Antiochus III the Great, (Greek Μέγας Ἀντίoχoς;
ca. 241–187 BC, ruled 223–187 BC), younger son of
Seleucus II Callinicus, became the 6th ruler of the
Seleucid Empire as a youth of about eighteen in 223
BC. His traditional designation, the Great, reflects
an epithet he briefly assumed after his Eastern
Campaign (it appears in regnal formulas at Amyzon in
203 and 202 BC, but not later). Antiochos also
assumed the title"Basileus Megas" (which is Greek
for Great King), the traditional title of the
Persian kings, which he adopted after his conquest
of Koile Syria.
Early years
Antiochus III inherited a disorganized state. Not
only had Asia Minor become detached, but the further
eastern provinces had broken away, Bactria under the
Greek Diodotus of Bactria, and Parthia under the
nomad chieftain Arsaces. Soon after Antiochus's
accession, Media and Persis revolted under their
governors, the brothers Molon and Alexander.
The young king, under the baneful influence of
the minister Hermeias, authorised an attack on Judea
instead of going in person to face the rebels. The
attack on Judea proved a fiasco, and the generals
sent against Molon and Alexander met with disaster.
Only in Asia Minor, where the king's cousin, the
able Achaeus represented the Seleucid cause, did its
prestige recover, driving the Pergamene power back
to its earlier limits.
In 221 BC Antiochus at last went east, and the
rebellion of Molon and Alexander collapsed. The
submission of Lesser Media, which had asserted its
independence under Artabazanes, followed. Antiochus
rid himself of Hermeias by assassination and
returned to Syria (220 BC). Meanwhile Achaeus
himself had revolted and assumed the title of king
in Asia Minor. Since, however, his power was not
well enough grounded to allow of his attacking
Syria, Antiochus considered that he might leave
Achaeus for the present and renew his attempt on
Judea.
Early wars against other Hellenistic rulers
The campaigns of 219 BC and 218 BC carried the
Seleucid armies almost to the confines of Ptolemaic
Egypt, but in 217 BC Ptolemy IV confronted Antiochus
at the battle of Raphia and inflicted a defeat upon
him which nullified all Antiochus's successes and
compelled him to withdraw north of the Lebanon. In
216 BC Antiochus went north to deal with Achaeus,
and had by 214 BC driven him from the field into
Sardis. Antiochus contrived to get possession of the
person of Achaeus (see Polybius), but the citadel
held out until 213 BC under Achaeus' widow Laodice
and then surrendered.
Having thus recovered the central part of Asia
Minor — for the Seleucid government had perforce to
tolerate the dynasties in Pergamon, Bithynia and
Cappadocia — Antiochus turned to recover the
outlying provinces of the north and east. He obliged
Xerxes of Armenia to acknowledge his supremacy in
212 BC. In 209 BC Antiochus invaded Parthia,
occupied the capital Hecatompylus and pushed forward
into Hyrcania. The Parthian king Arsaces II
apparently successfully sued for peace.
Bactrian campaign and Indian expedition
Year 209 BC saw Antiochus in Bactria, where the
Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus I had supplanted the
original rebel. Antiochus again met with success.[1]
After sustaining a famous siege in his capital
Bactra (Balkh), Euthydemus obtained an honourable
peace by which Antiochus promised Euthydemus' son
Demetrius the hand of one of his daughters.[2]
Antiochus next, following in the steps of
Alexander, crossed into the Kabul valley, renewed
his friendship with the Indian king Sophagasenus and
returned west by way of Seistan and Kerman (206/5).
According to Polybius:
"He crossed the Caucasus (Hindu Kush) and
descended into India; renewed his friendship with
Sophagasenus the king of the Indians; received more
elephants, until he had a hundred and fifty
altogether; and having once more provisioned his
troops, set out again personally with his army:
leaving Androsthenes of Cyzicus the duty of taking
home the treasure which this king had agreed to hand
over to him." Polybius 11.39
Persia and Judaea campaigns
From Seleucia on the Tigris he led a short
expedition down the Persian Gulf against the
Gerrhaeans of the Arabian coast (205 BC/204 BC).
Antiochus seemed to have restored the Seleucid
empire in the east, and the achievement brought him
the title of "the Great." (Antiochos Megas). In 205
BC/204 BC the infant Ptolemy V Epiphanes succeeded
to the Egyptian throne, and Antiochus is said
(notably by Polybios) to have concluded a secret
pact with Philip V of Macedon for the partition of
the Ptolemaic possessions (203 BC).
Once more Antiochus attacked the Ptolemaic province
of Koile Syria and Phoenicia, and by 199 BC he seems
to have had possession of it before the Aetolian,
Scopas, recovered it for Ptolemy. But that recovery
proved brief, for in 198 BC Antiochus defeated
Scopas at the Battle of Panium, near the sources of
the Jordan, a battle which marks the end of
Ptolemaic rule in Judea.
War against Rome
Antiochus then moved to Asia Minor to secure the
coast towns which had acknowledged Ptolemy and the
independent Greek cities. This enterprise brought
him into antagonism with Rome, since Smyrna and
Lampsacus appealed to the republic of the west, and
the tension became greater after Antiochus had in
196 BC established a footing in Thrace. The
evacuation of Greece by the Romans gave Antiochus
his opportunity, and he now had the fugitive
Hannibal at his court to urge him on.
In 192 BC Antiochus invaded Greece with a 10,000
men army, and was elected Aetolians commander in
chief. In 191 BC, however, the Romans under Manius
Acilius Glabrio routed him at Thermopylae and
obliged him to withdraw to Asia. But the Romans
followed up their success by attacking Antiochus in
Anatolia, and the decisive victory of Scipio
Asiaticus at Magnesia ad Sipylum (190 BC), following
the defeat of Hannibal at sea off Side, gave Asia
Minor into their hands.
By the Treaty of Apamea (188 BC) the Seleucid
king abandoned all the country north of the Taurus,
which Rome distributed amongst its friends. As a
consequence of this blow to the Seleucid power, the
outlying provinces of the empire, recovered by
Antiochus, reasserted their independence.
Antiochus mounted a fresh expedition to the east
in Luristan, where he died in an attempt to rob a
temple at Elymaïs, Persia, in 187 BC. The Seleucid
kingdom as Antiochus left it fell to his son,
Seleucus IV Philopator.
Preceded by
Seleucus III Ceraunus
Succeeded by
Seleucus IV Philopator
Notes
- Polybius 10.49, Battle of the Arius
- Polybius 11.34 Siege of Bactra
This article incorporates text from the
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a
publication now in the public domain. |