ANTIOCO. — Commander of the army of Philip, king of Macedonia. His son Seleucus followed Alexander the Great into Asia and, after the conqueror’s death, founded the kingdom of Syria Seleucids (v.), thirteen kings of which bore the name Antioco. To many cities founded by him, first of all to his capital Antioch (v.) on the Orontes, Seleucus I gave the name of his father.
— A. I, son of Seleucus I, was called Sôtêr (Saviour) 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 recover Cilicia and Coele-Syria (with Palestine) from him; in 249 he married his daughter Berenice, who brought him Coele-Syria as her dowry. He was poisoned (246) with the complicity of his repudiated first wife Laodike,
who had Berenice and her son Antioco massacred (Dan. 11, 6 apparently alludes to this).
— A. III the Great (mentioned in I Mach. 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 an attempt to recover Coele-Syria (with Palestine), he was defeated at Raphia (217) by Ptolemy IV, who afterwards marched on Jerusalem; but he finally secured that territory through his victory at Panças (198) over Ptolemy V, who was protected by Rome.
Defeated three times by the Romans, after the defeat at Magnesia (189) he lost Asia Minor north of the Taurus. In brilliant campaigns he had subdued the Parthians, the Bactrians, and the Armenians, and had reached the basin of the Indus and the shores of the Persian Gulf. He was benevolent towards 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 an elaborate cult to be instituted in all the satrapies of the kingdom for himself and his wife Laodike, as gods, with high priests of both sexes (the Eriza edict, 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 about whom the Bible speaks most (Dan. 11, 11–45; I Mach. 1, 11–67; 2; 3; 6, 1–16; II Mach. 4, 7–9, 20). He was Israel’s most abhorrent persecutor. The younger son of A. III, in 189 he was taken as a hostage to Rome (where he remained for 13 or 14 years), handed over by his father in execution of a clause of the Treaty of Magnesia. Released (176–175) by his nephew, the future king Demetrius I, who took his place as hostage, while he was on his return journey his brother Seleucus IV Philopator (187–175) was killed by his minister Heliodorus. Having ascended the throne (175), A. was an able king, but immeasurably proud (Dan. 11, 36; II Mach. 5, 21; 9, 28), as is shown by his coins (after 166), on which he assumes the divine title of «manifestation» (of the divinity, Apollo or Zeus), of Nicephorus (victorious), and of Theós (God); in the inscriptions he is called Theós and Sôtêr (J. Dittenberger, Orientis graeci inscr. sel., n. 223).
Titus Livy (XLI, 20) and John of Antioch (in C. Müller, Hist. Graec. fragm., IV, Paris 1868, p. 558) attest the fraud by which, after expelling the usurper Heliodorus, A. seized the kingdom that rightfully belonged to Demetrius, son of Seleucus IV. Educated in Rome, he knew how to combine democratic manners with his despotic instincts. His character and methods are described by Polybius (XXVI, 10; XXIX, 9, 13; XXXI, 30; XXXVIII, 18, 3): a lavish and vain prince, fond of pomp and popularity, extravagant expenditure, building, and magnificent spectacles, «but in sacrifices and honours 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-Judaic hostility.
Passionately devoted to art and culture, he wished to place the Jews on the same level as his other subjects, imposing upon them the «enlightenment» of Hellenism. He personally came to Jerusalem twice (174 and 169). There, under the Egyptian rule of the Ptolemies, a Hellenizing party of the nobles had formed, headed by Jesus, the brother of the priest Onias III, Jason (v.) and purchased the high priesthood from A. (174–171). After an expedition to Cilicia, A. attacked Egypt (around 170)
and took Ptolemy V prisoner. Jason, whom A. had replaced with Menelaus in the high priesthood, taking advantage of A.’s absence, attacked his rival and besieged him in the city of Jerusalem. But A., returning victorious from Egypt (169), descended upon the holy city and began treating the Jews as seditious rebels. Guided by Menelaus, he entered the Temple and plundered it; he left Menelaus in office, surrounded by Syrian officials who massacred 40,000 Jews (I Mach. 1, 20–29; II Mach. 5, 11–21; Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XII, 5, 3; C. Apionem. 2, 7).
During a second expedition (168), A. was on the point of taking possession of Egypt; but the Roman legate Popilius Laenas enclosed him within a circle traced on the ground and ordered him to surrender immediately: «from this hour within». A. submitted (T. Livy, XLIV, 19; XLV, 12), but returned enraged, determined to retain Coele-Syria and Palestine. He had a fortress built in Jerusalem (v. ARA), to suppress every insurrection.
Determined, on political and philosophical grounds (II Mach. 6, 1), to extirpate Yahwism, through his governors of Coele-Syria and his special envoys he violently and systematically pursued the apostasy of the Jews, in order to reduce them to the religion, culture, and political system of his kingdom. Apollonius (v.) to impose Hellenization by force, forbidding circumcision, the Sabbath, and the sacred feasts, and punishing with death those who observed the Mosaic law. Pagan altars were erected throughout Judea. On the 25th of Casleu (mid-December 168 B.C.) the formal profanation of the Temple took place through the dedication of the altar of burnt offerings to the pagan divinities, upon which sacrifices were offered to Olympian Jupiter (v. ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION). With A. IV, iniquity reached its height. Almost all the kings of the Gentiles had persecuted Israel; but in A. IV, more than an instrument of political designs, it was a furious assault against the one true God. Moral corruption spread from the baths, theatres, and gymnasia, together with the company of wealthy Jews «of broad views». Many Jews apostatized or wavered. But the heroism of the martyrs shone forth. Meanwhile, from Modin, the uprising of Mattathias and his five sons, called Maccabees after Judas, was beginning (v.).
Since the Jewish uprising had become threatening, A., engaged in the ill-fated campaign against the Parthians (I Mach. 3, 31), entrusted the war in Judea to Lysias. The Syrian generals Nicanor and Gorgias were defeated there.
The death of A. is narrated differently: I Mach. 6, 1–16 and II Mach. 9, 1–28 agree; the account in II Mach. 2, 10–17 is erroneous, but it is merely a citation (J. Döller). After attempting to plunder a temple of Artemis in Elam, near Ecbatana (II Mach. 9, 3; F. X. Kugler: Aspadana, today Isfahan), he was seized by a visceral attack, fell from his chariot, and died among the mountains (II Mach. 9, 28) in nearby Tabae of Persia (Polybius, XXXI, 11 [9], who says that 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 17 March and 4 April 164 B.C.). Tacitus summarizes the matter (Hist., V, 8): «King A., resolved to extirpate superstition and implant Greek civilization, was prevented by the war with the Parthians from improving an infected race». It was instead the victory of faith and of God (II Mach. 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 later Megillath Antiochos would express the rabbinic interpretation, though unconcerned with history. In II Thess. 2, 3-11 there is “the Christian reproduction of the Jewish description of A. Epiph., monster of impiety” (B. Rigaux, p. 289). The Fathers therefore see in A. IV the Antichrist (v.); cf. Jerome, In Dan. 7-12.
— A. V, Eupator (“of noble father”), son of the preceding king, whom he succeeded at the age of nine or twelve, reigned for two years (164-162 B.C.) and was merely an instrument of Lysias (v.).
In view of the difficulty of the succession, his father A. IV had entrusted him to the guardianship of the general Philip; but the latter was held up in the East with the army.
The Romans invaded Syria; their legate Gnaeus Octavius was murdered, and Lysias had to bear the consequences. In 162 Lysias again marched against the Jews; defeated at Beit-Zakaria (14 km. south of Bethlehem), they withdrew to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, since his rival Philip had returned to Antioch, Lysias had to raise the siege and make peace with Judas Maccabaeus, granting the Jews full religious liberty (I Mach. 6, 57-63; II Mach. 13, 23-26), and defeated Philip (according to Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XII, 9, 7, he killed him). But shortly afterward A. V and Lysias were killed by the troops on the orders 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; Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XII, 9, 2 ff.; Polybius, XXXI, 12).
— A. VI, Epiphanes Dionysos, BALA (v.), toward whom the Jews professed gratitude (I Mach. 10, 47), and of Cleopatra Thea, received from her strong support in the struggle that he had to conduct during the three years of his reign (145-142 B.C.) against his competitor Demetrius II Nicator.
From Arabia, where he had lived after the assassination of his father, he was brought back while still a child by one of Balas’s officers, Diodotus, known as Tryphon (v.), who proclaimed him king at Antioch, setting him against the legitimate but cruel king Demetrius II. The latter had used Jonathan Maccabaeus to suppress a revolt, but violated the agreements and promises made to him; consequently the Jews went over to the side of A. VI and Tryphon. The latter appointed Jonathan general of the region; but, after Demetrius II had been captured by the Parthians, he treacherously killed Jonathan at Telemade (143 B.C.). On returning to Syria, Tryphon had the young king A., his ward, killed by the complicity of the physicians (I Mach. 11, 39-74; 12, 24-13, 32; Diodorus, XXXII, 4; Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XIII, 5, 1 ff.).
— A. VII, Sidetes (because he was born and raised at Side in Pamphylia) or Evergetes (“benefactor”), brother of Demetrius II and the last king of Syria (139-129 B.C.) with whom the Maccabees are concerned. After Mithridates I (Arsaces VI) had imprisoned Demetrius II, A. departed 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 Maccabaeus to secure his friendship, confirming the privileges granted him by Demetrius II, including the right to mint coins. But having become master of the situation, after routing the usurper Tryphon, he became hostile to the Jews.
- A. VII compelled Simon to return Gazara, Joppa, and the fortress of Acra, even demanding a fine of 500 talents. In 138 he sent Cendebaeus with an army against the Jews; but John Hyrcanus, Simon’s son, 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 prolonged siege, captured Jerusalem (134 B.C.). Once he had entered Jerusalem, A. VII was rather lenient: he imposed a tribute on the cities recently subjected, in addition to 500 talents for war expenses, and had the walls of Jerusalem destroyed (Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XIII, 8, 2 ff.). He respected the religion and the Temple, to which he had in fact sent sacrificial victims during the siege. Perhaps the Testament of Benjamin, IX, 2, alludes to this homage paid by a king of the Gentiles.
Brave and ambitious, in 130 he marched against the Parthians to liberate 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 they 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.