Philo of Byblos

Philo of Byblos (Greek: Φίλων Βύβλιος, Phílōn Býblios; Latin: Philo Byblius; c. 64 – 141 CE), also known as Herennius Philon, was an antiquarian writer of grammatical, lexical and historical works in Greek. He is chiefly known for his Phoenician history assembled from the writings of Sanchuniathon.

Philo was born in the first century in Byblos in Lebanon. "He lived into the reign of Hadrian, of which he wrote a history, now lost." His name "Herennius" suggests that he was a client of the consul suffectus Herennius Severus, through whom Philo could have achieved the status of a Roman citizen.

Philo wrote a dictionary of synonyms, a collection of scientific writers and their works organized by category, a catalogue of cities with their famous citizens, and a Vita of the Emperor Hadrian. Some of his work is known to us by titles only; others have survived in fragmentary quotes in Christian authors. Among his works were:

"But he is chiefly known for his translation of the Phoenician history of Sanchuniathon, who was said to have lived before the Trojan war. Of this work considerable fragments have been preserved, chiefly by Eusebius in the Praeparatio evangelica (i.9; iv.16). They present a euhemeristic rechauffe of Phoenician theology and mythology, which is represented as translated from the original Phoenician."Sanchuniathon was thought by some scholars to be an imaginary personage, whose name is formed from that of the Phoenician god Sanchon. However Edinburgh Professor P. B. R. Forbes wrote that 14th century BC documents from Ras Shamra (Ugarit), published since 1929, have "proved conclusively that Sanchuniathon is doubtless a verity in view of the many correspondences between him and these fresh texts".

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