Antiochus III the Great - Revision history

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2006-08-01T08:12:38Z

Bactrian and Indian campaigns

Irlandos: /* War against Rome */

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War against Rome

Irlandos at 08:11, August 1, 2006

2006-08-01T08:11:02Z

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'''Antiochus III the Great''', (c. [[241 BC|241]]–[[187 BC]], ruled [[223 BC|223]]–[[187 BC]]), younger son of [[Seleucus II Callinicus]], became ruler of the [[Seleucid Empire]] as a youth of about eighteen in 223 BC. His traditional designation, ''the Great'', stems from a misunderstanding of ''Megas Basileus'' (which is [[Greek language|Greek]] for Great king), the traditional title of the Persian kings, which he adopted.

==Early years==

Antiochus III inherited a disorganized state. Not only had [[Anatolia|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 (general)| 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.

===Wars against Diadoches===
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 of Egypt|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 (general)|Achaeus]] (see [[Polybius]]), but the citadel held out until [[213 BC]] under Achaeus' widow [[Laodice of Pontus|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 and Indian campaigns===
Year [[209 BC]] saw Antiochus in [[Bactria]], where the [[Greco-Bactrian]] king [[Euthydemus I]] had supplanted the original rebel. Antiochus again met with success.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plb.+10.49 Polybius 10.49, Battle of the Arius]</ref> After sustaining a famous siege in his capital [[Bactra]] (''Balkh''), Euthydemus obtained an honourable peace by which Antiochus promised Euthydemus' son [[Demetrius I of Bactria|Demetrius]] the hand of one of his daughters.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plb.+11.34 Polybius 11.34 Siege of Bactra]</ref>

Antiochus next, following in the steps of Alexander, crossed into the [[Kabul]] valley, received presents from the [[India]]n 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." [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0234&query=head%3D%23717 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 of Egypt|Ptolemy V Epiphanes]] succeeded to the Egyptian throne, and Antiochus concluded a secret pact with [[Philip V of Macedon]] for the partition of the Ptolemaic possessions ([[203 BC]]).

Once more Antiochus attacked Judea, and by [[199 BC]] he seems to have had possession of it before the Aetolian, [[Scopas of Aetolia|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==
{{campaignbox Rome against Antiochus III}}
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, having the [[Aetolia]]ns and other Greek states as his allies. In [[191 BC]], however, the Romans under Manius Acilius Glabrio routed him at [[Battle of Thermopylae (191 BC)|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 [[Battle of Magnesia|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]].

{{start box}}
{{succession box|title=[[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid King]]|before=[[Seleucus III Ceraunus]]|after=[[Seleucus IV Philopator]]|years=223–187 BC}}
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{{Credit wikipedia}}

[[Category:Seleucid rulers|Antiochus 03]]
[[Category:241 BC births]]
[[Category:187 BC deaths]]

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 ===Bactrian and Indian campaigns===
-Year [[209 BC]] saw Antiochus in [[Bactria]], where the [[Greco-Bactrian]] king [[Euthydemus I]] had supplanted the original rebel. Antiochus again met with success.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plb.+10.49 Polybius 10.49, Battle of the Arius]</ref> After sustaining a famous siege in his capital [[Bactra]] (''Balkh''), Euthydemus obtained an honourable peace by which Antiochus promised Euthydemus' son [[Demetrius I of Bactria|Demetrius]] the hand of one of his daughters.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plb.+11.34 Polybius 11.34 Siege of Bactra]</ref>
+Year [[209 BC]] saw Antiochus in Bactria, where the [[Greco-Bactrian]] king [[Euthydemus I]] had supplanted the original rebel. Antiochus again met with success.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plb.+10.49 Polybius 10.49, Battle of the Arius]</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plb.+11.34 Polybius 11.34 Siege of Bactra]</ref>
-Antiochus next, following in the steps of Alexander, crossed into the [[Kabul]] valley, received presents from the [[India]]n king [[Sophagasenus]] and returned west by way of [[Seistan]] and Kerman (206/5). According to [[Polybius]]:
+Antiochus next, following in the steps of Alexander, crossed into the Kabul valley, received presents from 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." [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0234&query=head%3D%23717 Polybius 11.39]

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 ==War against Rome==
-{{campaignbox Rome against Antiochus III}}
 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, having the [[Aetolia]]ns and other Greek states as his allies. In [[191 BC]], however, the Romans under Manius Acilius Glabrio routed  him at [[Battle of Thermopylae (191 BC)|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 [[Battle of Magnesia|Magnesia ad Sipylum]] ([[190 BC]]), following the defeat of Hannibal at sea off [[Side]], gave Asia Minor into their hands.
+In [[192 BC]] Antiochus invaded Greece with a 10 000 men army, having the [[Aetolia]]ns and other Greek states as his allies. In [[191 BC]], however, the Romans under Manius Acilius Glabrio routed  him at [[Battle of Thermopylae (191 BC)|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 [[Battle of Magnesia|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.