Antiochus (; ; killed c. 226 BC), called Hierax (, Ἱέραξ, "Hawk") for his grasping and ambitious character,[Plutarch, Sayings of Kings and Commanders, p.184; On Brotherly Love, p.489] was the younger son of Antiochus II and Laodice I and separatist leader in the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, who ruled as king of Syria during his brother's reign.
Life
King of Asia Minor
Youngest son of Antiochus II and
Laodice I, he was thirteen when his father died in 246 BC. That death led to the Third Syrian War. A year later, probably under the influence of his mother,
[Justin, Epitome of the Phillipic History of Pompeius Trogus, XXVII] Antiochus demands the possession of Asia Minor from his brother Seleucus II Callinicus and quickly declares his independence in order to expand his territory and his authority. Seleucus, struggling against the Ptolemaic forces, has no choice but to accept.
War of the Brothers
In 241 BC, Seleucus made peace with Ptolemy III Euergetes and then tried to recover the territories his brother took from him. Ready for the war, Hierax sought the help of two strong allies : Mithridates II of Pontus and Ariarathes III of Cappadocia and thus constitutes a vast coalition of Anatolian states :
Cappadocia,
Bithynia and a certain number of Galatians. After a first loss in
Lydia, he decimated his brother's army in the Battle of Ancyra in ca. 239 BC
[Overtoom, "The Power-Transition Crisis of the 240s BCE and the Creation of the Parthian State," The International History Review
Volume 38, 2016 - Issue 5. Pages 984-1013. [3]] and then ruled over Asia Minor - where he developed a coinage while his brother had to go in Iran to stop a rebellion in
Parthian Empire[Maurice Sartre, L'Anatolie Hellénistique, Armand Colin, 2003]
Against Attalus I
In c. 238, Antiochus and his Galatians allies attacked
Pergamon but had to face its powerful ruler
Attalus I. Attalus defeated the Gauls and Antiochus at the Battle of Aphrodisium and again at a second battle in the east. Subsequent battles were fought and won against Antiochus alone: in Hellespontine
Phrygia, where Antiochus was perhaps seeking refuge with his father-in law,
[Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, xxvii. 2-3; Polyaenus, Stratagemata, iv. 17; Eusebius, Chronicon (Schoene ed.), pag. 251; Pompeius Trogus, Prologi, 27;] Ziaelas of Bithynia; near Sardis in the spring of 228 BC; and, in the final battle of the campaign, further south in
Caria on the banks of the Harpasus, a tributary of the Maeander.
[Hansen, Esther V. (1971). The Attalids of Pergamon. Cornell University Press. , p.34-35] All his possessions taken away, Antiochus still tried to replace his brother in Syria and
Mesopotamia, taking advantage of the fact that his brother was in Iran. He ultimately failed and got killed in
Thrace in 226 BC.
Marriage relations
Antiokhos Hierax had two wives:
- daughter of the ruler of
Kappadokia (see Ariarathes III of Cappadocia) whose country he was allied with at least in 230 BCE.
- daughter of king of Bithynia whose country he was also allied with.
Both these were daughters of royal families with whom Hierax allied with, for alliance against his elder brother Seleukos II.
His sister Laodike was married with his ally, king Mithridates II of Pontus.
See also Laodice.
Notes
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