Antiochus I Soter

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Antiochus I Soter

Antiochus I Soter (Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
: ??t????? ?' S?t??, i.e. Antiochus the Savior, unknown - 261 BC), was a king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire

Seleucid Empire

The Seleucid Empire /s?'lus?d/ was a Hellenistic empire, i.e. a successor state of Alexander the Great's empire. The Seleucid Empire was centered in the near East and at the height of its power included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir Mountains and parts of Pakistan....
. He reigned from 281 BC - 261 BC.

Antiochus I was half Persian, his mother Apama

Apama

Apama was the wife of the first ruler of the Seleucid Empire, Seleucus Nicator. They married at Susa in 324 BC.According to ancient sources, Apama was the daughter of the Sogdian baron Spitamenes ....
being one of the eastern princesses whom Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
had given as wives to his generals in 324 BC.

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Antiochus I Soter (Greek

Ancient Greek

Seleucid Empire

Apama

Alexander the Great

Seleucus I Nicator

Seleucus I , was a Ancient Macedonians officer of Alexander the Great. In the Wars of the Diadochi that took place after Alexander's death, Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty and the Seleucid Empire....
, Antiochus married his stepmother, Stratonice

Stratonice of Syria

Stratonice of Syria was the daughter of king Demetrius I of Macedon and Phila of Macedonia, the daughter of Antipater. In 300 BC, at which time she could not have been more than seventeen years of age, her hand was solicited by Seleucus I Nicator, king of Seleucid Empire, and she was conducted by her father Demetrius to Rhosus, on the Piere...
, daughter of Demetrius Poliorcetes. His elderly father reportedly instigated the marriage after discovering that his son was in danger of dying of lovesickness.

On the assassination of his father in 281 BC, the task of holding together the empire was a formidable one. A revolt in Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
broke out almost immediately. Antiochus was soon compelled to make peace with his father's murderer, Ptolemy Keraunos

Ptolemy Keraunos

Ptolemy Keraunos was the King of Macedon from 281 BC to 279 BC.He was the eldest son of Ptolemy I Soter and his first wife Eurydice . His younger half-brother, also called Ptolemy, became heir apparent and, in 282 BC, ascended to the throne as Ptolemy II Philadelphus....
, apparently abandoning Macedon

Macedon

Macedon or Macedonia was the name of a monarchy centred in the northernmost part of ancient Greece. The homeland of the ancient Macedonians, it was bordered by the kingdom of Epirus to the west and the region of Thrace to the east....
ia and Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. Today the name Thrace designates a region spread over southern Bulgaria , northeastern Greece , and European Turkey ....
. In Asia Minor he was unable to reduce Bithynia

Bithynia

Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thrace Bosporus and the Euxine ....
or the Persian dynasties that ruled in Cappadocia

Cappadocia

Cappadocia, Wikipedia:IPA for English /k?p?'do???/ , was an extensive inland district of Asia Minor . The name continued to be used in western sources and in the Christianity tradition throughout history and is still widely used as an international Tourism in Turkey concept to define a region of exceptional natural wonders characterized by...
.

In 278 BC the Gaul

Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
s broke into Asia Minor, and a victory that Antiochus won over these hordes is said to have been the origin of his title of Soter (Gr.

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
for "saviour").

At the end of 275 BC the question of Coele-Syria

Coele-Syria

Coele-Syria, meaning 'hollow' Syria, was the region of southern Syria disputed between the Seleucid dynasty and the Ptolemaic dynasty. Strictly speaking, it is the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, but it is often used to cover the entire area south of the An Nahr al Kabir including Judea....
, which had been open between the houses of Seleucus

Seleucus

Seleucus was the name of several Macedonn kings of the Seleucid dynasty ruling in the area of Syria:* Seleucus I Nicator * Seleucus II Callinicus ...
and Ptolemy since the partition of 301 BC, led to hostilities (the First Syrian War

Syrian Wars

The Syrian Wars were a series of six wars between the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Egypt during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC over the region of Coele-Syria, one of the few avenues into Egypt....
). It had been continuously in Ptolemaic

Ptolemaic dynasty

The Ptolemaic dynasty was a Hellenistic Macedonian royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt for nearly 300 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC....
occupation, but the house of Seleucus maintained its claim.

War did not materially change the outlines of the two kingdoms, though frontier cities like Damascus

Damascus

Damascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is List of oldest continuously inhabited cities and its current population is estimated at about 4,000,000....
and the coast districts of Asia Minor might change hands.

His eldest son Seleucus had ruled in the east as viceroy from 275 BC(?) till 268/267 BC; Antiochus put his son to death in the latter year on the charge of rebellion. Circa 262 BC Antiochus tried to break the growing power of Pergamum by force of arms, but suffered defeat near Sardis

Sardis

Sardis, also Sardes , modern Sart in the Manisa province of Turkey, was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, one of the important cities of the Persian Empire, the seat of a proconsul under the Roman Empire, and the metropolis of the province Lydia in later Roman and Byzantine Empire times....
and died soon afterwards. He was succeeded in 261 BC by his second son Antiochus II Theos

Antiochus II Theos

Antiochus II Theos , was a king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Kingdom who reigned 261 BC–246 BC). He succeeded his father Antiochus I Soter in the winter of 262-61 BC....
.

External links

entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith