarchia catholica medii aevi", II, 238; III, 291). The ancient name of this place is unknown. The Emperor Philip (244-9) founded this town and gave it his name (Aurelius Victor, "De Caesar.", 28). Thenceforth it grew very rapidly as evidenced by the fine ruins, remains of the colonnades of a temple and colossal baths, discovered on its site at Shohba in the Hauran.

WADDINGTON, Inscriptions grecques et latines recueillies en Grece et en Asie Mineure, 490-3; GELZER, Georgii Cyprii Descriptio orbis romani, 204; Revue biblique, VII (1898), 601-3; Echos d'Orient, II (1899), 175.

S. VAILHÉ