When Philip the Arab came to the Roman throne in the third century AD, "the Empire", in the words of the sophist Nicarogas, "was tossing as in a great storm or earthquake, and floundering like a ship being carried off to the ends of the Earth". The rise of Philip, an Arab of a peripheral tribe in Arabia, to the throne of the Ceasars in the millennium of the birth of the Roman Empire, was a momentous event in Islamic history. A man of intelligence and immense determination, he brought the "ship" under control and "secured her at anchor". This book offers an account of the Emperor Philip's life and achievements. The author presents a picture of a humane and just man, standing fast against overwhelming odds - a crumbling empire, a ruined economy, usurptions, betrayal, prejudice and denigration - and rising above them.