Seleukid2

Born around 323, he was his father’s second in command from his final victory at Ipsos in 301 onwards. He ruled those portions of the Seleukid domains east of the Euphrates on behalf of his father from 292. There he rebuilt three cities, Antiocheia-in-Margiane (Merv), Antioch-in-Scythia (Khujand), and Antiochia-Tarmita (perhaps Ai-Khanoum) and fought against incursions from the Scythians, nomads of the Central Asian steppe. He was elected Crowned Magistrate of Miletos in 282. His rule in the east lasted until 281 when his father was assassinated by the Hellaspont and he succeeded as King, not without some trouble. Anatolia had lapsed into independence after his father’s death and it took him over two years to get there; he spent a year dealing with revolts in Syria and only reached Anatolia in 279. At this point that the Gauls (Celts) burst out of the Balkans, invaded Macedonia, and shortly after surged into Anatolia as well; only at length were they defeated and corralled into Central Anatolia, whence they would continue to cause trouble. Simultaneously, Antiochos faced an invasion of Syria by Ptolemaios II of Egypt (First Syrian War), and a conflict with Bithynia and a league of independent cities in Northern Anatolia. Having dealt with the Gauls and brought the Egyptians to a standstill, he made peace in 271. All this had strained the resources of his immensely wealthy kingdom to their limits and he never went to war again. The Southern Iranian plateau, a backwater in the western-focussed Seleukid kingdom, was probably allowed to lapse into semi-independence in his reign, as was Pergamon in Western Anatolia. He died in 261.

He married (first) Stratonikē, who had been married to his own father, but with whom he became deeply infatuated to the point of death; rather than lose Antiochus, his father divorced her and remarried her to Antiochos. He may also have married Nysa, possibly his half-sister. He had issue:

• 1) Seleukos (son of Stratonikē). He was made co-ruler in 280 but then executed in 267, for reasons which are now unclear.

• 2) Antiochos II Theos, Third Seleukid King (son of Stratonikē) (see below).

• 1) Stratonikē (daughter of Stratonikē?). She married her cousin Dēmētrios II Aitōlikos ("the Aetolian"), King of Makedon (239 – 229), son of King Antigonos Gonatas. Later, she tried to marry her nephew, Seleukos II, Fourth Seleukid King. When he refused, she instigated a revolt in Antioch and was executed. She had issue:

  • a) Apama. She married Prousias I Chōlos ("the Lame"), King of Bithynia (228 -182) (see BITHYNIA).

• 2) Apama (daughter of Stratonikē?). She married Magas, King of Cyrenaica (276 - 250) who died in 250 and had issue:

  • a) Berenikē II, who succeeded her father as ruler of Cyrenaica and married (first) Dēmētrios Kalos ("the Beautiful"), son of Dēmētrios I Poliorketēs, King of Makedon; he proved more interested in her mother and was killed in 249. She then married (second) Ptolemaios III Euergetēs, Pharaoh & King of Egypt (see PTOLEMY)

• 3?) Laodikē I (daughter of Nysa), she married her half-brother Antiochos II Theos, Third Seleukid King (see below). Alternatively she may have been a daughter of the noble Achaios, but this seems to confuse her with Laodikē II, wife of Seleukos II.

261 – 246 Antiochos II Theos ("the God"), Third Seleukid King.

Born in 286, he became his father's Viceroy in the East in 267 and then succeeded his father as King in 261. He successfully defeated an invasion by the Egyptians in the Second Syrian War (260-253). He deposed and killed the Tyrant of Miletus and hence was honoured by them as a god. Later he also conducted operations in Thrace. Towards the end of his reign the Parthians (in what is now Turkmenistan and northeastern Iran) threw off Seleukid control; they would eventually absorb most of the Seleukid kingdom. Bactria was threatened, and its Governor, Diodotos used the emergency to establish himself as an effectively independent ruler - his son, of the same name, would eventually proclaim himself an independent king. Antiochos was accused of drunkeness and of leaving the business of government to the brothers Aristos & Themisōn of Cyprus.