Philaeni
- two Carthaginian brothers, who, out of love for their country, submitted to be buried alive, Sall. J. 79, 5; Val. Max. 5, 6, ext. 4; Mel. 1, 7, 6.—Philaenōn Arae, a frontier town of Cyrene named after them, the southernmost point of the Great Syrtis, Sall. J. 19, 3; called also Philaenorum Arae, Mel. 1, 7, 1; Plin. 5, 4, 4, § 28.
(Group Φίλαινοι), two brothers, citizens of Carthage, of whom the following story is told. A dispute between the Carthaginians and Cyrenaeans, about their boundaries, had led to a war, which lasted for a long time and with varying success. Seeing no probability of a speedy conclusion to it, they at length agreed that deputies should start at a fixed time front each of the cities,--or rather perhaps from Leptis Magna and Hesperides or Berenice, the most advanced colonies of Carthage and Cyrene, respectively, on the Great Syrtis,--and that the place of their meeting, wherever it might be, should thenceforth form the limit of the two territories. The Philaeni were appointed for this service, on the part of the Carthaginians, and advanced much further than the Cyrenaean party. Valerius Maximus accounts for this by informing us that they fraudulently set forth before the time agreed upon, a somewhat singular preface to his admiring declamation on their virtuous patriotism. Sallust merely tells us that they were accused of the trick in question by the Cyrenaean deputies, who were afraid to return home after having so mismanaged the affair, and who, after much altercation, consented to accept the spot which they had reached as the boundary-line, if the Philaeni would submit to be buried alive there in the sand. Should they decline the offer, they were willing, they said, on their side, if permitted to advance as far as they pleased, to purchase for Cyrene an extension of territory by a similar death. The Philaeni accordingly then and there devoted themselves for their country, in the way proposed. The Carthaginians paid high honours to their memory, and erected altars to them where they had died; and from these, even long after all traces of them had vanished, the place still continued to be called "The Altars of the Philaeni" (Sal. Jug. 75; V. Max. 5.6, ext. 4; Pomp. Mel. 1.7; Oros. 1.2; Solin. Polyhist. 27; Sil. Ital. Bell. Pun. 15.704; Plb. 3.39, 10.40; Strab. iii. p.171, xvii. p. 836 ; Plin. Nat. 5.4; Thrige, Res Cyrenensium, §§ 49-51). Without intending to throw discredit upon the whole of the above story, we may remark that our main authority for it is Sallust, and that he probably derived his information from African traditions during the time that he was proconsul of Numidia, and at least three hundred years after the event. We cannot, therefore, accept it unreservedly. The Greek name by which the heroic brothers have become known to us,--Φίλαινοι,, or lovers of praise,--seems clearly to have been framed to suit the tale. The exact date of the occurrence we have no means of fixing. Thrige supposes it to have taken place not earlier than 400, nor later than 330 B. C., at which lastmen-tioned period, or rather in 331, Cyrene appears to have become subject to Alexander the Great. (Arr. Anab. 7.9; Diod. 17.49; Curt. 4.7; Thrige, § 53.) [E.E]
PHILAENI and PHILAENORUM ARAR (Φιλαίνου or Φιλαίνων βωμοί, Scyl. p. 47; Plb. 3.39.2, 10.40.7; Strab. 3. p. 171, 17. p. 836; Ptol. 4.3.14, 4.4.3; Stadiasm. § 84; Pomp. Mela, 1.7.6; Plin. Nat. 5.4), the E. frontier of Carthage towards Cyrene, in the middle of the Greater Syrtis. About the middle of the fourth century B.C., according to a wild story which may be read in Sallust (B. J. 79; comp. Val. Max.), these monuments commemorated the patriotic sacrifice of the two Philaeni, Carthaginian envoys. These pillars, which no longer existed in the time of Strabo (p. 171), continued to give a name to the spot from which they had disappeared. The locality is assigned to Râs Linouf, a headland a little to the W. of Múktar, the modern frontier between Sórt and Barka. The Peutinger Table has a station of this name 25 M. P. from Anabricis; and, at the same distance from the latter, the Antonine Itinerary has a station BENADAD-ARI, probably a Punic name for Philenian Altars, as they were named by the Greeks of Cyrene. (Beechey, Expedition to the Coast of Africa, p, 218; Barth, Wanderungen, pp. 344, 366, 371.)
[E.B.J](Φίλαινοι). Two Carthaginian brothers, of whom the following story is told. A contest had arisen between the Carthaginians and Cyreneans respecting the point where their respective territories met, and this was the more difficult to be determined, since the country on the borders of the two States was a sandy desert, and without anything that might serve as a common landmark. It was agreed at last that two individuals should set out at the same time from Carthage and Cyrené respectively, and that the spot where they might meet should be regarded as the common boundary of the two communities. The parties accordingly set out, the two Philaeni having been selected by the Carthaginians for this purpose; but the two Cyreneans travelled more slowly than their Carthaginian antagonists, and only met the Philaeni after the latter had advanced a considerable distance into the disputed territory. The Cyreneans thereupon accused the Philaeni of unfairness, and of having started before the appointed time. The Philaeni, on their part, offered to do anything to show that they had acted fairly, and the two Cyreneans then gave them their choice, either to be buried alive on the spot where they were standing, or else to allow them (the Cyreneans) to advance as far as they pleased into the disputed territory, and there be buried alive on their part. The Philaeni accepted the former part of the offer, and were accordingly entombed. The Carthaginians erected two altars on the spot, which were thenceforth regarded as the limits of their territory in this direction (Sall. Iug. 19, 79; cf. Strabo, pp. 171, 836). These altars stood in the innermost bend of the Syrtis Maior, and not, as Sallust erroneously states, to the west of both the Syrtes. The story of the Philaeni, moreover, as given by the Roman historian, seems to wear a doubtful appearance, from the circumstance of Cyrené's being so much nearer the point in question than Carthage.