The Persian Empire
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Confident of his power, Antiochus now decided to incorporate Thrace and Greece into his empire. Despite repeated diplomatic efforts from Rome, which warned Antiochus against crossing into Europe, the Seleucid monarch continued with his westward push into mainland Greece. In 190 BCE, the Romans finally crossed into Asia. Antiochus, whose fleet had already been destroyed by the combined naval forces of Rome, Rhodes, and Pergamum, sued for peace, but the Romans now demanded that he should withdraw his forces from all his possessions north and west of the Taurus Mountains in present-day southern Turkey. Antiochus rejected the Roman demand and opted for military confrontation. At the subsequent Battle of Magnesia in late 190 BCE, Antiochus suffered a humiliating defeat. In the Treaty of Apamea he renounced all claim to territories north and west of the Taurus mountain range in southern Asia Minor. He also agreed to send to Rome a group of hostages, including his son, the future Antiochus IV; to pay a heavy war indemnity; and to surrender his fleet and elephants.
With this defeat at the hands of the Romans, the Seleucid kingdom was reduced to Syria, Mesopotamia, and parts of Iran. The defeat at Magnesia undermined the credibility of the Seleucids in the east. By the time the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r. 175–164 BCE) seized the throne in Syria, the power of the Seleucid monarchy was waning rapidly in Iran, though the Seleucid state maintained its rule over Mesopotamia and parts of western and southern Iran. Early in the reign of Antiochus IV, conflict again erupted between the Seleucids and the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, specifically over the control of southern Syria, Palestine, and Phoenicia. In 169 and again in 168 BCE, Antiochus IV invaded and occupied Egypt, but under an ultimatum from Rome he was forced to withdraw, although he managed to retain his control over southern Syria. He next turned his attentions to a planned military campaign against the Arsacids (Parthians) of northeastern Iran, who were pushing their territorial possessions westward, threatening Seleucid-held territories in north-central and western Iran. Although Antiochus IV began by marching successfully against Armenia and imposing his suzerainty over the Armenian king, he was forced to withdraw his army from Persis in southern Iran when the population there revolted against him. He returned west to the important urban center of Ecbatana (modern-day Hamedan in western Iran), where he injured himself in a fall from his chariot. Antiochus IV died from an illness in central Iran in 164 BCE, and his planned invasion of Parthia never materialized.
By 145 BCE, when Demetrius II Nicator (r. 145–141 BCE) ascended the Seleucid throne, the Parthia-based Arsacids, under the leadership of Mithridates I (r. 171–139/138 BCE), were, through a series of military victories, expanding their domains from northeastern Iran to the lands east, west, and southwest of their kingdom. These Arsacid victories forced the Seleucid monarch Demetrius II to respond by invading Iran. The campaign, however, proved to be disastrous for him, and he was defeated and captured by the Arsacids. During his absence from Syria, Demetrius’s wife and queen, Cleopatra Thea, ascended the throne as regent. Not long afterward, a usurper named Tryphon emerged as a pretender to the Seleucid throne. To save the Seleucid state, the younger brother of Demetrius II, Antiochus, returned to Syria in 139 BCE. He ascended the throne as Antiochus VII and married his brother’s wife, Cleopatra Thea. In 138 BCE Antiochus defeated the would-be usurper Tryphon before moving against Jerusalem, which he captured in 135/134 BCE.
With Palestine under his rule, Antiochus VII Sidetes shifted his focus to the east with the goal of restoring Seleucid rule in Iran. In 130 BCE, he attacked and defeated Parthian armies in three military campaigns. With winter approaching, Antiochus scattered his army and stationed its units in various towns and cities of western Iran. The behavior of these units, however, caused the populace in several urban centers to revolt against Seleucid rule. The Parthian ruler Phraates II used this golden opportunity to field an army. Wishing to feel out his enemy first, Phraates sent envoys to negotiate a possible peace agreement. Antiochus VII responded that he would be willing to cease hostilities and conclude a peace treaty only if certain conditions were met. He demanded that Phraates release his brother, Demetrius, from captivity; withdraw forces from the provinces the Parthians had seized; and pay tribute to the Seleucid king as his overlord. Phraates II rejected all but one demand. He released Demetrius from captivity and allowed him to return to Syria. Phraates probably hoped that the return of Demetrius would result in a civil war between the two brothers. Phraates also placed a large army in the field. Against the advice of his officials, who pleaded with him to avoid a hasty foray, Antiochus marched against the much larger Parthian force. When the two armies joined in battle, Phraates II defeated Antiochus, who was killed on the battlefield. The victory of Phraates II over Antiochus VII put an end to Seleucid rule in Iran. The remaining territory of the Seleucid state, which was confined to Syria and the southern coastal region of Asia Minor in present-day Turkey, was conquered by the Romans. With the disappearance of the Seleucid state, the Roman Republic and the Parthian (Arsacid) Empire became neighbors.
Alexander Balas
The king of Syria and parts of the Seleucid Empire. Alexander Balas is best known as the usurper who seized the Seleucid throne in 150 BCE after overthrowing and killing Demetrius I Soter. Alexander Balas ruled the Seleucid state for five years until he was overthrown by Demetrius, the oldest son of Demetrius I, in 145 BCE.
Alexander Balas hailed from Smyrna on the Mediterranean coast of Asia Minor. His rise to power coincided with the outbreak of conflict between the Seleucid monarch Demetrius I and the three monarchs Ptolemy Philometor of Egypt, Ariarathes V of Cappadocia, and Attalus II of Pergamon (Justin: XXXV.1). The three kings who had been attacked by Demetrius set up Balas, a young man of humble extraction, “to lay claim to the kingdom of Syria” (Justin: XXXV.1). To legitimate the unknown upstart, they gave Balas “the name of Alexander, pretending that he was the son of Antiochus IV” (Justin: XXXV.1). With support from these three monarchs and using the unpopularity of Demetrius, which was nearly universal, Alexander Balas raised an army and marched against Demetrius I Soter, who was defeated and killed. Alexander Balas cemented his alliance with Ptolemy Philometor of Egypt by marrying his daughter. The alliance between Alexander and Ptolemy Philometor, however, broke down quickly. Ptolemy, who dreamt of seizing Coele Syria, the region between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges, negotiated a secret agreement with Demetrius, the son of Demetrius I Soter. The two agreed that Alexander Balas had to be removed. Once they had overthrown the hated usurper, Ptolemy would receive Coele Syria, and Demetrius would receive “his ancestral lands” (Diodorus Siculus: XXXII.27.9c–9d). In 145 BCE, Demetrius defeated Alexander Balas, who “fled with five hundred men to Abae in Arabia, to take refuge with Diocles, the local sheikh, in whose care he had earlier placed his infant son Antiochus” (Diodorus Siculus: XXXII.27.9d–10.1). Heliades and Cassius, two officers who were with Alexander, “entered into secret negotiations” with Demetrius II and “voluntarily offered to assassinate Alexander” (Diodorus Siculus: XXXII.27.10.1–3). When Demetrius II agreed to the assassination plan, the two officers killed Alexander. Meanwhile, the conflict between Demetrius II, the legitimate heir to the Seleucid throne, and Alexander Balas provided the Arsacid monarch Mithridates I (r. 171–139/138 BCE) with the opportunity to seize Media sometime in 148 or 147 BCE. From Media, the Parthian forces moved southwest and captured Babylonia in 141 BCE. These conquests forced Demetrius II to raise an army and march against Mithridates I, whose armies defeated and captured the ill-fated Seleucid monarch.
Coin of the pretender, Alexander Balas, who seized the Seleucid throne by murdering the Seleucid monarch Demetrius I Soter in 150 BCE. He tried to consolidate his rule over the remains of the disintegrating Seleucid Empire but was defeated and killed by Demetrius II Nicator, the son of Demetrius I Soter, in 145 BCE. (www.BibleLandPictures.com/Alamy Stock Photo)
See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Mithridates I; Phraates I; K&Q, Seleucid: Demetrius I Soter; Demetrius II Nicator; Peoples: Arsa
cid Parthian Empire; Arsacids; Seleucids
Further Reading
Appian. Appian’s Roman History. Translated by Horace White. London and New York: William Heinemann, 1912.
Bickerman, E. “The Seleucid Period.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 3–20. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Diodorus Siculus. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London: William Heinemann, 1933.
Justin. The History of the World. Translated by G. Turnbull. London, 1742.
Sherwin-White, Susan M., and Amélie Kuhrt. From Samarkand to Sardis: A New Approach to the Seleucid Empire. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
Antiochus I Soter
The second king of the Seleucid dynasty who ruled Iran, Mesopotamia, and parts of Asia Minor from 281 to 261 BCE. Antiochus I succeeded his father, Seleucus I, the founder of the Seleucid dynasty, in 281 BCE. Antiochus’s mother was Apame (Apama), a daughter of the Sogdian dignitary Spitaman (Spitamanes). In 294, Antiochus’s father appointed him as ruler of the empire’s eastern provinces and bestowed upon him the title of co-regent. In 280 BCE, shortly after he had ascended the throne, nomadic groups raided the southern regions of Central Asia, but Antiochus managed to expel them. In 281 BCE, after his father was assassinated, Antiochus ascended the Seleucid throne. A short time later, revolts broke out in Syria and parts of Asia Minor. Cappadocia proclaimed its independence and defeated a Seleucid army under the command of the general Amyntas. The Seleucid state was also forced into its first war against the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt. Another challenge was posed by Antigonus II Gonatas, the king of Macedonia and Greece. In 279, when Gauls invaded Greece, Antigonus and Antiochus signed a noninterference pact promising that they would cease attacks against each other’s possessions. In 278, the Gauls invaded Asia Minor. Antiochus could not respond immediately to the threat from the Gauls because he had not yet managed to restore peace in Syria. Once peace and order had been restored in Syria, however, Antiochus attacked the Gauls and defeated them in 275 BCE. The Ionian city-states, which he had protected against the Gauls, bestowed upon him the title soter (savior).
Silver tetradrachm of the second Seleucid monarch, Antiochus I Soter. Antiochus I was the son of Seleucus I, founder of the Seleucid state, and his Iranian Sogdian queen, Apame/Apama. (Yale University Gallery of Art)
The conflict with Egypt flared up again in 276 when an Egyptian army attacked northern Syria but was defeated by Antiochus. Ptolemy II of Egypt did not, however, back down. His forces invaded again and this time succeeded in occupying Phoenicia and the Asia Minor coast by 272/271 BCE. Antiochus’s preoccupation with Syria and Asia Minor weakened Seleucid authority in faraway Iran. To reestablish Seleucid control in the east, Antiochus sent his oldest son, Seleucus, to Iran. Seleucus proved to be inept, however, and was eventually executed in 266 BCE. Toward the end of his reign, Antiochus was forced into a war against Eumenes of Pergamum (present-day western Turkey), who had declared his independence. In 262 BCE, the armies of Pergamum inflicted a humiliating defeat on Antiochus. Antiochus died shortly after this defeat in 261 BCE and was succeeded by his second son, Antiochus II.
See also: K&Q, Seleucid: Antiochus II Theos; Seleucus I Nicator; Peoples: Seleucids; Spitaman
Further Reading
Appian. Appian’s Roman History. Translated by Horace White. London and New York: William Heinemann, 1912.
Bickerman, E. “The Seleucid Period.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 3–20. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Diodorus Siculus. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London: William Heinemann, 1933.
Sherwin-White, Susan M., and Amélie Kuhrt. From Samarkand to Sardis: A New Approach to the Seleucid Empire. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
Antiochus II Theos
The third king of the Seleucid dynasty who ruled Iran, Mesopotamia, and parts of Asia Minor from 261 to 246 BCE. Antiochus II Theos was the second son of Antiochus I. Antiochus II was designated as his father’s successor after his older brother, Seleucus, was executed. Antiochus II spent much of his reign in military campaigns against Ptolemy II of Egypt. He formed an alliance with Antigonus, the ruler of Macedonia, and waged a two-pronged war against Egypt between 260/259 and 255 BCE. The principal objective of this military campaign was to recover the territories his father had lost in his wars against the Ptolemaic dynasty. With support from the Macedonian king who defeated the Egyptian fleet at sea, Antiochus occupied much of Asia Minor and the Phoenician coast, corresponding with present-day Lebanon. In 253 BCE, Ptolemy II of Egypt agreed to sign a peace treaty recognizing the territorial gains of Antiochus II. The preoccupation of Antiochus with the western frontiers of his empire allowed the governors of his eastern provinces to break away from the Seleucid central government. Scythian nomadic groups from Central Asia also penetrated the northeastern frontiers of the Seleucid Empire. Eventually one of these groups, the Parni or Aparni, would establish the Arsacid (Parthian) state in northeastern Iran.
In 253/252 BCE Antiochus II separated from his wife, Laodice, and married Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy II and the sister of Ptolemy III of Egypt. In 246 BCE, however, Antiochus left his second queen and decided to return to Laodice. Shortly afterward in the summer of 246 BCE, Antiochus died. He was most probably poisoned by Laodice. With the death of Antiochus the two queens entered into a civil war, with Berenice and her five-year-old son, Antiochus, receiving support from Ptolemy III, the ruler of Egypt. It was not long, however, until the agents of Laodice killed Antiochus. Antiochus’s mother, Berenice, was also murdered a short time later.
Meanwhile, the older son of Antiochus II, Seleucus II, ascended the throne. His younger brother, Antiochus Hireax, was appointed the governor of Asia Minor. The dynastic conflict in faraway Syria convinced some of the governors of the eastern provinces to revolt and proclaim their independence. Diodotus, the governor of Bactria, broke away from the Seleucids and established his own independent Greco-Bactrian kingdom centered in present-day northern Afghanistan. Another governor, Andragoras of Parthia in present-day northeastern Iran, also separated his province from the Seleucid royal house. As the Seleucid Empire in the east began to disintegrate, Scythian groups from Central Asia penetrated northeastern Iran. One of these, the Parni or Aparni under the leadership of Arshak (Arsaces), attacked and seized Parthia. Arsaces defeated Andragoras and established his own kingdom in Parthia. The year 247 BCE marks the beginning of the Arsacid era. Arsaces’s successors used Parthia as a base from which they expanded their territory and created the Arsacid (Parthian) Empire.
See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Arsaces I; K&Q, Seleucid: Seleucus I Nicator; Seleucus II Callinicus; Peoples: Arsacid Parthian Empire; Arsacids; Seleucids
Further Reading
Appian. Appian’s Roman History. Translated by Horace White. London and New York: William Heinemann, 1912.
Bickerman, E. “The Seleucid Period.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 3–20. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Diodorus Siculus. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London: William Heinemann, 1933.
Sherwin-White, Susan M., and Amélie Kuhrt. From Samarkand to Sardis: A New Approach to the Seleucid Empire. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
Antiochus III
Antiochus III was the sixth king of the Seleucid dynasty, which ruled Mesopotamia and large territories in Iran and Asia Minor. He ruled from 223 to 187 BCE. Antiochus III is generally recognized as the last great Seleucid monarch. His reign signaled the beginning of a period of rapid decline, which culminated in the defeat of the Seleucids first at the hands of the Romans and later by the Arsacid (Parthian) dynasty based in northeastern Iran.
Antiochus III was the son of the Seleucid king Seleucus II and the younger brother of the Seleucid monarch Seleucus III. Antiochus, who ascended the throne after Seleucus III was murdered in Phrygia in 223, b
egan his reign by consolidating his power within his kingdom. The Seleucid monarch appointed “two of his generals, the brothers Molon and Alexander,” as governors of Media and Persis (Debevoise: 13). As with his predecessors, Antiochus focused his first military campaign against Egypt. He was soon forced to abandon this campaign and turn his attention to Media in western Iran, where his governor, Molon, had proclaimed himself an independent king. Molon may have been “inspired” by the “successes” of the Arsacid dynasty based in Parthia in northeastern Iran and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom in present-day northern Afghanistan (Debevoise: 13). In 220 BCE, Antiochus marched to Media and defeated Molon, who committed suicide. From Media, Antiochus moved to Atropatene, present-day Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran. Artabazanes, the ruler of Atropatene, was forced to accept the suzerainty of the Seleucid king. Shortly after his victories in Iran, Antiochus ordered the execution of his chief minister, Hermias. Antiochus then organized a campaign to conquer the eastern Mediterranean coast, including the seaport of Seleucia-in-Pieria (present-day Tyre in Lebanon) as well as the entire territory of Phoenicia and Palestine. His conquests culminated in a military confrontation with the ruler of Egypt, Ptolemy IV Philopator, in 217 BCE. In a peace agreement signed following the battle, Antiochus returned all his newly gained territories with the sole exception of Seleucia-in-Pieria, which he managed to retain. He followed his wars with Egypt with a campaign to impose Seleucid authority over Asia Minor. In 213 BCE, Antiochus seized Sardis in present-day western Turkey and executed Achaeus, the governor of Asia Minor who had revolted against him.