211 



AXTIOCHUS III. 



ANTIOCHUS IV. 



on the death of Ptolemacus, two years afterwards, Antiochus restored 

 Laodiee to her conjugal rights, and in return was poisoned by her, 

 B.C. 247, with the view of securing the succession to her eldest son, 

 Seleucus Callinicus. (Schlosser, Remarki on the Reign of Antiochus II., 

 Univenalhittorisclie Uebersicht, tee.) 



ANTI'OCHUS III., surnamed the Great, was the son of Seleucus 

 Calliuicus, and succeeded his brother Seleucus Ceraunus, B.C. 223. 

 Antiochus owed his safety and his throne to the honesty of his cousin- 

 german Acbjcus, who, though pressed by the army to assume the 

 crown, retained it subject to the legitimate heir. The first care of the 

 young king, or his advisers, was to appoint governors to preside over 

 the several districts of the Syrian empire, which during preceding 

 reigns had lost much of its original greatness. The kingdom of Per- 

 gamus had especially profited by the weakness of the Seleucidan 

 dynasty ; but under the able management of Achaeus, those provinces 

 which had been wrested from the Syrians were recovered, and Attalus 

 was again confined within the limits of his proper kingdom. 



Achaeus, who had formerly so signalised his fidelity, finding that his 

 distinguished successes had excited jealousy, and that plots were laid 

 against his life by those who were in the king's confidence, proclaimed 

 himself king of those provinces in Asia Minor which he had recovered, 

 and which had been entrusted to his charge. Ptolemseus Philopator 

 still held Ccelesyria and Palestine, which had been conquered by his 

 predecessor, Ptolemaeus Euergetes. By the advice of his council, the 

 young monarch turned his arms first against Egypt. He marched 

 into Crelcsyria, and, assisted by the defection of Theodotus, the 

 governor of that province, gained possession of the greater part of it, 

 including the capital, Damascus. The campaign was terminated by a 

 truce for four months, and negociations for a treaty of peace were set 

 on foot ; but the truce expired before anything was agreed to. War 

 was resumed B.c. 218. At first Antiochus carried all before him ; he 

 penetrated into Phoenicia, forcing the passes of Mount Libanus; 

 gained possession of Galilee, and subdued the inheritance of the tribes 

 beyond Jordan. But these advantages he lost iu the following year 

 in a great battle fought at Kaphia, near Gaza, in which he was defeated 

 with great slaughter, and obliged to retreat to Antioch with the wreck 

 of hia army. Ccclesyria and Palestine returned to their allegiance to 

 Ptolemaeus ; and the Syrian king, pressed at the same time by Achaous, 

 was compelled to sue for peace with Egypt, which he obtained on 

 condition of resigning his claim to the contested provinces. Being 

 now at leisure, Autiochus turned his whole attention to the destruc- 

 tion of Achujus, whom he overpowered and put to death : by this act 

 the provinces of Asia Minor were again annexed to the Syrian empire, 

 B.C. 213. 



Arsaces, the son of him who established the Parthian empire, had 

 overrun Media while Antiochus was engaged in the wars against 

 Ptolemsous and Achseus. He was unable to withstand the attack of 

 Autiochus in person, and was soon driven out of his new conquest. 

 The Syrian monarch in his turn invaded Parthia, and after several 

 campaigns a treaty was concluded, by which Arsnces was left in quiet 

 possession of Hyrcania, on condition of his assisting Antiochus to 

 recover the rest of the revolted provinces. After an unsuccessful 

 attempt to recover Bactria from Euthydetnus, with whom he at last 

 concluded a treaty, he crossed the mountains of Paropamisus (also 

 c illi'd Caucasus) into India, formed a treaty of alliance with the king 

 of that portion of the country, and, directing his march homeward 

 through the provinces of Arachosia, Drangiana, and Carmania, inter- 

 mediate between the Indus and Persia, re-established the supremacy of 

 Syria in those distant regions. He returned through Persia to Antioch, 

 having been employed for seven years in these eastern campaigns, and 

 earned by his successes the most specious claim to the title of Great. 



Ptolemaeus Epiphanes, a child of five years old, succeeded to the 

 throne of Egypt (B.C. 205) on the death of his father, Ptolemseus 

 Philopator. Antiochus and Philip, king of Macedonia, united in a 

 design to expel him, and share the Egyptian dominions between 

 themselves. Antiochus regained possession of the provinces of Pales- 

 tine and Ccclesyria in the course of two campaigns, and upon entering 

 Jerusalem (B.C. 198) was received by the Jewish people with great 

 joy. Antiochua now proposed a treaty of marriage between his 

 daughter and the young king of Egypt, to be consummated when both 

 came of age, by which Ccelesyria ond Palestine were to be given with 

 the princess as a dowry. Having thus purchased the neutrality of his 

 most powerful enemy, he proceeded with a powerful fleet round Asia 

 Minor. He crossed the Hellespont, and took possession of the 

 Thracian Chersonese (B.C. 196); and here he came in contact for the 

 first time with the power before which his own was compelled to 

 retire. The Romans had already reduced Macedonia to the condition 

 of a subject kingdom, when Antiochus crossed into Europe, and 

 wrested the Chersonese from the impaired power of Philip. Jealous 

 of this new interferer iu the affairs of Europe, the Romans sent 

 ambassadors to require restitution, not only of all that Antiochus had 

 taken from Philip, but of all that he had taken from Ptolemieus, 

 whose guardians, soon after hia accession to the throne, had placed 

 him under the wardship of the Romans, as a protection against the 

 ambition of hi Syrian neighbour. Autiochus replied to these requi- 

 sitions in terms as haughty as those in which they were made ; and it 

 wag evident that the quarrel would soon end in an appeal to arms. 

 (Polybius, xviii. 33.) 



Bioo. DIV. YOU I. 



In the following year, B.C. 195, Hannibal, driven from Carthage, 

 came to Ephesus to seek the protection of the king of Syria, aud his 

 representations induced Antiochus to match his strength against tho 

 redoubted power of Rome. In the winter of B.C. 192 Antiochus was 

 invited by the yEtolians to pass into Greece. He crossed over with an 

 army, posted himself in the town of Demetrias, and was chosen by 

 the -ifitolians as their commander-in-chief. Antiochus appeal's to have 

 managed affairs badly. He might have made the king of Macedon his 

 friend instead of his enemy ; and after his capture of Eubcca, instead 

 of pushing on his conquests, he spent his time at Chalcis, and in 

 negociating with the petty states around him. The Roman consul, 

 Acilius Glabrio, with Cato for his legate, now advanced against the 

 Syrian king, who made a stand at Thermopylae, but was utterly 

 routed and compelled to retire to Asia, B.C. 191. The next year 

 L. Cornelius Scipio was elected consul, and appointed to conduct 

 the Syrian war ; and his brother, the celebrated Africauus, served 

 under him in the quality of lieutenant. Antiochus withdrew his 

 forces from Lysimachia, in Thrace, and from the strong cities on the 

 Hellespont, aud thus gave the Romans free access into Asia. Yefc 

 they had no sooner crossed the Hellespont, than, struck with terror, 

 he sent ambassadors to endeavour to negociate a peace. The terms 

 he offered, though tolerably humiliating, were not such as satisfied 

 the ambition of the Roman?, whose conditions Antiochus refused to 

 accept, and, collecting his whole force, he met tho consul Scipio 

 (B.C. 190) in a pitched battle near Magnesia of Sipylus, in which he 

 was defeated with immense slaughter. This was decisive ; he retired 

 hastily to Syria, and again sent to negociate for peace, which he 

 obtained on terms not materially harder than those before offered. 

 He was to resign the provinces west of Mount Taurus ; to pay 18,000 

 Euboic talents for the expenses of the war ; to deliver up to tho 

 Romans his elephants and ships of war : and to place in their hands 

 Hannibal and other foreigners who had taken refuge at his court. 

 Hannibal, with another, preserved his safety by timely flight ; the 

 rest wi're delivered up, together with hostages for the observance of 

 the treaty, of whom Antiochus Epiphanes, the king's younger son, 

 was one. 



In collecting means to pay tho heavy burden imposed upon him, 

 Antiochus was led to plunder a wealthy temple in the province of 

 Klymais. Indignant at the sacrilege, the people of the place rose in 

 arms, and massacred him and his attendants (B.C. 187), in the 37th 

 year of his reigu and 52ud of his age. Antiochus did more to restore 

 the greatness of the Syrian kingdom under the first Seleucus than any 

 other of his dynasty ; but he was unfortunate in meeting tho first 

 shock of that iron power before which all the great monarchies of the 

 known world were destined to fall. 



(Polybius, lib. 5, &c. ; Appian, Syriaca; Liv., lib. 36, 37; Raleigh, 

 Hist, of World ; Anc. Univ. Hist., vol. viii.) 



ANTI'OCHUS IV., surnamed Epiphaucs, or Illustrious, the second 

 son of Antiochus the Great, succeeded his elder brother, Seleucus 

 Philopator (B.C. 175 or 176). Antiochus was, at tho time of his 

 brother's death, on his way from Rome, where he had been detained 



Coin of Antiochus Epiphanes. British Museum. 



The first events of his reign which require notice, are his hostilities 

 with Egypt, which then reclaimed the provinces of Palestine and 

 Ccelesyria, wrested from her by Antiochus the Great. In the first 

 campaign (B.C. 171), he routed the Egyptians between Mount Casius 

 and Pelusium, and fortified the frontiers of Palestine against further 

 aggression. In the next year he overran all Egypt, except the strong 

 city of Alexandria, and gained possession of the person of Ptolemseus 

 Philometor, the young king. In the same year he sacked Jerusalem, 

 and profaned and plundered the temple, as related in Maccabees i. c. 1, 

 and ii. c. 5 ; after which he appointed Philip the Phrygian governor 

 of Judaea. After the capture of the reigning prince, the Alexandrians 

 having raised Ptolemaeus Euergetes, commonly called Physcon, his 

 brother, to the throne, Antiochus, under pretence of restoring the 

 kingdom to Ptolemaeus Philometor, renewed the war (B.C. 169), 

 defeated the Egyptians, and laid siego to Alexandria. Being unable 

 to reduce that city; he left Philometor as the nominal king of the 

 country, but the rival brothers, seeing through his ambitious designs, 

 agreed to hold the kingdom in common, and Egypt was restored for a 

 time to its former tranquillity. Hereupon Antiochus undertook a 

 fourth expedition (B.C. 168), entered and subdued Egypt, and was on 

 the point of laying siege to Alexandria, wheu he was met by anabas- 

 is 



