Philopappos

Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappos or Philopappus (; 65 – 116), was a Prince of the Kingdom of Commagene who lived in the Roman Empire during the 1st century and 2nd century. He was one of the most prominent Greeks in the Empire. Ancestry, family and early life Philopappos was a man of aristocratic and well-connected origins. He was the first-born son of the Greek prince of Commagene, Gaius Julius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes and an Egyptian Greek woman called Claudia Capitolina. His younger sister and only sibling was Julia Balbilla, the poet and personal friend to Emperor Hadrian and the Empress Vibia Sabina. Philopappos’ parents were distantly related. The paternal grandmother of Claudia Capitolina was the Princess Aka II of Commagene, who was a great granddaughter of King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, while his father was the first-born son of King Antiochus IV of Commagene and Queen Julia Iotapa of Commagene. Antiochus IV and Iotapa were direct descendants of Antiochus I Theos. Antiochus IV and Iotapa were husband, wife and full blooded-siblings. He was of Armenian, Greek and Median descent. Through his paternal grandparents, he could trace lineage to the Syrian Kingdom, the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Kingdom. His maternal grandparents were Tiberius Claudius Balbilus and his unnamed wife. Balbilus was an astrologer and a learned scholar, who was later Prefect of Egypt. Balbilus and his father, an Egyptian Greek grammarian and astrologer called Thrasyllus of Mendes or Tiberius Claudius Thrasyllus, were friends to some of the first Roman Emperors, including Tiberius, Claudius, and Vespasian.