Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/724

This page needs to be proofread.
ANTIOCHUS.
618
ANTIOCHUS.

marched against Xerxes of Armenia, besieged Arsamosata and received a tribute of 300 talents (212 B.C.). He then continued his march into Susiana and Media (210-209), and took 4000 talents of gold and silver from the temple of Anaïtis in Ecbatana. Arsaces III. Artabanus was defeated, and the Parthian capital Hecatompylus captured. Finally, Arsaces III. sued for peace and promised tribute, 209 B.C. In 208 Antiochus made an attack upon Euthydemos of Bactria, and in 206 this king indicated his willingness to recognize the suzerainty of Syria. He furnished elephants and provisions for the expedition against Sophagasenus of Kophen (Kabul). From here Antiochus returned through Arachosia, Drangiana, Carmania, and Babylonia to Syria in 204 B.C. He now united with Philip of Macedonia against Ptolemy V. Epiphanes. The battle of Paneas, in 198 B.C., in which Antiochus defeated the Egyptian general, Scopas, determined the fate of Palestine. But the Romans were not willing to allow further encroachments. In 196 B.C. they ordered him to return all places taken from Egypt and deprived him of the Thracian Chersonese that had been given to Seleucus by Lysimachus. Against the counsels of Hannibal, who urged him to attack Italy itself, Antiochus went with his army to Greece, where he was defeated at Thermopylæ, 191 B.C. Still more crushing was his defeat at Magnesia in 190 B.C. In the treaty of 188 B.C. he was forced to abandon Asia Minor beyond the Taurus, to pay 15,000 talents, and to give twenty hostages, among them his son. To raise the money he pillaged a temple of Bel in Elymais, and was probably murdered by the outraged people in 187 B.C.


ANTIOCHUS IV. EPIPH'ANES (Gk. Ἐπιφανής, Epiphanēs, illustrious). King of Syria, 175-164 B.C. Son of Antiochus III., succeeded his brother, Seleucus IV.. Philopator (187-175). In 188 he had been sent to Rome as hostage, and he had been educated there; in 176 Seleucus had sent his own son Demetrius to take his place. Antiochus was on his way home, when the news reached him that his brother had been murdered by Heliodorus. He took possession of the throne that by right of succession belonged to Demetrius. Suspicious of the young son of Seleucus, he seems to have used Andronicus to remove him, after which Andronicus himself was executed. In 173 Cleopatra died, and hostilities with Egypt began. His first Egyptian campaign, however, did not occur before 170. He captured Pelusium, entered Egypt, and led Ptolemy VII. Philometor as king into Memphis, sought in vain to storm Alexandria, but defeated Ptolemy IX. Physcon in a naval battle before he was obliged by troubles in Syria to return. In Judæa, Onias III. had been removed from the high-priesthood, and his brother, Jason, who was a mere tool of the ambitious family of the Tobiadæ put into his place in 173. Immediately before the Egyptian expedition, the Tobiad Menelaüs secured from Antiochus the high-priestly office. When a rumor spread in Jerusalem that Antiochus had perished, Jason returned, but his brother, Onias III., was preferred by the people. Jason fell and Onias was made high-priest. Menelaüs and other Tobiadæ fled to Antioch. On his way back, Antiochus went to Jerusalem to reinstate Menelaüs. Onias III. fled to Egypt, where he was granted the privilege of building a temple at Leontopolis by Ptolemy VII. Philometor. Antiochus entered the temple in Jerusalem and took many of its treasures, among them the golden altar, the candelabra, and the table of incense. He does not seem to have shed any blood. In 168 he undertook his second campaign against Egypt, where Philometor and Physcon were now united against him. His progress was checked by the Roman legate, Popilius Lænas, who demanded immediate obedience to the demands of the Senate. Returning to Syria, he found many of the Jews embittered by the indignities heaped upon them, rebellious against the illegitimate high-priest, and scarcely concealing their joy over his humiliation. He, therefore, ordered the walls to be razed, fortified the Acra, put in a strong garrison, destroyed in part the temple, erected on the top of the old altar a new one to Zeus Olympius (Shikkuz Shamen, "abomination of desolation;" for Baal Shamem, "lord of heaven," Dan. xi:31), abolished the sacred seasons, forbade circumcision, and burned sacred books, 168 B.C. This course of action may, in part, have been due to a genuine zeal for the god of Hellas, for whom he must have longed during his Roman days, and on whose sanctuaries at Athens, Olympia, and elsewhere he later lavished his gifts. On the other hand, reasons of state may have led him to build a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus in Antioch. That he should have forsaken the gods of his fathers to worship this strange "god of fortresses," seemed to the author of Daniel a particular sign of his wickedness (xi:38). His stringent measures for the Hellenization of Judæa caused the Maccabæan revolt. Mattathias began the rebellion. After his death in 166, his son, Judas, defeated Apoleonius, Seron, Gorgias, and finally Lysias himself; took possession of Jerusalem, except the Acra, and restored and rededicated the temple in December, 165 B.C. Meanwhile Antiochus had gone with an army, first against Armenia and Sophene, 166 B.C., then against Messene on the Persian Gulf, 165 B.C., and finally into Susiana, gaining many victories everywhere. He attempted to plunder the temple of Nanæa in Elymais, but the people defended successfully their sanctuary, and he was forced to retire to Babylon. In Persis he received the sad news from Judæa, and died in Tabæ, 164 B.C.


ANTIOCHUS V. EU'PATOR (Gk. Εὑπάτωρ, Eupatōr, born of a noble father). King of Syria, 164-162 B.C. Son of Antiochus IV., was only nine years old when his father died. Lysias became his guardian and regent of the Empire. Accompanied by the young king, Lysias marched against Judæa to quell the Maccabæan revolt. At Beth Zechariah Judas was defeated, Bethzur was taken, and the temple mountain was besieged. The Jews were obliged to negotiate for peace. They must recognize the Seleucid authority, raze the fortifications of the temple, and accept the garrison in the Acra; but on the other hand were allowed religious freedom. Lysias was quite able to cope with Philip; but both he and his royal ward succumbed to Demetrius, son of Seleucus IV., in 162 B.C.


ANTIOCHUS VI. THE'OS (Gk. Θεός, god). King of Syria. 145-142 B.C. Son of Alexander Balas and Cleopatra, was proclaimed king while still a minor, living at the court of Imalcue, or Yamliku, King of Chaleis, by Diodotus, called Tryphon, one of Alexander's generals. Tryphon was