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Greek Coin of Seleukid Kingdom
Antiochos VII Sidetes – King: 138-129 B.C.
Posthumous Issue under Cappadocian King Ariarathes VII
Silver Tetradrachm 30mm (14.72 grams) Struck in Cappadocia 104-102 B.C.
Reference: Sear 7091 var.; ETNewell, The Sele NC 166, 2006, p. 66 ff Series 1.3 No. 2 and Plate 15 SC 2148th
Certification: NGC Ancients VF 4375823-041
His diademed head right; fillet border.
Athena standing left, holding Nike, spear and shield; on right, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ANTIOXOY; on left, EYEPΓETOY; in field to left, two monograms; O Λ across fields ; all within laurel-wreath.
To the interpretation as a posthumous coinage among the Cappadocian kings see CC Lorber – A. Houghton, Cappadocian Tetradrachm in the name of Antiochus VII, NC 166, 2006, 49 ff
Almost alone amongst the later Seleukid monarchs, Antiochos VII ruled with competence and integrity. He was the younger brother of Demetrios II, and following the latter’s capture by the Parthians he seized power and quickly disposed the usurper Tryphon. He campaigned with success in Palestine and Babylonia, but in 129 B.C. he was killed in battle against the Parthians.
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Antiochus VII Euergetes, nicknamed Sidetes (from Side), ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, reigned from 138 to 129 BC. He was the last Seleucid king of any stature.
He was one of the sons of Demetrius I Soter, the brother of Demetrius II Nicator and his mother may have been Laodice V. Antiochus was elevated after Demetrius’ capture by the Parthians. He married Cleopatra Thea, who had been the wife of Demetrius. Their offspring was Antiochus IX, who thus became both half-brother and cousin to Seleucus V and Antiochus VIII.
Sidetes defeated the usurper Tryphon at Dora and laid siege to Jerusalem in 132. During the siege he allowed a seven day truce for the Jews to celebrate a religious festival, impressing the Jewish leadership. According to Josephus the Hasmonean leader John Hyrcanus opened King David‘s sepulchre and removed three thousand talents, which he then paid Antiochus to spare the city. Nevertheless, King Antiochus’ respectful treatment of the Jews, and respect for their religion, earned him their gratitude and added name, Euergetes (“the Benefactor”). With no Jewish sources of that time (the Book of Maccabees ends few years before his time) it is unclear if the siege on Jerusalem ended with a decisive Seleucid victory or simply a peace treaty. Furthermore, the fact is that Jewish forces later assisted Sidetes in his wars, and that for nearly 20 years after his death, John Hyrcanus refrained of attacking areas under Seleucid control. All in all it indicates a renewal of the friendly relations from the time of Demetrius II.
Antiochus spent the final years of his life attempting to reclaim the lost eastern territories, overrun by the Parthians under their “Great King”, Mithridates I. Marching east, with what would prove to be the last great Seleucid royal army (including a unit of Judean troops under John Hyrcanus), he defeated Mithridates in two battles, killing the aged Parthian king in the last of these. He restored Mesopotamia, Babylonia and Media to the Seleucid empire, before dispersing his army into winter quarters.
The Seleucid king and army spent the winter feasting, hunting, and drinking (the Seleucids maintained the Macedonian tradition of heavy drinking). As with any time an army is quartered upon a population, tensions soon grew between the locals and the Seleukian troops.
The new Parthian ruler, Phraates II, had not been idle; raising a new army while stirring up rebellion in the Seleucid occupied towns of Media. Hoping to further sew dissension amongst his foe, Phraates also released his long-held prisoner, Demetrius II, Antiochus’ older brother, to return to Seleukia and reclaim the throne.
That winter (130–129 BCE), several Median towns rose in rebellion and attacked their Seleucid garrisons. Antiochus marched to support one such isolated garrison with only a small force (likely only his Royal Guards). In a barren valley, he was ambushed and killed by Phraates II and a large force of Parthians, which had entered the country without being detected. The last great Seleucid king died in battle, a fitting end for the heir of Seleucus I Nicator (the Victor). (One disputed account has Antiochus take his own life, after the battle is lost, to avoid capture by the Parthians.)
After Antiochus VII Sidetes, the Parthians regained the territory briefly lost, and the Seleucid realm was now restricted to Seleukia.
Seleucid Empire
Σελεύκεια
Seleúkeia |
Dynasty founded by Seleucus I Nicator following the division of the empire created by Alexander the Great. Seleucus received Babylonia and, from there, expanded his dominions to include much of Alexander’s near eastern territories. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Kuwait, Persia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and northwest parts of India.
The Seleucid Empire was a major center of Hellenistic culture that maintained the preeminence of Greek customs where a Greek-Macedonian political elite dominated, mostly in the urban areas. The Greek population of the cities who formed the dominant elite were reinforced by emigration from Greece. Seleucid expansion into Anatolia and Greece was abruptly halted after decisive defeats at the hands of the Roman army. Their attempts to defeat their old enemy Ptolemaic Egypt were frustrated by Roman demands. Much of the eastern part of the empire was conquered by the Parthians under Mithridates I of Parthia in the mid-2nd century BC, yet the Seleucid kings continued to rule a rump state from the Seleukid Kingdom until the invasion by Armenian king Tigranes the Great and their ultimate overthrow by the Roman general Pompey.
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