Seleucus II Callinicus or Pogon (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

: Σέλευκος Β' Καλλίνικος , the epithets meaning "beautiful victor" and "bearded", respectively), was a 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...

, 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 an Anatolian noblewoman who was a close relative of the early Seleucid Dynasty and was the first wife of the Seleucid Greek King Antiochus II Theos. -Family Background:...

 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...

 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 monarch Antiochus II Theos, who, following an agreement with Ptolemy , had divorced his wife Laodice I and transferred the succession to...

 and her son, another Antiochus.

This dynastic feud began the Third Syrian War. 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

Asia Minor

Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

.

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 , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. However, Antiochus Hierax

Antiochus Hierax

Antiochus Hierax , or Antiochus III, , so called from his grasping and ambitious character, was the younger son of Antiochus II and Laodice I and separatist leader in the Hellenistic Seleucid kingdom, who ruled as king of Syria during his brother's reign.On the death of his father, in 246 BCE,...

, 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 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, rulers of 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 founder of the Arsacid dynasty, and after whom all 30+ monarchs of the Arsacid empire officially named themselves. A celebrated descent from antiquity begins with Arsaces.A 1st century AD tradition casts Arsaces as descending from the 5th-century BC Achaemenid monarch...

, who recognized his sovereignty.

In Asia Minor, Pergamon

Pergamon

Pergamon , or Pergamum, was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located from the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus , that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC...

 now rose to greatness under Attalus I

Attalus I

Attalus I , surnamed Soter ruled Pergamon, an 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. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

 in 228 or 227 BC.

About a year later, Seleucus was killed by a fall from his horse. Seleucus II married his cousin Laodice II

Laodice II

Laodice , wife of her cousin Seleucus II Callinicus, was, according to the express statement of Polybius, she was the daughter of Andromachus and sister of Seleucid General Achaeus. Laodice II bore Seleucus II five children, among them were: Antiochis, Seleucus III Ceraunus and Antiochus III the...

, by whom he had five children and among them were: Antiochis

Antiochis

The name Antiochis, in Greek Ἀντιoχίς is the female name of Antiochus. Antiochis in Greek antiquity may refer to:-Hellenistic queens consort:*Antiochis, daughter of Achaeus, married to Attalus, and the mother of Attalus I, king of Pergamon...

, Seleucus III Ceraunus

Seleucus III Ceraunus

Seleucus III Soter, called Seleucus Ceraunus , was a ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Kingdom, the eldest son of Seleucus II Callinicus and Laodice II. His birth name was Alexander and was named after his great uncle the Seleucid official Alexander...

 and Antiochus III the Great

Antiochus III the Great

Antiochus III the Great Seleucid Greek king who became the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire as a youth of about eighteen in 223 BC. Antiochus was an ambitious ruler who ruled over Greater Syria and western Asia towards the end of the 3rd century BC...

. 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 Kingdom, the eldest son of Seleucus II Callinicus and Laodice II. His birth name was Alexander and was named after his great uncle the Seleucid official Alexander...

, and later by his younger son Antiochus III the Great

Antiochus III the Great

Antiochus III the Great Seleucid Greek king who became the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire as a youth of about eighteen in 223 BC. Antiochus was an ambitious ruler who ruled over Greater Syria and western Asia towards the end of the 3rd century BC...

.

External links

• Seleucus II Callinicus entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith