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On this page: Antiochus Ix – Antiochus Vii – Antiochus Viii

ANTIOCHUS.

verse of the annexed coin represents the Dioscuri riding on horseback, and has upon it the year 0 P, that is, the 170th year of the Seleucidae. (Eckhel, iii. p. 231, &c.)

COIN OF ANTIOCHUS VI.

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ANTIOCHUS VII. fArrfoxos), king of sy­ria, surnamed SIDETES (SiS^T^s), from Side in Pamphylia, where he was brought up, (and not from a Syriac word signifying a hunter,) and on coins Euergetes (Ei3ep7eT7?s), was the younger son of Demetrius Soter, and obtained possession of the throne in b. c. 137, after conquering Tryphon, who had held the sovereignty since the murder of Antiochus VI. He married Cleopatra, the wife of his elder brother Demetrius Nicator, who was a prisoner in the hand of the Parthians. He carried on war against the Jews, and took Jerusalem after almost a year's siege, in b. c. 133. He then granted them a peace on favourable terms, and next directed his arms against the Parthians. At first he met with success, but was afterwards de­feated by the Parthian king, and lost his life in the battle, after a reign of nine years. (b. c. 128.) His son Seleucus was taken prisoner in the same battle. Antiochus, like many of his predecessors, was passionately devoted to the pleasures of the table. He had three sons and two daughters, the latter of whom both bore the name of Laodice. His sons were Antiochus, Seleucus, and Antiochus (Cyzicerms), the last of whom subsequently suc­ceeded to the throne. (Joseph. Ant. xiii. 8 ; 1 Maccab. xv., &c.; Justin, xxxvi. 1, xxxviii. 10 ; Diod. xxxiv. Ed. 1; Athen. x. p. 439, xii. p. 540.) The reverse of the annexed coin represents Athena holding a small figure of Victory in her right hand. (Eckhel, iii. p. 235, &c.)

199

ANTIOCHUS.

remained in her hands. (b. c. 125.) At this time the greater part of Syria was in the power of the usurper Alexander Zebina [see p. 127, b.] ; but Antiochus, with the assistance of Ptolemy Physcon, the king of Egypt, whose daughter he married, conquered Alexander and became master of the whole of Syria. Cleopatra then became jealous of him and plotted against his life ; but her son com­pelled her to drink the poison she had prepared for him. (b. c. 120.) For the .next eight years Antiochus reigned in peace; but at the end of that time his half-brother, Antiochus Cyzicenus, the son of Antiochus Sidetes and their common mother Cleopatra, laid claim to the crown, and a civil war ensued. (b. c. 112.) The remaining history of the Seleucidae till Syria became a Roman province, is hardly anything else but a series of civil wars be­tween the princes of the royal family. In the first year of the struggle (b. c. 112), Antiochus Cyzi­cenus became master of almost the whole of Syria, but in the next year (b. c. Ill), A. Grypus re­gained a considerable part of his dominions ; and it was then agreed that the kingdom should be shared between them, A. Cyzicenus having Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, and A. Grypus the remainder of the provinces. This arrangement lasted, though with frequent wars between the two kings, till the death of Antiochus Grypus, who was assassinated by Heracleon in b. c. 96, after a reign of twenty-nine years. He left five sons, Seleucus, Philip, Antiochus Epiphanes, Demetrius Eucaerus, and Antiochus Dionysus. (Justin, xxxix. 1—3; Liv. Epit. 60 ; Appian, Syr. 69 ; Joseph. Antiq. xiii. 13; Athen. xii. p. 540.) Many of the coins of Antiochus Grypus have the head of Antiochus on one side, and that of his mother Cleopatra on the other. The one annexed must have been struck after his mother's death. (Eckhel, iii. p. 238, &c.)

COIN OF ANTIOCHUS VIII.

ANTIOCHUS IX. ('Azmoxos), king of syria surnamed CYZICENUS (K.^iKi\v6s) from Cyzicus, where he was brought up, and on coins Philopator (3>iAo7raTwp), reigned over Coele-Syria and Phoe­nicia from b. c. Ill to 96, as is stated in the pre­ceding article. On the death of his brother, Anti­ochus VIII., he attempted to obtain possession of

COIN OF ANTIOCHUS IX.

COIN OP ANTIOCHUS VII.

ANTIOCHUS VIII. ('Az/rfoxos), king of sy-iia, surnamed GRYPUS (rpuTros), or Hook-losed, from ypty, a vulture, and on coins Epiphanes 'ETTufai'Tj.s"), was the second son of Demetrius Nicator and Cleopatra. His eldest brother Seleu-us was put to death by their mother Cleopatra, iccause he wished to have the power, and not merely the title, of king; and Antiochus was after is brother's death recalled from Athens, where he /as studying, by his mother Cleopatra, that he might 'ear the title of king, while the real sovereignty