Philo in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

1. A sculptor; the son of Antipater. He flourished in the time of Alexander the Great. Among his works was the statue of Hephaestion, and that of Zeus Ourios, at the entrance of the Bosporus (Verr. iv. 58, 129). The dedicatory verses inscribed on the pedestal of the latter are now in the British Museum (quoted on p. 40 of Demosth. Adv. Leptinem, ed. Sandys). Pliny (xxxiv. 91) mentions him as one of the sculptors who made athletas et armatos et venatores sacrificantesque. 2. An Athenian architect who built for Demetrius Phalereus, about B.C. 318, the portico to the great temple at Eleusis. It had twelve Doric columns in front, and its dimensions were 183 feet by 37 1/2 feet. Under the administration of Lycurgus, he constructed an armamentarium or arsenal at Zea in the Piraeus, containing tackle, etc., for 1000 ships (Pliny , Pliny H. N. vii. 125). It was destroyed by Sulla , but apparently rebuilt, since it is described by Valerius Maximus (viii. 12, 2) as still existing. An inscription in the Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum (ii. 1054) contains the contract for the work, with full details of its structure and fittings. 3. Of Byzantium; a celebrated mechanician. He wrote, in the second century B.C., a work on mechanics, of which only one book, on the construction of engines of war, and portions of two others, on siege-warfare, are extant. Edited by Köchly and Rüstow (1853). See Seven Wonders of the World. 4. Of Larissa; an Academic philosopher, a pupil of Clitomachus. He came to Rome in B.C. 88, being one of a number of eminent Greeks who fled from Athens on the approach of its siege during the Mithridatic War. He was a man of versatile genius, and a perfect master of the theory and practice of oratory. Cicero had scarcely heard him before all inclination for Epicureanism was swept from his mind, and he surrendered himself wholly to the brilliant Academic (Brutus. 306). One of his works, twice mentioned, though not by any definite title (Acad. i. 13, ii. 11), supplied Cicero with his historic account of the New Academy (Academica, ed. Reid, pp. 2, 52). 5. Called Iudaeus, "the Jew." Born of a priestly family at Alexandria, about B.C. 25, he carefully studied the different branches of Greek culture, and, in particular, acquired a knowledge of the Platonic philosophy, while in no way abandoning the study of the Scriptures or the creed of his nation. In A.D. 39 he went to Rome as an emissary to the emperor Caligula in the interest of his fellow-countrymen, whose religious feelings were offended by a decree ordering them to place the statue of the deified emperor in their synagogues. This embassy, which led to no result, is described by him in a work which is still extant, though in an incomplete form. Philo is the chief representative of the Graeco-Judaic philosophy. He wrote numerous Greek works in a style modelled on that of Plato. These are remarkable for moral earnestness, passionate enthusiasm, and vigour of thought. They include allegorical expositions of portions of the Scriptures, as well as works of ethical, historical, or political purport. Several of his works only survive in Armenian versions. His philosophy, especially his theology, is an endeavour to reconcile Platonism with Judaism. Eng. trans. by Yonge, 4 vols. (1854-55). 6. Byblius Philo or Herennius Byblius. A Roman grammarian, born at Byblus in Phœnicia. His life extended from about the time of Nero to that of Hadrian (A.D. 61-141). A considerable fragment of his translation of the alleged Phœnician writer Sanchuniathon (q.v.) is preserved in the first book of the Praeparatio Evangelica of Eusebius ; and he also wrote a work Περὶ Πόλεων, much used by the later grammarians, especially Hesychius and Stephanus of Byzantium. 7. Q. Publilius. A distinguished Roman general in the Samnite Wars, and the author of one of the great reforms in the Roman constitution. He was consul in B.C. 339, with Ti. Aemilius Mamercinus, and defeated the Latins, over whom he triumphed. In the same year he was appointed dictator by his colleague Aemilius Mamercinus, and, as such, proposed the celebrated Publiliae Leges, which abolished the power of the patrician assembly of the curiae, and elevated the plebeians to an equality with the patricians for all practical purposes. (See Publiliae Leges.) In 337 Philo was the first plebeian praetor, and in 332 he was censor with Sp. Postumius Albinus. In 327 he was consul a second time, and carried on war in the south of Italy. He was continued in the command for the following year with the title of proconsul, the first instance in Roman history in which a person was invested with proconsular power. He took Palaepolis in 326. In 320 he was consul a third time, with L. Papirius Cursor, and carried on the war with success against the Samnites (Livy, viii. 15-26; ix. 7-15). 8. L. Veturius, consul B.C. 220, with C. Lutatius Catulus; dictator 217 for the purpose of holding the Comitia; and censor 210 with P. Licinius Crassus Dives, and died while holding this office. 9. L. Veturius, praetor B.C. 209, with Cisalpine Gaul as his province. In 207 he served under Claudius Nero and Livius Salinator in the campaign against Hasdrubal. In 206 he was consul with Q. Caecilius Metellus, and in conjunction with his colleague carried on the war against Hannibal in Bruttium. He accompanied Scipio to Africa, and after the battle of Zama (B.C. 202) was sent to Rome to announce the news of Hannibal's defeat (Livy, xxviii. 9-11; xxx. 38-40).