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SELEUKID CIVIL WAR
145 – 140 Dēmētrios II Theos Nikatōr Philadelphos ("The Victorious Brother-loving God"), Twelfth Seleukid King.
Born in 160, he drove out Alexandros I in 145, aged fifteen, with extensive Egyptian help; giving them Coele-Syria in return. He failed to gain full control over the Seleukid domains; Antioch, the defacto capital was controlled by the former slave Diodotos, in the name of an infant son of Alexandros I. In 140, Dēmētrios, unable to dislodge them decided to shore up his support by attacking the Parthians, who had occupied most of the Seleukids’ domains in the east. This was not successful, he was captured, for which he received the nickname Sēripidēs (I think this means "Bound with Silk" ?). The Parthians were merciful and he lived a life of ease; adopting Parthian dress and customs. In 129 his brother went to war with the Parthians, was defeated and killed. The Parthians then allowed Dēmētrios to return to the throne in exchange for giving them Mesopotamia. To make up for the loss of Mesopotamia, he went to war with the Egyptians, but was forced to withdraw after his army rebelled. The Egyptians began supporting a pretender against him and the Seleukid state dissolved into a civil war, which never really ended.
He married (first), Kleopatra Thea Euetēria (see PTOLEMY 3), a scheming women who would later marry his brother and kill both him and his son; she was forced to drink poison by her son Antiochus VIII in 121. He married (second) Rhodogynē, daughter of Mithradatēs I, Fifth Parthian King of Kings (see PARTHIA). He married (third) or took as a concubine Apama. He was killed in 125 by Kleopatra Thea, who was angered by the favour he had shown to his new Parthian wife. He had issue:
1) Seleukos V Nikatōr, Seventeenth Seleukid King (son of Kleopatra) (see below)
2) Antiochos VIII Grypos Epiphanēs Philomētōr Kallinikos, Eighteenth Seleukid King (son of Kleopatra) (see below)
3) Seleukos, who was killed by his own mother in 126 (son of Apama)
1) Laodikē (daughter of Kleopatra), who married Phraatēs II, Sixth Parthian King of Kings in 129 (see PARTHIA).
145 - 142 Antiochos VI Theos Epiphanēs Dionysos ("The Manifest Divine Dionysos"), Thirteenth Seleukid King.
Son of Alexander I Balas, Eleventh Seleukid King, he was still an infant, being fostered by an Arab chief when his father was driven from the throne in 145 and killed. At this point Antiochos was recalled and placed on the throne by a royal slave, Diodotos, as a puppet monarch. Diodotus soon tired of him and assumed the Kingship himself in 142. Antiochos was killed.
142 – 138 Diodotos Tryphōn Autokratōr ("The Sumptuous Self-Ruler"), Fourteenth Seleukid King.
A Seleukid palace slave, originally from Apamea in Syria, he was Alexandros I's Chief Minister from 152 - 145, a counter-balance to the over Chief Minister, Hierax, who was an agent of the Egyptian King. In 145, he abandoned Alexandros, roused the people of Antioch against him and offered the throne to the King of Egypt, who declined. Shortly thereafter, he placed the child Antiochos VI on the throne as a puppet monarch in opposition to Dēmētrios II. In 142 he tired of working behind the scenes, murdered the child-king and assumed the Kingship himself, assuming the name "Tryphōn." He adopted a new calendar to replace the Seleukid one, appealed to a Macedonian rather than Seleukid identity and led an unsuccesful expedition to conquer Judaea in which his army was destroyed by a tsunami. His movement largely depended on popular dissatisfaction with Dēmētrios II; once that king had been captured by the Parthians, his support dissapated and in 138 he was killed by a Seleukid prince, Antiochos VII, at Apamea.
138 – 129 Antiochos VII Sidētēs Sōtēr Euergetēs Kallinikos ("The Beneficient Beautiful-Victor Saviour of Sidē"), Fifteenth Seleukid King.
Born between 165 and 160, his father Dēmētrios I became embroiled in a civil war and sent him to be raised in Sidē in southwestern Anatolia. He had been on the Island of Rhodes for many years, when, in 138, he learnt that his older brother Dēmētrios II had been deposed. Furious, he raised an army, marched into Syria and deposed the usurper. As his brother was captive in Parthia, he married his wife, Kleopatra Thea Eueteria (see PTOLEMY 3). He besieged and captured Jerusalem in 132; the respect he showed then for Jewish custom led them to regard him highly and earned him the nickname Eusebēs ("Pious"). He also made terms with the Parthians, but nevertheless went to war with them in 129, was defeated, lost Mesopotamia to them and committed suicide. He had issue:
1) Antiochos (son of Kleopatra). He died young.
2?) Possibly a Seleukos who was captured by the Parthians in 129 and kept as a hostage.
3) Antiochos IX Kyzikēnos Eusebēs Philopatōr, Nineteenth Seleukid King (son of Kleopatra) (see below)
1) Laodikē (daughter of Kleopatra). She died young.
2) Laodikē (daughter of Kleopatra). She died young.
129 – 126 Dēmētrios II Theos Nikatōr Philadelphos ("The Victorious Brother-loving God"), Twelfth Seleukid King (Restored)
128 – 122 Alexandros II Zabinas, Sixteenth Seleukid King.
Born around 150 as Protarchos, the son of an Egyptian merchant, he claimed the Seleukid throne in 128 with the support of Ptolemaios VIII, King of Egypt. He never gained sole rule over the state, governing throughout in opposition to Dēmētrios II and his sons. He was finally defeated in 122 by Antiochos VIII at Poseidion and committed suicide.
125 Seleukos V Nikatōr ("The Victor"), Seventeenth Seleukid King.
He had been taken by the Parthians in 129, in exchange for allowing Dēmētrios II to return to the throne. They allowed him to return to assume the throne after his mother, Kleopatra Thea, murdered his father in 126, but she feared that he would attempt to avenge his father and so she had him assassinated almost immediately.
125 – 121 Kleopatra Thea Euetēria ("The Beneficent Goddess"), Seleukid Queen.
Daughter of Ptolemaios VI Philomētor (see PTOLEMY 3). She married (first) Dēmētrios II, Twelfth Seleukid King and married (second) Antiochos VII, Fifteenth Seleukid King, after Dēmētrios II was captured by the Parthians. When he returned, with a new, Parthian wife, Kleopatra remained in Ptolemais, ruling a separate sub-kingdom. In 126 she had him killed and took the throne for herself, having her son, Seleukos V murdered after he proved a poor puppet. After a year or so of sole rule she took her son Antiochos VIII as co-ruler. He eventually forced her to drink poison, which she had intended for him, in 121.
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