Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Acts 16:12

Paul and the Missionary Company at Philippi, 12-40.

Acts 16:12. And from thence to Philippi. This city was built on the site of the ancient village Krenides (the fountains), subsequently known as Datos, by Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, who named it after himself. Philippi became known in history as the scene of the decisive battle in which Brutus and Cassius were defeated by Augustus and Antony. The city has long disappeared, and its site is occupied by a small village named Filiba. Travellers speak of extensive ruins still marking the site of the old city.

Which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia. The Greek should here be rendered, ‘Which is a city of Macedonia, the first of the district.' The words of the original here describe the geographical situation of Philippi, in relation to Paul's journey, as the first city of Macedonia at which he arrived, rather than as in the English Version the first politically ‘chief city.' This latter signification cannot possibly be the true one, since Thessalonica was the provincial capital of Macedonia; and even Amphipolis would certainly have ranked before Philippi, if the old divisions of Macedonia into four parts still existed.

And a colony. A Roman colony was a miniature resemblance of the Imperial City, a portion of Rome itself transplanted to the provinces. The inhabitants of this colony, being colonists and the descendants of colonists, were Roman citizens, and were still enrolled in one of the tribes, and possessed the privilege of voting at Rome. In these cities the Roman law was scrupulously observed, and the Latin language was used on their coins and inscriptions; they were governed by their own senate and magistrates, and not by the governor of the province, in which the colony happened to be situated. In certain of these colonies, the land on which the city stood was free from taxation. Such a city being a colony had received the additional privilege of the ‘Jus Italicum,' which assimilated the land to Italy. ‘Ager Italicus immunis est, ager provincialis vectigalis est,' was a maxim of Roman law. Philippi and Alexandria Troas both possessed the high privilege of the ‘Jus Italicum.'

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Acts 16:12

Old Testament

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