Julius Marinus Explained

Julius Marinus was the father of Roman Emperor Philip the Arab and Philip's brother Gaius Julius Priscus.

Life

He was deified by his son. Scholar Pat Southern writes that this deification was unusual because Marinus was not an emperor, but it gave Philip's reign more legitimacy.^[1]

He was a Roman citizen from what is today Shahba, about 55miles southeast of Damascus; in the Trachonitis district and then in the Roman province of Arabia.

In life Marinus was possibly of some importance.^[2] By descent from Marinus, Philip held Roman citizenship.^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}

Notes and References

1. Pat Southern, The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine (Psychology Press, 2001), 71.
2. Meckler, Philip the Arab
3. Ball, Wawrick, Rome in the East: the transformation of an empire, pg. 417
4. Book: Ball, Warwick. Rome in the East: the transformation of an empire. Routledge. New York. 2000. 0-415-24357-2.
5. The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography, Houghton-Mifflin, London 2003: p1203
6. Riverside Dictionary Of Biography, Houghton-Mifflin, London 2004: p603.