057: The Seleucid Empire - My Brother's Keeper

Hi there, you're listening to The Hellenistic Age Podcast, Episode 57, The Seleucid Empire, My Brother's Keeper. It is July in the year 246 BC, and King Antiochus II of the Seleucid Empire had suddenly died at the age of 40 in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor, having ruled since 261. His death was sudden and unexpected, and rumors of poison swirled about. Some ancient writers like Appian, Pliny the Elder, and Porphyrius laid the blame directly on the feet of Antiochus' first wife, Laodicea I, whom he was visiting at the time. She is said to have been driven to act by jealousy and insecurity after being divorced by Antiochus so he could take the hand of Ptolemy II's following the end of the Second Syrian War in 253-252. As much as a scorned lover trope makes for excellent storytelling, it is more than likely just that, a trope. While a couple of ancient historians and writers accuse Laodicea of killing Antiochus, no contemporary writings found in the Babylonian Chronicles or Astronomical Diaries make mention of foul play, and some, like Eusebius, merely states that he fell ill and died. Death by disease in the ancient world could come swiftly and unexpectedly, even in the prime of one's life and with access to the best doctors. As I also explained in the last episode, too much importance might be placed upon the Seleucid-Ptolemaic marriage alliance following the Second Syrian War, and Laodicea I probably did not undergo any loss of status given the polygamous nature of Hellenistic monarchies. Much of the blame seems to be unwarranted, and a similar comparison could be drawn between Laodicea and Livia Augusta, the wife of the Emperor Augustus and the alleged poisoner in the eyes of Roman historians like Tacitus and Cassius Dio. In addition, several of our surviving histories are likely based on an original work by Philarchus, a historian of the Ptolemaic court who was looking to blame the Seleucids as instigators of the Third Syrian War. Still, even if she didn't murder Antiochus, Queen Laodicea was more than willing to get her hands a bit dirty. Laodicea was the mother of two boys named Seleucus and Antiochus, but Berenicea had just given birth to a son shortly before Antiochus II's death. Laodicea needed to act before anything could be done to threaten her children's access to the throne, and by extension, her own safety. Since he was the eldest male of the dynasty, Seleucus, now Seleucus II, was proclaimed king by his mother, though in all likelihood he had been proclaimed as joint king prior to his father's passing as per Seleucid custom. Being in Antioch, Berenicea would not have heard about the king's death for at least several weeks, but when she did, she tried to gather any support that she could. Even with his cry for help, mother and child were soon set upon by assassins and murdered on the initiative of Seleucus, Laodicea, or perhaps both of them. Brutal? Certainly, though well within the normal course of royal politics during the Hellenistic period. Though the threat to their legitimacy was now gone, it appears that Berenicea's pleas would be posthumously answered by her brother, Ptolemy III Eurgates, the new king of Egypt following Ptolemy II's death earlier that same year. The younger Ptolemy would declare war upon Seleucus and invaded Syria that September in order to protect his nephew and sister's claims for the At least, this is what surviving fragments of official Ptolemaic reports tell us. More than likely, Ptolemy had been preparing for war since he took the diadem, given the remarkable speed with which the army had been assembled and marched across the border. Peace treaties only lasted about as long as both siding parties were alive anyways, so Ptolemy Philadelphus's death essentially guaranteed a renewal of hostilities. The troubles afflicting the Seleucid realm must have made it even more appealing for Ptolemy to invade when he did as well. A Seleucid governor of Ephesus named Sophron had taken control of the city in a coup in July or August of that year. This was apparently a preemptive move to save himself from the plotting of Laodice, according to the historian Philarchus. Ptolemy would eventually be given Ephesus during the war, so it is very tempting to imagine backroom deals being cut between Sophron and the Egyptian court, though no direct evidence exists for this idea. The invasion of Syria was remarkably smooth. Eurgites almost certainly knew that Berenike and the boy were dead, but he chose to withhold this information from Berenike's supporters who greeted him as far north as Seleucia in Piraeus and even Antioch, places where he received a welcome as a defender of the true heir. It seems bizarre to think that Ptolemy faced almost no resistance bypassing the Seleucid tetrapolis, and at some point he must have had to reveal his hand regarding his deceased sister and nephew. At what was clearly the lowest point for the Seleucid war effort, and arguably their lowest point across a century of Seleucid Ptolemaic antagonism, Ptolemy and his army managed to cross the Euphrates river and besiege Babylon by December. While it certainly falls short of the boasts of Ptolemy's propagandists who claim that he campaigned in lands like Bactria, such an accomplishment was truly impressive. Never before had the Egyptian army managed to penetrate this far into Seleucid territory. A fragment of the Babylonian Chronicles gives us an account of the fighting that took place. Ptolemy and his commanders first besieged Seleucia on the Euphrates before turning their attention to Babylon itself. Despite a defense by the Seleucid garrison, the Ptolemaic army, described as Hanians, managed to capture a part of the city and massacred many of the refugees inside. Ptolemy had taken control over enough of Mesopotamia to warrant him installing a man named Xanthippus as his governor over the region. One of Seleucus' subordinates, also named Seleucus, had attempted to drive off Ptolemy and Xanthippus' siege of Babylon, but he and his troops had failed and were surrounded and slaughtered by late January or February of 246. The text cuts off at this point, and we are not sure how far Ptolemy got in his conquests, but he returned to Egypt in order to deal with some sort of internal strife by the middle of 246. At this rate, though, he had taken much of Syria, Mesopotamia, and parts of Asia Minor. These were humiliating circumstances. Where was Seleucus II during all of this? It appears that Seleucus was attempting to amass allies and armies, and hoping that his subordinates would be able to keep the Ptolemaic forces at bay for the time being. In Asia Minor, we see that Ptolemy experienced difficulties when Macedonian king Antigonus II Gennatus had taken the opportunity to inflict a major defeat on the Ptolemaic navy near the Egyptian holdings in the Aegean. Pro-Seleucid factions clashed with Ptolemaic factions in places like Smyrna and Magnesia at Cyprus, the former of which was rewarded by Seleucus later on for its staunch loyalty to him as reported in a couple of inscriptions. Seleucus had also been able to build alliances with some of the local dynasts, marrying off his sisters to the Iranian kings of Pontus and Cappadocia. At some point in the early years of the war, a massive fleet was organized to fight against the Ptolemaic naval hegemony, but a great storm tore the ships apart and nearly killed the young king in the process. Despite this setback, Seleucus crossed the Taurus Mountains sometime in 244 to retake much of the Seleuces in Syria, and his administration would be minting coins in Antioch by the end of the year, a victorious campaign that earned him the nickname Callinicus, Beautiful Victor. I hate having to repeat myself like a broken record, but unfortunately there are not enough sources to give any specifics beyond cursory descriptions and extrapolations for much of the war. But by 241, peace was made between Seleucus and Ptolemy with a ten-year truce according to Justin, though it is more likely that this was similar to previous arrangements and tied to the death of one of the signing parties. The boundaries largely remained where they were, minus one very important Seleucid city, but the Third Syrian War had completely reversed any gains the Seleucids made in the previous conflict. While he realistically could not have maintained control of the territories he acquired during the outbreak of the war, Ptolemy contented himself with a huge amount of plunder and even managed to retain Seleucia in Piraeus, a major city of the Syrian tetrapolis and the site of the Seleucid ancestral mausoleum. The loot taken back to Egypt, the destruction of the fleet, and the general cost of warfare must have taken a heavy toll on the Seleucid treasury. For the moment, peace existed between the kings of Syria and Egypt, a humiliating peace, but peace nevertheless. But while Seleucus was attempting to fend off a threat from outside his borders, a more serious threat had been brewing within. Enter the Hulk. As Seleucus made his preparations to recover northern Syria from his base in Asia Minor, the Ptolemaic threat to the region had not been entirely neutralized. To protect his flank, Seleucus entrusted control of Asia Minor to his brother Antiochus. Given that he was only 14, it was likely that the actual military undertakings were handled by a subordinate commander. In spite of their opponent's youth, the Egyptian army was unable to seriously threaten the stability of the Seleucid holdings. The threat of Antiochus reinforcing Seleucus' army in Syria is what compelled Ptolemy to offer peace. Ironically though, the placement of his brother in such a prominent position did not do any favors for the security of the empire in the long run. Antiochus had tasted power, and the prospect of playing second fiddle while his elder sibling was to be king did nothing to sate his appetite. Plutarch even suggests that Laodice was the one responsible for stoking Antiochus' ambition, but there is hardly any reason to suggest that this was the case. Even the sources that are more hostile to Laodice don't hint at any resentment between her and Seleucus, never mind the fact she was allegedly responsible for multiple murders to get Seleucus on the throne in the first place. It's also likely that Laodice had died during this time period, but that's neither here nor there. Antiochus' ambitious and opportunistic nature would earn him the moniker Hyrax, the Hawk. He declared independence in 241, and kicked off the War of the Brothers, snatching the majority of Asia Minor as Seleucus just finished his negotiations with Ptolemy. Antiochus Hyrax's usurpation of Asia Minor was not without warning. The region had been undergoing extensive fragmentation for nearly 40 years, and the Seleucids had found themselves contending with more and more groups that established political enclaves within the region. Iranian nobility in places like Pontus and Cappadocia, the former Seleucid official Eumenes of Pergamon, and the more recently settled Celtic tribes collectively known as the Galatians were all part of this rapidly disintegrating landscape. The extent to which these groups can be seen as evidence for the inability of the Seleucids to control their territories is somewhat overplayed, at least in my opinion. Like we talked about in the last episode, it is possible that these local dynasties and lords were given a degree of autonomy as a reward for maintaining Seleucid interests. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that their grip was relaxing, but still well within their control. However, the betrayal of the Hawk was far more intimate, and far more dangerous than any prospective client state. Antiochus was able to take advantage of ancestral connections within Asia Minor to support his usurpation, not through the Seleucids, but instead through his mother. Laodice was a direct descendant of the House of Achaios, named after an original ancestor of the same name who held possessions in Anatolia. Beneath the overarching narrative, this house had possessed an obscure and ambiguous yet deeply influential connection to the Seleucid family. The original Achaios was a contemporary of Seleucus and Antiochus I, theorized to have been the subordinate official tied by marriage to the Seleucid House, or even an unattested son of Seleucus himself, though it is impossible to tell. Though they are largely absent in the written histories, the family would become particularly involved in Seleucid affairs throughout the third century BC, and especially from the outbreak of the Third Syrian War on. Laodice's marriage to Antiochus II was an obvious example, but other family members start to appear in written or epigraphic sources. One of the Hawks' most trusted supporters was Alexander, the satrap of Sardis and brother of Laodice. Conversely, there was Andromachus, who was a loyal general of Seleucus II, and his sister Laodice was also Seleucus's queen. Even outside of the Seleucid household, a daughter of Achaios was married to Eumenes I of Pergamon, making his adopted son Attalus and Antiochus Hierarch step cousins. There will be another major figure in the House of Achaios in the Seleucid story, but more on that later. Though Antiochus, like many usurpers, was subject to demonization from the writers of antiquity, it cannot be understated at how dire of a threat he was to the existence of the empire, even in the face of recent humiliations inflicted by the Ptolemies or unruly satraps looking for more independence. Seleucid suzerainty was built on personal connections between the king and various groups within his general domain, with the house acting as part of its representation of Now, Antiochus had replaced it with strife, shattering that facade of unity and attempting to wield several of those relationships with the elites against the ruling king. Ptolemy could not have realistically conquered the Seleucid realm, but it was quite possible that Antiochus could replace Seleucus. The traditional account and sequence of events from the Third Syrian War to the War of the Brothers comes from the epitome of Justin, the most complete of the writings relating to this period, but some scholars have challenged Justin's claims and argue that Antiochus betrayal took place as early as 246, simultaneously with the Third Syrian War. For the sake of brevity, I'm going to go with the standard recounting, but do check out the episode transcript for all my references and notes, along with the updated family tree. Following Antiochus' self-proclamation as king, Seleucus wheeled around from Syria back north into Asia Minor. In Lydia, a battle was fought and the elder brother came out the victor, but he was unable to capture the usurper. Meanwhile, the hawk had been busy making some fast friends in the lies by enticing the Galatian tribes with the prospect of pay and plunder, and perhaps by appealing to the memory of his grandfather Antiochus I who helped settle their ancestors. In 239, the armies of Seleucus and Antiochus had assembled just outside of Ankara, the modern Turkish city of Ankara. Through the martial prowess and bolstered ranks of his Celtic mercenaries, Antiochus was able to completely smash his brother's field army, with King Seleucus seemingly killed along with most of his men. The triumphant hyrax was surprisingly melancholic in his victory, apparently refusing to wear anything but mourning clothes as his penance for causing the death of a family member, though a potential claim to the rest of the empire was surely a nice consolation. Luckily or unluckily for him, word reached the court that his brother was alive and well in Antioch. Seleucus was able to slip away to safety during the chaos by disguising himself as a subordinate and fleeing into the wilderness, leaving behind everything including his unlucky mistress. Plutarch says that a disguised Seleucus was forced to beg for shelter and supplies from a local farmer, who happily complied since he was well aware of the identity of the disheveled man and was banking on some sort of great reward. In return for his hospitality, the farmer was beheaded, since in his excitement he unintentionally announced his knowledge through the use of a royal title and suddenly became a loose end to the understandably desperate refugee, though I have to wonder how likely it was that an Anatolian peasant would have distinguished the king from any other fleeing soldier. Instead of a renewal of battle, the brothers appear to have mutually agreed to a ceasefire. No official treaties or peace arrangements are recorded, but neither of them could have made any extensive campaigns against one another anyways. The hawk suddenly found himself confronted by his victorious mercenaries who were looking to collect the money owed to them and had to try and secure the remaining areas of the southern coast line of Asia Minor. For Seleucus, the situation was far worse. The loss of Asia Minor and humiliation of Antiochus' victory was bad enough. Now, word from the east brought news of chaos within the upper satrapies. The Parthians had arrived. From the 240s to the 230s, a dramatic shift had been taking place in the satrapies of Bactria and Parthia. Of course, if you listened to the last episode, we spent almost the entire time covering the independence of the Diodotid rulers of Bactria and the invasion of Arsaces and the Parnia into Parthia. To briefly summarize, both Parthia and Bactria show signs of having become less connected to the rest of the Seleucid realm, whether by outright declarations of independence from its satraps of Andragoras and Diodotus respectively, or with permission by the Seleucid rulers themselves, who granted greater self-autonomy to said satraps. At some point, a nomadic tribe from the steppes called the Parni invaded Parthia, killing Andragoras and turning Parthia into the home of a new kingdom led by their ruler, Arsaces I. Traditionally, these events are said to have taken place approximately during the time of the outbreak of the Third Syrian War in 246, but there are a number of holes within the narrative. This is neither the time nor place for that, so check out the last episode if you haven't. But with word of the Parni, now the Parthians, running amok, Seleucus prepared an expedition to deal with this new threat. We aren't exactly sure when Seleucus' campaigns into the upper satrapies took place. It's quite possible that they took place anytime throughout the 230s, but 236-235 is a plausible date. The king first had to contend with troubles within Babylon, as fighting was recorded in the palace in 237 by the Astronomical Diaries. The city would continue to suffer issues throughout the decade, which probably prevented Seleucus from committing fully to the campaign against Arsaces. When the Seleucid and Parthian armies finally came to blows, Seleucus managed to rout Arsaces and send them further into the steppe, but a second decisive clash saw Arsaces emerge victorious, forcing Seleucus to either abandon control of Parthia and Bactria entirely, or recognize Arsaces as another client king. It would be nearly twenty years before a Seleucid monarch would return to the region. Back in Asia Minor, Antiochus had been settling his role as king and cementing his local connections to the Anatolian elite. He married the daughter of the neighboring Bithynian ruler, Zeialus, and was minting coins in his own image, which marked his domains along the southern coast of Anatolia. From what we can tell, Antiochus was looking to expand across the Bosporus into Thrace. But stymieing his efforts was Attalus, the lord of Pergamon. Attalus was the adopted son of Eumenes, the former ruler of Pergamon who made a name for himself by successfully routing the army of The Attalans and Seleucids had remarkably peaceful dealings since this clash, but Attalus was more ambitious than his predecessor, a desire that was equally matched by his upstart Seleucid wealth. Attalus took the opportunity to expand his own realm during the War of the Brothers, and directly contended against Antiochus' hierarchs in the process. This was presumably out of self-interest, but it is also possible that his hostility towards a usurper reflected his loyalty to Seleucus III. On three occasions, Attalus managed to beat back the hawks' incursions, celebrating each victory with inscriptions and monuments recording his efforts. Certainly it would look good on anyone's resume, but what would ultimately push Attalus towards seeking true independence from the Seleucids were his victories over the Galatian tribes that had been harassing the cities of Asia Minor for decades, which he capitalized upon with astonishing works of art and using as an opportunity to formally assume the diadem as Attalus I. Bactria, Parthia, and now almost the entirety of Asia Minor were out of Seleucid hands following Antiochus' expulsion in roughly 227. Things were not looking good. Now that the hawk had fled the nest, it seems that the hostility between Seleucus and Antiochus resumed in Mesopotamia with all-out warfare. Antiochus clashed with two of Seleucus' subordinate generals in Armenia, managing to ambush them in the mountains after faking his death during an initial skirmish. But his brief campaign ultimately ended in failure, and he was forced back to Anatolia right into the welcoming arms of Attalus, who trounced him so hard in a battle that Hyrax ended up seeking refuge in the court of the Cappadocian king Artemenes. This turned out to be a brief visit since Artemenes was suspicious of Antiochus' intentions and was planning to murder him, and so Antiochus decided to check out early before he was permanently put out of commission. Having fled to Thrace, Antiochus sought protection with the Ptolemaic garrison in the region, which quickly moved from a sanctuary to an imprisonment. Ever the escape artist, Hyrax managed to maneuver his way out of Ptolemy's hands. However, his luck had finally run out. While on the road, Antiochus was seized by a petty Celtic chieftain who ruled the area and was unceremoniously murdered in 226. From the grave, he might have gotten the last laugh, as one of the Celts who stole Antiochus' horse was killed when the loyal steed decided that he did not particularly care for his new rider and madly carried himself and the rider off a cliff. Shockingly, this is not the only horse-related incident to befall the brothers. We have very little information as to what Seleucus was up to between his eastern Anabasis and the death of Hyrax, though he seems to have been trying to repair the damage inflicted in Syria and Babylonia. There's a short but bizarre suggestion in the writings of Josephus that a brief period of rebellion arose in Antiochus. Seleucus' aunt, Stradonike, had returned to Syria following her divorce from her husband, Demetrius II of Macedon, and apparently expected her nephew to marry her. Why she thought this was even remotely a possibility was beyond me, never mind that Seleucus was already married to Laodice and had two sons and a daughter with her, but Stradonike took great offense and goaded an insurrection among the citizens of Antiochus. Seleucus descended upon the city, capturing and executing Stradonike while she was in mid-flight towards Ptolemaic territory. Besides this incident and a few blips of strife in Babylon, it seems that Seleucus' work on the One must wonder the sense of relief when he found out that his brother was killed in Thrace. Ironically, such a state of affairs was not to last. In the same year, Seleucus is said to have taken a fall while riding his horse and died from injuries that Justin attributes to divine punishment. The death of a king in a session of a new one was always serious business, and the threat of another Syrian war from the still vigorous Ptolemy III was a distinct possibility. Thankfully, Ptolemy was busy with affairs in Greece, and the eldest son, Alexander, now named Seleucus IV, was able to swiftly replace his father and take part in the New Year's festival in Babylon in 225. Seleucus was also able to take charge of his father's plan for an invasion of Asia Minor, which was primarily aimed at the insurgent Attalus. It seems that were already initial skirmishes between Seleucid officials and Attalus, and with a fresh king at the head of a renewed army, a reconquest of Anatolia seemed imminent. In the year 223, fate would have different plans. Seleucus did not seem to inspire the same confidence in his generals, and just as they entered the Anatolian plateau, they murdered him by poison. He reigned for less than three years. Seleucus III's murder was the piece de resistance for over twenty years of instability. What had once been the strongest and most vigorous of the successor states had gradually fallen apart over the reigns of Seleucus II and III. Asia Minor was overwhelmed by dynasts and rebels. Bactria and Parthia had been sundered from the center of Seleucid power, and now kings were being assassinated or murdered by local bandits and subordinates. In his defense, the bulk of these problems were not tied to Seleucus II being a particularly bad or weak king. The inherent nature of the Seleucid realm was imbued with structural weaknesses that were prone to cracking, such as its enormous size or the difficulties the Seleucid kings faced when it came to reasserting imperial authority and the delegation of power. External pressures like the incursions of the Parthians into the Iranian plateau and the invasion of Ptolemy III certainly taxed the capability of Seleucus to secure his borders, but ultimately the violent court politics and infighting between Seleucus and Hyrax showed how precarious the center of imperial authority truly was. By any measure, things looked bleak, and it is doubtful that Seleucus's successor would make it to the end of the year, never mind be able to keep the realm afloat as it seemed to spasm in its death throes. The last male heir and newest king of the crumbling empire would be Antiochus III, left with the responsibility of ensuring that his kingdom and family did not suffer the same fate that afflicted Alexander the Great and the Argeads not so long ago. So concludes our look at the Seleucid Empire, at least for the time being. We will certainly be revisiting the Seleucids in the not-so-distant future, but for now I think this is a good place to leave off. As a reminder, I have gone and updated the family tree to reflect the reigns of Antiochus II through Seleucus III, so do check that out in the show notes or on my website, since it's a pretty useful tool at keeping track of all the relationships we've discussed so far. In terms of the agenda for the next few months, we will move away from the Levant and Near East, and head south to the Ptolemaic Kingdom. I plan on doing at least six episodes on Hellenistic Egypt, simply because the sources are so much richer than they are for the Seleucids or Antigonids. Topics will range from observing the daily life of Greeks and Native Egyptians during the Hellenistic period, a tour of Alexandria, the royal and financial policies of the Ptolemies, and much more. In the meanwhile, thank you all so much for listening and your patience with me and my in-depth episodes on the Seleucids. I am especially proud with how episodes 54 and 55 turned out, and I plan for the next episodes to be even better. If you liked what you've been listening to, leave a review on the podcast platform of your choice. If you want to support the show, then check out our new merch on our Redbubble page, where you can get redesigns of Alexander the Great or Cleopatra, or stick with my Etsy page for some show-themed bookmarks. All of these links will be provided in the show notes, along with the episode transcript and family tree. So, until next time, you've been listening to The Hellenistic Age Podcast.