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Second Syrian War (260-253)

Syrian Wars: series of conflicts between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires in the third and second centuries BCE; at stake was an area called Coele Syria, which is more or less identical to modern Israel, the Palestine territories, Lebanon, and southern Syria.

Course of events

Antiochus II Theos

260: Accession of Antiochus II, who wants revenge for the First Syrian War and attacks Ptolemy II Philadelphus
259: Ptolemy the Son revolts; Antiochus finds an ally in Antigonus II Gonatas of Macedonia; both want to expel the Ptolemies out of the Aegean world
Ptolemy joins forces with Eumenes I of Pergamon and achieves some successes
259/258: New fiscal laws for Egypt; Antiochus liberates Miletus from a tyrant Timarchus, and is awarded the surname Theos, "the god"
256 or 255: Antigonus defeats Ptolemy near Kos
Corinth and Chalkis revolt against Macedonia (instigated by Ptolemy?); Antigonus abandons the war with the Ptolemies
254: Peace between Egypt and Macedonia
253: Peace with Antiochus II Theos, who repudiates his wife Laodice and marries Ptolemy's daughter Berenice Phernephorus
Ptolemies gain ground in Cilicia; Seleucids gain control of western Asia Minor