Son of Antiochus I who regained control of
the provinces in Asia Minor & Phoenicia that his father had lost, by
forming an alliance with Antigonus II of Macedon against Ptolemy II of
Egypt. To gain the support of Syrian Jews he granted them
citizenship. The citizens of Miletus [Asia Minor] proclaimed him a god
[Greek: theos]
for expelling the tyrant who oppressed them (255
BCE). But the price of a
peace treaty with Egypt (ca. 252
BCE) was divorce from his half-sister Laodice
to marry Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy. Though he repudiated Berenice
and reinstated Laodice, the latter soon poisoned him to guarantee their
son the throne. The subsequent war
between Seleucid & Ptolemaic forces cost Antiochus' heirs more than he
had gained.
References: Josephus,
Antiquities
7.43, 12.125.
Appian,
History of Rome: the Syrian Wars 65.
Other resources on line: