Antiochus VII Euergetes, nicknamed Sidetes (from Side

Side

Side was an ancient Greek city in Anatolia, in the region of Pamphylia, in what is now Antalya province, on the southern Mediterranean coast of Turkey...

), ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire

Seleucid Empire

The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...

, reigned from 138 to 129 BC. He was the last Seleucid king of any stature.

He was one of the sons of Demetrius I Soter

Demetrius I Soter

Demetrius I , surnamed Soter , was a ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire....

, the brother of Demetrius II Nicator

Demetrius II Nicator

For the similarly named Macedonian ruler, see Demetrius II of Macedon. For the Macedonian prince, see Demetrius the Fair.Demetrius II , called Nicator , was one of the sons of Demetrius I Soter, brother of Antiochus VII Sidetes and his mother could have been Laodice V...

 and his mother may have been Laodice V

Laodice V

Laodice V was a Greek Princess of the Seleucid Empire. Through marriage she was a Queen of the ruling Antigonid dynasty in Macedonia and possibly later of the Seleucid dynasty.-Family and Early Life:...

. Antiochus was elevated after Demetrius' capture by the Parthia

Parthia

Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....

ns. He married Cleopatra Thea

Cleopatra Thea

Cleopatra Thea surnamed Eueteria was the ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. She ruled Syria from 125 BC after the death of Demetrius II Nicator...

, who had been the wife of Demetrius. Their offspring was Antiochus IX

Antiochus IX Cyzicenus

Antiochus IX Eusebes, ruler of the Greek Seleucid kingdom, was the son of Antiochus VII Sidetes and Cleopatra Thea. Upon the death of his father in Parthia and his uncle Demetrius II Nicator's return to power , his mother sent him to Cyzicus on the Bosporus, thus giving him his nickname...

, who thus became both half-brother and cousin to Seleucus V

Seleucus V Philometor

The Seleucid king Seleucus V Philometor , ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid kingdom, was the eldest son of Demetrius II Nicator and Cleopatra Thea. The epithet Philometor means mother-loving and in the Hellenistic world usually indicated that the mother acted as co-regent for the prince.In 126 BC...

 and Antiochus VIII

Antiochus VIII Grypus

Antiochus VIII Epiphanes/Callinicus/Philometor, nicknamed Grypus , was crowned as ruler of the Greek Seleucid kingdom in 125 BC. He was the son of Demetrius II Nicator and Cleopatra Thea.-Biography:...

.
Sidetes defeated the usurper Tryphon

Diodotus Tryphon

Diodotus Tryphon was king of the Hellenistic Seleucid kingdom. As a general of the army, he promoted the claims of Antiochus VI Dionysus, the infant son of Alexander Balas, in Antioch after Alexander's death, but then in 142 deposed the child and himself seized power in Coele-Syria where Demetrius...

 at Dora

Al-Tantura

Tantura was a Palestinian Arab fishing village located 8 kilometers northwest of Zikhron Ya'akov on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. It was built on the ruins of the ancient Phoenician city of Dor.-Antiquity:...

 and laid siege to Jerusalem in 134. According to Josephus

Josephus

Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...

 the Hasmonean

Hasmonean

The Hasmonean dynasty , was the ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BCE, the dynasty ruled semi-autonomously from the Seleucids in the region of Judea...

 king John Hyrcanus

John Hyrcanus

John Hyrcanus was a Hasmonean leader of the 2nd century BC.-Name:...

 opened King David

David

David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...

's sepulchre and removed three thousand talents, which he then paid Antiochus to spare the city. Sidetes then attacked the Parthians, supported by a body of Jews under Hyrcanus, and briefly took back Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...

, Babylonia

Babylonia

Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...

 and Media

Medes

The MedesThe Medes...

 before being ambushed and killed by Phraates II

Phraates II of Parthia

Phraates II of Parthia, son of Mithridates I of Parthia , the conqueror of Babylon, ruled the Parthian Empire from 138 BC to 128 BC. He was attacked in 130 BC by Antiochus VII Sidetes , ruler of the Seleucid Empire...

. His brother Demetrius II had by then been released, but the Seleucid realm was now restricted to Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

.

External links

• Antiochus VII Sidetes entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith