Background
Antiochus was born in around 215 BC. He was the third son of Antiochus III.
Antiochus was born in around 215 BC. He was the third son of Antiochus III.
Antiochus IV succeeded his brother Seleucus IV as ruler of the Seleucid empire in 175 B. C. Nicknamed Epimanes, or "Goon on Earth".
He maintained a vigorous foreign policy. In 169, in response to a planned invasion of Israel and Lebanon by the Egyptian king Ptolemy VI, Antiochus moved first, defeated the Egyptians in the Negeb, and advanced to the Nile at Memphis. He accepted Ptolemy's submission, and when a separatist movement crowned the Egyptian king's brother as Ptolemy VII in Alexandria, he left Ptolemy VI to deal with the usurper. Antiochus withdrew, keeping only Pelusium, the frontier fortress east of the Nile Delta, as pawn. The Ptolemaic brothers united in 168, and Antiochus again invaded Egypt while another of his armies took the Egyptian island of Cyprus. Antiochus was about to besiege Alexandria when an ultimatum from the Roman Senate ordered him to evacuate both Egypt and Cyprus. No match for Rome, Antiochus accepted and had to be satisfied with a "victory over Egypt" festival at Daphne.
Early in his reign Antiochus strengthened his control of Cilicia (modern district of Mersin and Adana), and he reduced Artaxias, the independent ruler of Armenia (modern eastern Turkey), to the status of a client king. In the later years of his reign, Antiochus campaigned in the eastern provinces. He strengthened Media in central Iran against the rising power of Parthia, farther to the northeast. He also attempted an unsuccessful invasion of Susiana in southern Iran, allegedly in order to loot the temple of Anaitis, and an exploration of the Persian Gulf fell short of an invasion of Arabia.
Antiochus relied on Macedonians and Greeks to man his kingdom's administrative services and the armed forces. He tried to increase the reservoir of talent by drawing native peoples into Hellenized cities and by reorganizing native cities along Greek lines, often renaming them Epiphania or Antiochea. These cities included Babylon, Uruk, Ecbatana, and Jerusalem. Antiochus claimed temple treasures and imposed Greek cults. The policy proved disastrous in Judaea, where confiscation of some temple funds and enforced worship of Zeus Olympius in place of Jehovah caused an uprising and guerrilla warfare by the Maccabees from 167 to 164. Antiochus abandoned the policy before his death in Media in 163, but the tide of Asian reaction to Hellenism was rising, and the circle of Syria's enemies was closing in.
Notable events during the reign of Antiochus IV include his near-conquest of Egypt, his persecution of the Jews of Judea and Samaria, and the rebellion of the Jewish Maccabees.
As a ruler he was best known for his encouragement of Greek culture and institutions. His attempts to suppress Judaism brought on the Wars of the Maccabees.
Asserting his divinity, Antiochus claimed temple treasures and imposed Greek cults.
Antiochus IV ruled the Jews from 175 to 164 BC. He is remembered as a major villain and persecutor in the Jewish traditions associated with Hanukkah, including the books of Maccabees and the "Scroll of Antiochus". Rabbinical sources refer to him as הרשע harasha ("the wicked"); the Jewish Encyclopedia concluded that "[s]ince Jewish and heathen sources agree in their characterization of him, their portrayal is evidently correct", summarizing this portrayal as one of a cruel and vainglorious ruler who tried to force on all the peoples of his realm a Hellenic culture, "the true essence of which he can scarcely be said to have appreciated". Whether Antiochus's policy was directed at extermination of Judaism as a culture and a religion, though, is debatable on the grounds that his persecution was limited to Judea and Samaria (Jews in the diaspora were exempt), and that Antiochus was hardly an ideologically motivated Hellenizer. Erich S. Gruen suggests that, instead, he was driven more by pragmatics such as the need to gather income from Judea.
For his eccentric behavior, Antiochus proved an energetic and capable ruler.
He married Laodice IV. They had five children.
( 241 – 187 BC, ruled 222–187 BC)
She was a Princess of Pontus and a Seleucid Queen.
(flourished second half 3rd century BC and first half 2nd century BC)
She was a Greek Princess from the Seleucid Empire and the wife of the King Mithridates III of Pontus.
(flourished 2nd century BC, died 115–113 BC)
He was the ruler of the Greek Seleucid kingdom in 150–146 BC.
( ca. 172 BC – 161 BC)
