Antiŏchus
(
Ἀντίοχος).
I.vThe name of several kings of Syria.
1.
Soter (reigned B.C. 280-261), the son of Selencus
I., the founder of the Syrian kingdom of the Seleucidae. He married his stepmother
Stratonicé, with whom he had fallen violently in love, and whom his father
surrendered to him. He fell in battle against the Gauls in 261.
2.
Theos (B.C. 261-246), son and successor of the preceding. The
Milesians gave him his surname of
Θεός because he
delivered them from their tyrant, Timarchus. He carried on war with Ptolemy Philadelphus,
king of Egypt, which was brought to a close by his putting away his wife Laodicé,
and marrying Berenicé, the daughter of Ptolemy. After the death of Ptolemy he
recalled Laodicé, but, in revenge for the insult she had received, she caused
Antiochus and Berenicé to be murdered. He was succeeded by his son Seleucus
Callinicus. His younger son, Antiochus Hierax, also assumed the crown, and carried on war
some years with his brother. (See
Berenicé.)
3.
The Great (B.C. 223-187), son and successor of Seleucus
Callinicus. He carried on war against Ptolemy Philopator, king of Egypt, in order to obtain
Coele-Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, but was obliged to cede these provinces to Ptolemy,
in consequence of his defeat at the battle of Raphia, near Gaza, in 217. He was afterwards
engaged for seven years (212- 205) in an attempt to regain the eastern provinces of Asia,
which had revolted during the reign of Antiochus II.; but, though he met with great success,
he found it hopeless to effect the subjugation of the Parthian and Bactrian kingdoms, and
accordingly concluded a peace with them. In 198 he conquered Palestine and Coele-Syria,
which he afterwards gave as a dowry with his daughter Cleopatra upon her marriage with
Ptolemy Epiphanes. He afterwards became involved in hostilities with the Romans, and was
urged by Hannibal,
![](http://images.perseus.tufts.edu/images/thumbs/1999.04.1/1999.04.0062.fig00085) |
Coin of Antiochus the Great.
|
who arrived at his court, to invade Italy without loss of time; but
Antiochus did not follow his advice. In 192 he crossed over into Greece; and in 191 he was
defeated by the Romans at Thermopylae, and compelled to return to Asia. In 190 he was again
defeated by the Romans under L. Scipio, at Mount Sipylus, near Magnesia, and compelled to
sue for peace, which was granted in 188, on condition of his ceding all his dominions east
of Mount Taurus, and paying 15,000 Euboic talents. In order to raise the money to pay the
Romans, he attacked a wealthy temple in Elymais, but was killed by the people of the place
(187 B.C.). He was succeeded by his son Seleucus Philopator.
4.
Epiphănes (B.C. 175-164), son of
Antiochus III., succeeded his brother Seleucus Philopator in 175. He carried on war against
Egypt (171-168) with great success; and he was preparing to lay siege to Alexandria in 168,
when the Romans compelled him to retire. He endeavoured to root out the Jewish religion and
to introduce the worship of the Greek divinities; but this attempt led to a rising of the
Jewish people under Mattathias and his heroic sons, the Maccabees, which Antiochus was
unable to put down. He attempted to plunder a temple in Elymais in 164, but was repulsed,
and died shortly afterwards in a state of raving madness, which the Jews and the Greeks
equally attributed to his sacrilegious crimes. His subjects gave him the name of
Epimanes (“the madman”), in parody of
Epiphanes.
5.
Eupator (B.C. 164-162), son and successor of Epiphanes, was nine
years old at his father's death. He was dethroned and put to death by Demetrius Soter, the
son of Seleucus Philopator.
6.
Theos, son of Alexander Balas. He was brought forward as a
claimant to the crown in 144, against Demetrius Nicator, by Tryphon, but he was murdered by
the latter, who ascended the throne himself in 142.
7.
Sidētes (B.C. 137-128), so called from Sidé
in Pamphylia, where he was brought up, younger son of Demetrius Soter, succeeded Tryphon. He
was defeated and slain in battle by the Parthians in 128.
8.
Grypus, or Hook-nosed (B.C. 125-96), second son of Demetrius
Nicator and Cleopatra. He carried on war for some years with his halfbrother, Antiochus
Cyzicenus. At length, in 112, the two brothers agreed to share the kingdom between
them,—Antiochus Cyzicenus having Coele-Syria and Phœnicia, and Antiochus
Grypus the remainder of the provinces. Grypus was assassinated in 96.
9.
Cyzicēnus, from Cyzicus, where he was brought up,
brother of Grypus, reigned over Coele-Syria and Phœnicia from 112 to 96, but fell
in battle in 95 against Seleucus Epiphanes, son of Grypus.
10.
Eusĕbes, son of Cyzicenus, defeated Seleucus
Epiphanes, and maintained the throne against the brothers of Seleucus. He succeeded his
father in 95.
11.
Epiphănes, son of Grypus and
brother of Seleucus Epiphanes. He carried on war against Eusebes, but was defeated by the
latter, and drowned in the river Orontes.
12.
Dionȳsus, brother of the preceding,
held the crown for a short time, but fell in battle against Aretas, king of the Arabians.
The Syrians, worn out with the civil broils of the Seleucidae, offered the kingdom to
Tigranes, king of Armenia, who united Syria to his own dominions in 83, and held it
till his defeat by the Romans in 69.
13.
Asiatĭcus, son of Eusebes, became king of Syria on
the defeat of Tigranes by Lucullus in 69; but he was deprived of it in 65 by Pompey, who
reduced Syria to a Roman province. In this year the Seleucidae ceased to reign.
II. Kings of Commagené.
1.
A king who made an alliance with the Romans, about B.C. 64. He assisted Pompey with troops
in 49, and was attacked by Antony in 38. He was succeeded by Mithridates I. about 31.
2.
Succeeded Mithridates I., and was put to death at Rome by Augustus in 29.
3.
Succeeded Mithridates II., and died in A.D. 17. Upon his death Commagené became
a Roman province, and remained so till A.D. 38.
4.
Surnamed
Epiphanes, received his paternal
dominion from Caligula in A.D. 38. He assisted the Romans in their wars against the
Parthians under Nero, and against the Jews under Vespasian. In 72 he was accused of
conspiring with the Parthians against the Romans, was deprived of his kingdom, and retired
to Rome, where he passed the remainder of his life.
III. Literary.
Antiochus of Ascalon
The founder of the Fifth Academy, was a friend of Lucullus and the teacher of Cicero
during his studies at Athens (B.C. 79). See
Hoyer, De Antiocho Ascal.
(1883).