Illustration created for this project.
Philip the Tetrarch
A son of Herod the Great, tetrarch of the regions north-east of Galilee, who rebuilt Caesarea Philippi.
What we know — and how we know it
Bible — stated in scripture (with verse) · 1
Archaeology — physical evidence · 1
Ancient writers — non-biblical testimony · 1
Family & lineage
Life, role & deeds
Scan by NYPL — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
Ancient writersJosephus describes Philip as a mild and just ruler who rebuilt Paneas as Caesarea Philippi and the fishing village of Bethsaida as a town named Julias, and who governed his northern tetrarchy for 37 years until his death in AD 34.
Josephus, Antiquities 18.4.6 (§106–108) — mild and just rule, 37-year tetrarchy, death in AD 34; refoundations of Paneas as Caesarea Philippi and Bethsaida as Julias at Antiquities 18.2.1 (§28); cf. Luke 3:1
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ArchaeologyPhilip was the first Jewish ruler to strike coins bearing the portrait of the Roman emperor and the image of a temple — a break with Jewish custom that his surviving coinage from Caesarea Philippi still attests.
Bronze coins of Philip the Tetrarch (Paneas / Caesarea Philippi mint) bearing the portrait of Augustus or Tiberius and a tetrastyle temple facade (the Augusteum at Panias); catalogued in Y. Meshorer, Ancient Jewish Coinage, Vol. II: Herod the Great through Bar Cochba (Dix Hills, NY: Amphora, 1982), and A Treasury of Jewish Coins (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi / Nyack: Amphora, 2001)