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Antiochus II Theos
Antiochos II Theos ("the god"): name of a Seleucid king, ruled from 261 to 246.
Successor of: Antiochus I Soter
Relatives:
- Father: Antiochus I Soter
- Mother: Stratonice I
- Wives:
- Laodice I
- Son: Seleucus II Callinicus
- Son: Antiochus Hierax
- Daughter: Apamenote
- Daughter: Stratonice II (married to Demetrius II of Macedonia)
- Daughter: Laodice (married to Mithridates II of Pontus)
- Berenice Phernephorus (daughter of Ptolemy II Philadelphus)
- Son: Antiochus (born 251; killed in the late summer of 246)
- Laodice I
Main deeds:
-
Antiochus II Theos - After 268: Antiochus I Soter executes his eldest son Seleucus; Antiochus II becomes crown prince
- 2 June 261: Death of Antiochus I; Antiochus II succeeds
- 260: Outbreak of the Second Syrian War against Ptolemy II Philadelphus; the Seleucids achieve several successes in western Asia Minor
- 259/258: Liberates Miletus from a tyrant Timarchus, and is awarded the surname Theos, "the god"
- c. 257: Marries his sister Stratonice III to Ariarathes III of Cappadocia
- 253: Peace with Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who recognizes Seleucid territorial gains in the west
- 252: Antiochus divorces his wife Laodice and marries Ptolemy's daughter Berenice Phernephorus
- c.252: Marries his daughter Stratonice II to Demetrius II of Macedonia
- 251: Birth of Antiochus
- 28 January 246: Death of Ptolemy II; Antiochus II repudiates Berenice, who stays in Antioch; he returns to his first wife Laodice
- early July 246: dies in Ephesus, only forty years old, and is buried in the Belevi Mausoleum
- His death provokes the Third Syrian War
Succeeded by: Seleucus II Callinicus
Sources:
- Seleucid Accessions Chronicle (BCHP 10)
- Appian of Alexandria, Syrian Wars, 65
- Diodorus of Sicily, Library of World History, 31.19
- Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 7.43
- Polyaenus, Stratagems, 8.50
Literature
- O.L. Gabelko & Yu.N. Kuzmin, "Matrimonial Policy of Demetrius II of Macedonia. New Solutions of Old Problems", in: Vestnik drevnej istorii 264 (2008) 141-164