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Seleucus II Callinicus or Pogon (Greek
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....
: S??e???? ?' ?a????????, the epithets meaning "beautiful victor" and "bearded", respectively), was a ruler 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....
, who reigned from 246 to 225 BC. After the death of this father, Antiochus
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....
, he was proclaimed king by his mother, Laodice
Laodice I

Laodice I was the first wife, and likely the cousin, of Antiochus II Theos of the Seleucid dynasty. He repudiated her and her children, when he agreed to marry Berenice , Ptolemy II Philadelphus's daughter; and declared his eldest son by Berenice his heir....
 in Ephesos, while her partisans at Antioch
Antioch

Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the nearer East and was a cradle of gentile hi...
 murdered Berenice
Berenice (Seleucid queen)

Berenice, also called Berenice Syra, was the daughter of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and his first wife Arsinoe I of Egypt.In 261 BC she married the Seleucid dynasty monarch Antiochus II Theos, who, following an agreement with Ptolemy , had divorced his wife Laodice I and transferred the succession to Berenice's children....
 and her son.

This dynastic feud began the Third 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....
. Ptolemy III, who was Berenice's brother and the ruler of Egypt, invaded the Seleucid Empire and marched victoriously to the Tigris or beyond.






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Seleucus II Callinicus or Pogon (Greek
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....
: S??e???? ?' ?a????????, the epithets meaning "beautiful victor" and "bearded", respectively), was a ruler 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....
, who reigned from 246 to 225 BC. After the death of this father, Antiochus
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....
, he was proclaimed king by his mother, Laodice
Laodice I

Laodice I was the first wife, and likely the cousin, of Antiochus II Theos of the Seleucid dynasty. He repudiated her and her children, when he agreed to marry Berenice , Ptolemy II Philadelphus's daughter; and declared his eldest son by Berenice his heir....
 in Ephesos, while her partisans at Antioch
Antioch

Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the nearer East and was a cradle of gentile hi...
 murdered Berenice
Berenice (Seleucid queen)

Berenice, also called Berenice Syra, was the daughter of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and his first wife Arsinoe I of Egypt.In 261 BC she married the Seleucid dynasty monarch Antiochus II Theos, who, following an agreement with Ptolemy , had divorced his wife Laodice I and transferred the succession to Berenice's children....
 and her son.

This dynastic feud began the Third 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....
. Ptolemy III, who was Berenice's brother and the ruler of Egypt, invaded the Seleucid Empire and marched victoriously to the Tigris or beyond. He received the submission of the Seleucid Empire's eastern provinces, while Egyptian fleets swept the coast of Asia Minor.

Seleucus managed to maintain himself in the interior of Asia Minor. When Ptolemy returned to Egypt, Seleucus recovered Northern Syria and the nearer provinces of Iran
Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
. However, Antiochus Hierax
Antiochus Hierax

Antiochus Hierax , so called from his grasping and ambitious character, was a separatist ruler of the Greece Seleucid Empire, the younger son of Antiochus II Theos and Laodice I, Seleucid Empire king of Syria....
, a younger brother of Seleucus, was set up as a rival in Asia Minor against Seleucus by a party to which Laodice herself adhered.

At Ancyra (about 235 BC) Seleucus sustained a crushing defeat and left the country beyond the Taurus to his brother and the other powers of the peninsula. Seleucus then undertook an anabasis
Anabasis

The Greek term anabasis referred to an expedition from a coastline up into the interior of a country. The term katabasis referred to a trip from the interior down to the coast....
 to regain Parthia
Parthia

Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, after which the Arsacid Empire is then also known as the 'Parthian Empire'....
, the results of which came to nothing. According to some sources, he was even taken prisoner for several years by the Parthian king. Other sources mention that he established a peace with Arsaces I
Arsaces I of Parthia

Arsaces I was the 3rd century BCE founder of the Arsacid dynasty, and after whom all 30+ monarchs of the Arsacid empire officially named themselves....
, who recognized his sovereignty.

In Asia Minor, Pergamon
Pergamon

Pergamon or Pergamum was an ancient Ancient Greece city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, north-western Anatolia, 16 miles from the Aegean Sea, located on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus , that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic Greece, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC....
 now rose to greatness under Attalus I
Attalus I

Attalus I , surnamed Soter ruled Pergamon, a Ionian Greek polis , first as dynast, later as king, from 241 BC to 197 BC. He was the second cousin and the adoptive son of Eumenes I, whom he succeeded, and was the first of the Attalid dynasty to assume the title of king in 238 BC....
. Antiochus Hierax, after a failed attempt to seize his brother's dominions when his own were vanishing, perished as a fugitive in 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 228 or 227 BC.

About a year later, Seleucus was killed by a fall from his horse. He was succeeded by his elder son, Seleucus III Ceraunus
Seleucus III Ceraunus

Seleucus III Soter, called Seleucus Ceraunus , was a ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, the eldest son of Seleucus II Callinicus....
, and later by his younger son Antiochus III the Great
Antiochus III the Great

Antiochus III the Great, , younger son of Seleucus II Callinicus, became the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire as a youth of about eighteen in 223 BC....
. Both of these were sons of his wife Laodice
Laodice II

Laodice , wife of Seleucus II Callinicus, was, according to the express statement of Polybius, a daughter of Andromachus ,and sister of Achaeus ....
.

External links


  • entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith