General Notes

[2280151.ged]
Death: in 164 BC, Tabae, Iran 1
Event: Ancestor M
Event: Progenitor X
Event: Ruled 175 - 164 BC, Seleucid King of Persia 1
Event: Ruled 223 - 187 BC, King of Persia 2
Note:
Antiochus IV EPIPHANES (God Manifest), also called ANTIOCHUS EPIMANES
(the Mad) (b. c. 215 BC--d. 164, Tabae, Iran), Seleucid king of the
Hellenistic Syrian kingdom who reigned from 175 to 164 BC. As a ruler he
was best known for his encouragement of Greek culture and institutions.
His attempts to suppress Judaism brought on the Wars of the Maccabees.
Early career.
Antiochus was the third son of Antiochus III the Great. After his
father's defeat by the Romans in 190-189, he served as hostage for his
father in Rome from 189 to 175, where he learned to admire Roman
institutions and policies. His brother, King Seleucus IV, exchanged him
for Demetrius, the son of Seleucus; and after Seleucus was murdered by
Heliodorus, a usurper, Antiochus in turn ousted him. During this period
of uncertainty in Syria, the guardians of Ptolemy VI, the Egyptian ruler,
laid claim to Coele Syria, Palestine, and Phoenicia, which Antiochus III
had conquered. Both the Syrian and Egyptian parties appealed to Rome for
help, but the Senate refused to take sides. In 173 Antiochus paid the
remainder of the war indemnity that had been imposed by the Romans on
Antiochus III at the Treaty of Apamea (188).
Antiochus forestalled an Egyptian expedition to Palestine by invading
Egypt. He defeated the Egyptians between Pelusium and Mount Kasion,
conquered Pelusium, and in 169 occupied Egypt with the exception of
Alexandria, the capital. Ptolemy VI was Antiochus' nephew--Antiochus'
sister, Cleopatra I, had married Ptolemy V--and Antiochus contented
himself with ruling Egypt as Ptolemy's guardian, giving Rome no excuse
for intervention. The citizens of Alexandria, however, appealed to
Ptolemy VIII, the brother of Ptolemy VI, and to his sister Cleopatra II
to form a rival government. Disturbances in Palestine forced Antiochus to
return to Syria, but he safeguarded his access to Egypt with a strong
garrison in Pelusium.
In the winter of 169/168 Perseus of Macedonia in vain begged Antiochus to
join forces with him against the danger that Rome presented to all of the
Hellenistic monarchs. In Egypt, Ptolemy VI made common cause with his
brother and sister and sent a renewed request to Rome for aid, and
Antiochus prepared for battle. The fleet of Antiochus won a victory at
Cyprus, whose governor surrendered the island to him. Antiochus invaded
Egypt again in 168, demanded that Cyprus and Pelusium be ceded to him,
occupied Lower Egypt, and camped outside Alexandria. The cause of the
Ptolemaeans seemed lost. But on June 22, 168, the Romans defeated Perseus
and his Macedonians at Pydna, and there deprived Antiochus of the
benefits of his victory. In Eleusis, a suburb of Alexandria, the Roman
ambassador, Gaius Popillius Laenas, presented Antiochus with the
ultimatum that he evacuate Egypt and Cyprus immediately. Antiochus, taken
by surprise, asked for time to consider. Popillius, however, drew a
circle in the earth around the king with his walking stick and demanded
an unequivocal answer before Antiochus left the circle. Dismayed by this
public humiliation, the king quickly agreed to comply. Roman intervention
had reestablished the status quo. By being allowed to retain southern
Syria, to which Egypt had laid claim, Antiochus was able to preserve the
territorial integrity of his realm.
Efforts to hellenize the kingdom.
Both economically and socially he made efforts to strengthen his
kingdom--inhabited in the main by Orientals (non-Greeks of Asia Minor and
Persia)--by founding and fostering Greek cities. Even before he had begun
his reign he had contributed to the building of the temple of Zeus in
Athens and to the adornment of the theatre. He enlarged Antioch on the
Orontes by adding