Julius Marinus


Julius Marinus was the father of Roman Emperor Philip the Arab and Philip's brother Gaius Julius Priscus. He was deified by his son. Scholar Pat Southern writes that this deification was unusual because Marinus was not an emperor, but it gave Philip's reign more legitimacy.
He was a Roman citizen from what is today Shahba, about southeast of Damascus; in the Trachonitis district and then in the Roman province of Arabia
In life Marinus was possibly of some importance. Many historians agree Philip gained Roman citizenship through Marinus.