ANTIOCHUS III

(Megas, "The Great," mentioned in 1 Maccabees 1:10; 8:6-8): Son of Seleucus Kallinikos; succeeded to the throne of Syria in 222 B.C.; put to death his general, Hermeas, and then led an army against Egypt. Theodotus surrendered to him Tyre, Ptolemais and his naval fleet. Rhodes and Cyzicus, as well as Byzantium and Aetolia, desired peace, but Antiochus declined to accept their terms. He renewed the war, but was defeated at Raphia in 217, and was obliged to give up Phoenicia and Coelesyria; Seleucia, however, he retained. He undertook to bring under his sway again all the territory of the Far East. His expedition against Bactria and Parthia gained for him the surname of "The Great." In 209 he carried away the treasure of the goddess Aine in Ecbatana, defeated the Parthians, and in 208 marched against the Bactrians. Later he made a treaty with an Indian rajah, and then returned to the West by way of Arachosia and Carmania, forcing the Gerraean Arabs to furnish him with frankincense, myrrh and silver. Then he took Ephesus, which he made his headquarters. In 196 he had crossed the Hellespont and rebuilt Lysimachia. Hannibal visited Antiochus in Ephesus the next year and became one of the king's advisers. He sought the friendship also of Eumenes of Pergamum, but without success.

Rome now requested the king not to interfere in Europe, or to recognize the right of the Romans to protect the Greeks in Asia. A war broke out in 192, and Antiochus was persuaded to come to Greece. The Aetolians elected him their general, who asked the Acheans to remain neutral. But the patriotic Philopoemen decided that an alliance with Rome was to be preferred. Antiochus first captured Calchis; then succeeded in gaining a footing in Boeotia, and later made an effort to get possession of Thessaly, but retired on the approach of the Macedonian army. In 191 the Romans made a formal declaration of war on Antiochus, who, being at that time in Acarnania, returned to Calchis, and finally sailed back to Ephesus. The Romans regained possession of Boeotia, Euboea and Sestus; but Polyxenidas defeated the Roman fleet near Samos, which island, together with Cyme and Phocaea, fell into the hands of Antiochus. The victorious Polyxenidas, however, soon sustained a crushing defeat at the hands of the Romans, and Antiochus abandoned Lysimachia, leaving an open road to Asia to the Romans. He was finally defeated at Magnesia and sent word to Scipio, who was at Sardis, that he was willing to make peace; but Scipio ordered him to send envoys to Rome. A decision was reached in 189; the Asiatic monarch was obliged to renounce everything on the Roman side of the Taurus; give up all his ships of war but ten and pay 15,000 talents to Rome, and 500 to Eumenes. Antiochus marched against the revolted Armenians in 187. In order to replenish his exhausted treasury, he attempted to plunder a temple and both he and his soldiers were slain by the Elymeans.

LITERATURE. Polyb. v0.40.21; Livy xxxi0.14; xxxiii. 19; Josephus, Ant, XII; Heyden, Res ab Ant; Babelon, Rois de Syrie, 77-86; Daniel 11:10-19; Tetzlaff, De Antiochi III Magni rebus gestis (Munster, 1874).

J. E. Harry

They Say that Antiochus of Cyzicum Took from Its Shrine a Statue ...
... They say that Antiochus of Cyzicum took from its shrine a statue of Jupiter made
of gold ten [4723] cubits high, and set up in its place one made ... Deor., iii. ...
/.../the seven books of arnobius against the heathen/21 they say that antiochus.htm

In Jud??a and through Samaria - a Sketch of Samaritan History and ...
... injuring and insulting them. Thus, in the time of Antiochus III. they sold
many Jews into slavery. [1915] Afterwards they sought ...
/.../edersheim/the life and times of jesus the messiah/chapter vii in judaea and.htm

Severian, Bishop of Gabales, and Antiochus, Bishop of Ptolemais. ...
... It appears that Antiochus was the first to visit Constantinople; he gained great ...
Homilia de recipiendo Severiano; andSermo ipsius Severiam de pace, iii. ...
/.../chapter x severian bishop of gabales.htm

Gennadius.
... III. Gennadius. List of the Authors whom Gennadius added, after the Death of the
Blessed Jerome. [2572] ... Severus the presbyter. 20. Antiochus the bishop. 21. ...
/.../various/jerome and gennadius lives of illustrious men /iii gennadius.htm

In the Next Place, Miracles were Performed in all Countries...
... Chapter III. ... renounce Judaism and their law, and have been cruelly treated, at one
time in Assyria, at another in Persia, and at another under Antiochus, is it ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/origen/origen against celsus/chapter iii in the next.htm

On Daniel. Iii. Scholia on Daniel.
... iii.1 "In the eighteenth year," etc. ... shall be given (set up)." Daniel speaks, therefore,
of two abominations: the one of destruction, which Antiochus set up in ...
/.../the extant works and fragments of hippolytus/on daniel iii scholia on.htm

The Cruelty of the Sacrifices to the Gods.
... Chapter III."The Cruelty of the Sacrifices to the Gods. ... is the grave of Acrisius;
and at Athens, on the Acropolis, is that of Cecrops, as Antiochus says in ...
/.../clement/exhortation to the heathen/chapter iii the cruelty of the.htm

Esther
... probability that Haman is modelled on Antiochus Epiphanes; between their murderous
designs against the Jews there is certainly a strong resemblance, iii.9, 1 ...
//christianbookshelf.org/mcfadyen/introduction to the old testament/esther.htm

Index i. Of Subjects
... Antiochus III((Great), ruler of Samaria, i.397. Antiochus IV (Epiphanes),
persecutions of, i.4, 5, 95, 121. Antipater, history of, i.122, 123. ...
/.../edersheim/the life and times of jesus the messiah/index i of subjects.htm

Basil: Letters and Select Works
... Letter II. Basil to Gregory. Letter III. To Candidianus. Letter IV. ... To Eusebius,
bishop of Samosata. Letter CXLVI. To Antiochus. Letter CXLVII. To Aburgius. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/basil/basil letters and select works/