ANTIOCHUS. - Commander of the army of Philip, king of Macedonia. His son Seleucus followed Alexander the Great to Asia and, after the conqueror's death, founded the kingdom of Syria and the dynasty of the Seleucids (v.), of which 13 kings bore the name Antiochus. To many cities founded by him, first of all to his capital Antioch (v.) on the Orontes, Seleucus I gave his father's name.
— A. I, son of Seleucus I, was called Sôtêr (Savior) for his victory over the Galatians; he reigned from 280 to 261 B.C.; he directed the first Syrian war against Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt.
— A. II (261-246 B.C.), son and successor of A. I, called Theós (God) for having freed Miletus from the tyrant Timarchos, fought for seven years against Ptolemy Philadelphus to take back Cilicia and Coele-Syria (with Palestine); in 249 he married his daughter Berenice, who brought him Coele-Syria as her dowry. He was poisoned (246) with the complicity of his first wife, the repudiated Laodice, who had Berenice and her son Antiochus slaughtered (it seems that Dan. 11:6 alludes to this).
— A. III the Great (mentioned in I Macc. 1:11; 8:6-8), succeeded his murdered brother Seleucus III in 223 at the age of nineteen. He suppressed the revolts of Molon in Media (220) and of his cousin Achaeus in Asia Minor (213). In the attempt to retake Coele-Syria (with Palestine) he was defeated at Raphia (217) by Ptolemy IV, who afterwards marched on Jerusalem; but in the end he secured that territory with the victory of Panias (198) over Ptolemy V, who was protected by Rome.
Thrice defeated by the Romans, after the defeat at Magnesia (189) he lost Asia Minor north of the Taurus. In brilliant campaigns he had suppressed the Parthians, the Bactrians and the Armenians, and had reached the Indus basin and the coasts of the Persian Gulf. He was benevolent toward the Jews, whose worship he protected (Flavius Josephus, Ant. Iud., XII, 3, 3; A. Alt, in Zeitschr. f. attest. Wiss., 16 (1939), pp. 283-85). He was killed by the Elamites for having plundered a temple of Bel (187). His reign is symbolized in Dan. 11:10-19 (cf. St. Jerome, in h. l.). In 205 he ordered a sumptuous cult throughout all the satrapies of the kingdom for himself and his wife Laodice, as gods, with high priests of both sexes (edict of Eriza, discovered by M. Holleaux in 1884).
— A. IV (175-163 B.C.), called Epiphanés ("the manifest [god]"), but sometimes called by his subjects Epimanés, "the madman" (Athenaeus, Δειπνοσφαιστιά, 10), is the Seleucid of whom the Bible speaks most (Dan. 11:11-45; I Macc. 1:11-67; 2; 3; 6:1-16; II Macc. 4:7-9:20). He was the most execrable persecutor of Israel. The younger son of A. III, in 189 he was taken as a hostage to Rome (where he remained 13 or 14 years), handed over by his father in execution of a clause of the treaty of Magnesia. Liberated (176-175) by his nephew, the future king Demetrius I, who replaced him as hostage, while he was on the return journey, his brother Seleucus IV Philopator (187-75) was killed by his minister Heliodorus. Having ascended the throne (175), A. was a capable king, but immeasurably proud (Dan. 11:36; II Macc. 5:21; 9:28), as his coins show (after 166), on which he gives himself the divine title of "manifestation" (of the divinity, Apollo or Zeus), of Nicephorus (victorious), of Theós (God); in the inscriptions he is called Theós and Sôtêr (J. Dittenberger, Orientis graeci inscr. sel., no. 223).
Livy (XLI, 20) and John of Antioch (in C. Müller, Hist. Graec. fragm., IV, Paris 1868, p. 558) attest the fraud by which, having driven out the usurper Heliodorus, A. seized the kingdom that legitimately belonged to Demetrius, son of Seleucus IV. Educated at Rome, to his despotic instinct he knew how to join democratic manners. His character and his methods are described by Polybius (XXVI, 10; XXIX, 9, 13; XXXI, 30; XXXVIII, 18, 3): a prodigal prince, vain, a lover of pomp and popularity, of mad expenditures, of buildings and sumptuous spectacles, "but in sacrifices and honors rendered to the gods, he surpassed all previous kings." Diodorus Siculus, XXIX, 32; XXXI, 16; XXXIV, 1, 3-5 speaks well of A., perhaps out of anti-Judaean hatred.
Eager for art and culture, he wished to level the Jews to his other subjects, imposing on them the "lights" of Hellenism. He came twice in person to Jerusalem (174 and 169). Here, under the Egyptian government of the Ptolemies, the Hellenizing party of the nobles had formed, headed by the brother of the priest Onias III, Jesus, who took the Greek name Jason (v.) and bought the high priesthood from A. (174-71). After an expedition into Cilicia, A. attacked (around 170) Egypt and took Ptolemy V prisoner. Jason, whom A. had replaced with Menelaus in the high priesthood, profiting from A.'s absence, attacked his rival and besieged him in the city of Jerusalem. But A., returning victorious from Egypt (169), fell upon the holy city and began to treat the Jews as seditious and rebellious. Guided by Menelaus, he penetrated into the Temple and plundered it; he left Menelaus in office, surrounded by Syrian officials who slaughtered 40,000 Jews (I Macc. 1:20-29; II Macc. 5:11-21; Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XII, 5, 3; C. Apionem. 2, 7).
In a second expedition (168), A. was about to seize Egypt; but the Roman legate Popilius Laenas enclosed him within a circle drawn on the ground, ordering him to surrender immediately: "before you step out of this hour." A. submitted (Livy, XLIV, 19; XLV, 12), but returned irritated, determined to keep Coele-Syria and Palestine. He had a fortress built in Jerusalem (v. ACRA), to suppress any insurrection.
Determined, on political and philosophical principle (II Macc. 6:1), to and extirpate Yahwism, through his governors of Coele-Syria and his special envoys he pursued with violence and yet with method the apostasy of the Jews, to reduce them to the religion, culture, and politics of his kingdom. By an edict he charged Apollonius (v.) to impose Hellenization by force, forbidding circumcision, the Sabbath, the sacred feasts, punishing with death those who observed the Mosaic law. Throughout Judaea pagan altars were raised. On the 25th of Kislev (mid-Dec. 168 B.C.) the formal profanation of the Temple took place through the consecration to pagan deities of the altar of holocausts, on which sacrifices were offered to Olympian Zeus (v. ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION). With A. IV, iniquity is at its height. Almost all the kings of the Gentiles had persecuted Israel; but in A. IV, more than a coefficient of political aims, there was ferocity against the one true God. Moral corruption spread from the baths, theaters, and gymnasia, with the cohabitation of rich Jews "of broad ideas." Many Jews apostatized or wavered. But the heroism of the martyrs shone forth. From Modin, meanwhile, came the uprising of Mattathias and his five sons called, from Judas, Maccabees (v.).
The Jewish revolt having become threatening, A., engaged in the unfortunate enterprise against the Parthians (I Macc. 3:31), entrusted the war in Judaea to Lysias. There the Syrian generals Nicanor and Gorgias were defeated.
The death of A. is narrated in different ways: I Macc. 6:1-16 and II Macc. 9:1-28 agree; the narrative of II Macc. 2:10-17 is erroneous, but it is a mere citation (J. Döller). After attempting to plunder a temple of Artemis in Elam, near Ecbatana (II Macc. 9:3; F. X. Kugler: Aspadana, today Ispahan), he was seized by a visceral crisis, fell from his chariot, and died among the mountains (II Macc. 9:28) in nearby Tabae of Persia (Polybius, XXXI, 11 [9], who says he went mad [θαυλωνίδης] and was perhaps struck by "divine punishment"; Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XII, 9, 1), in the year 149 of the Seleucid era, 164-163 B.C. (probably between March 17 and April 4, 164 B.C.). Tacitus summarizes (Hist., V, 8): "King A., resolved to extirpate the superstition and to implant Greek civilization, was prevented by the Parthian war from improving an infected race." It was instead the victory of faith and of God (II Macc. 6:12-17).
— A. IV, the enemy of God, is prophetically described in Dan. 7:20-25; 8:1-27; [9:24-27 (?)]; 11:36-45; 12:1-11. Apocalyptic literature would imitate Daniel: (III) Enoch Ethiopic, 83-90. The late Megillath Antiochos would express the rabbinic interpretation, which was moreover unconcerned with history. In II Thess. 2:3-11 there is "the Christian reproduction of the Jewish description of A. Epiphanes, monster of impiety" (B. Rigaux, p. 289). The Fathers therefore see in A. IV the most explicit type of the Antichrist (v.); cf. Jerome, In Dan. 7-12.
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— A. V, Eupator ("of noble father"), son of the preceding, whom he succeeded at the age of 9 or 12, reigned two years (164-162 B.C.) and was a mere instrument of Lysias (v.).
In presenting the difficulty of the succession, his father A. IV had entrusted him to the guardianship of the general Philip; but the latter was detained with the army in the East.
The Romans burst into Syria; their legate Gnaeus Octavius was murdered and Lysias had to atone for the consequences. In 162 Lysias moved again against the Jews; these, routed at Beit-Zakaria (14 km. south of Bethlehem), withdrew to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, since his rival Philip had returned to Antioch, Lysias had to raise the siege and make peace with Judas Maccabeus, granting the Jews full religious freedom (I Mach. 6:57-63; II Mach. 13:23-26), and he defeated Philip (according to Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XII, 9, 7, he killed him). But soon A. V with Lysias was killed by the troops by order of his cousin Demetrius I, who had fled from Rome and been proclaimed king (I Mach. 6:17-74; II Mach. 10:10-14:2; Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XII, 9, 2 ff.; Polybius, XXXI, 12).
— A. VI, Epiphanes Dionysos, son of Alexander Balas (v.), to whom the Jews professed gratitude (I Mach. 10:47), and of Cleopatra Thea, received from her strong support in the struggle he had to wage during the three years of his reign (145-142 B.C.) against his rival Demetrius II Nicator.
From Arabia, where he lived after the assassination of his father, he was brought still a boy by an officer of Balas, Diodotus, named Tryphon (v.), who proclaimed him king at Antioch, opposing him to the legitimate but cruel king Demetrius II. The latter had used Jonathan Maccabeus to suppress a sedition, but violated the pacts and promises made to him; so the Jews went over to the side of A. VI and Tryphon. The latter made Jonathan general of the region; but, after Demetrius II was captured by the Parthians, at Ptolemais he treacherously killed Jonathan (143 B.C.). Having returned to Syria, Tryphon killed the young king A., his ward, with the complicity of the physicians (I Mach. 11:39-74; 12:24-13:32; Diodorus, XXXII, 4; Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XIII, 5, 1 ff.).
— A. VII, Sidetes (because born and raised at Side in Pamphylia) or Euergetes ("benefactor"), brother of Demetrius II, and the last king of Syria (139-129 B.C.) with whom the Maccabees deal. Since Mithridates I (Arsaces VI) had imprisoned Demetrius II, A. set out from the island of Rhodes, proclaimed himself king at Tripoli and married Cleopatra Thea, who had been the wife of Alexander Balas and of Demetrius II. From the islands he wrote to Simon Maccabeus to obtain his friendship, confirming to him the privileges granted by Demetrius II, among them that of minting coin. But having become master of the situation, after routing the usurper Tryphon, he became hostile to the Jews.
- A. VII imposed on Simon the restitution of Gazara, Joppa, the fortress Acra, even demanding a fine of 500 talents. In 138 he sent Cendebaeus with an army against the Jews; but John Hyrcanus, son of Simon, defeated him (I Mach. 15:26-41; 16:1-10: the last event reported by the Old Testament).
Under Simon's successor, John Hyrcanus I, A. himself marched against the Jews, and after a long siege captured Jerusalem (134 B.C.). Having entered Jerusalem, A. VII was rather mild: he imposed a tribute on the cities recently subdued, over 500 talents for war expenses, and had the walls of Jerusalem destroyed (Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XIII, 8, 2 ff.). He respected the religion and the Temple, to which indeed during the siege he had sent victims for the sacrifices. Perhaps the Testament of Benjamin, IX, 2 alludes to this homage of a king of the Gentiles.
Valiant and ambitious, in 130 he moved against the Parthians, to free his brother Demetrius II and reconquer the provinces of upper Asia. After defeating him four times, the Parthians sent A. back to Antioch, but shortly afterward killed him (according to some, A. killed himself). Cf. Justin, XXXVI, 1-3; XXXVIII, 10; Diodorus, XXXIII, 4 and 28; Appian, Syriaca, 68.
For the other six kings of Syria named A., v. SELEUCIDI.