Antiochus XI Epiphanes
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox royalty Antiochus XI Epiphanes Philadelphus (Template:Langx; died 93 BC) was a Seleucid monarch who reigned as King of Syria between 94 and 93 BC, during the Hellenistic period. He was the son of [[Antiochus VIII Grypus|AntiochusTemplate:NbsVIII]] and his wife Tryphaena. AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI's early life was a time of constant civil war between his father and his uncle [[Antiochus IX Cyzicenus|AntiochusTemplate:NbsIX]]. The conflict ended with the assassination of AntiochusTemplate:NbsVIII, followed by the establishment of AntiochusTemplate:NbsIX in Antioch, the capital of Syria. AntiochusTemplate:NbsVIII's eldest son [[Seleucus VI Epiphanes|SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI]], in control of western Cilicia, marched against his uncle and had him killed, taking Antioch for himself, only to be expelled from it and driven to his death in 94 BC by AntiochusTemplate:NbsIX's son [[Antiochus X Eusebes|AntiochusTemplate:NbsX]].
Following the murder of SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI, AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI declared himself king jointly with his twin brother [[Philip I Philadelphus|PhilipTemplate:NbsI]]. Dubious ancient accounts, which may be contradicted by archaeological evidence, report that AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI's first act was to avenge his late brother by destroying Mopsuestia in Cilicia, the city responsible for the death of SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI. In 93 BC, AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI took Antioch, an event not mentioned by ancient historians but confirmed through numismatic evidence. AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI appears to have been the senior king, minting coinage as a sole king and reigning alone in the capital, while PhilipTemplate:NbsI remained in Cilicia, but kept his royal title. AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI may have restored the temple of Apollo and Artemis in Daphne, but his reign did not last long. In the autumn of the same year, AntiochusTemplate:NbsX regrouped and counter-attacked; AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI was defeated and drowned in the Orontes River as he tried to flee.
Name, family and early life
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The name Antiochus is of Greek etymology and means "resolute in contention".Template:Sfn The capital of Syria, Antioch, was named after Antiochus, father of the city's founder, King [[Seleucus I Nicator|SeleucusTemplate:NbsI]] (reigned 305–281 BC);Template:Sfn this name became dynastic and many Seleucid kings bore it.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In Template:Circa [[Antiochus VIII Grypus|AntiochusTemplate:NbsVIII]] married the Ptolemaic princess Tryphaena, who died in 109 BC.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The couple had many children, including [[Seleucus VI Epiphanes|SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI]], the eldest; AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI and [[Philip I Philadelphus|PhilipTemplate:NbsI]];Template:Sfn their younger brother [[Demetrius III Eucaerus|DemetriusTemplate:NbsIII]];Template:Sfn and the youngest [[Antiochus XII Dionysus|AntiochusTemplate:NbsXII]].Template:Sfn The mother of PhilipTemplate:NbsI was mentioned explicitly as Tryphaena by the fourth-century historian Eusebius, who also mentioned that AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI and PhilipTemplate:NbsI were twins (didymoi).Template:Sfn AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI's date of birth is unknown, but by the time he came to power he was at least in his twenties.Template:Sfn
In 113 BC, Antiochus IX declared himself king and started a civil war against his half-brother AntiochusTemplate:NbsVIII. The conflict between the brothers would last a decade and a half;Template:Sfn it claimed the life of Tryphaena and ended with the assassination of AntiochusTemplate:NbsVIII at the hands of his minister Herakleon of Beroia in 96 BC.Template:Sfn In the aftermath of AntiochusTemplate:NbsVIII's death, AntiochusTemplate:NbsIX took the capital Antioch and married AntiochusTemplate:NbsVIII's second wife and widow, Cleopatra Selene.Template:Sfn The sons of AntiochusTemplate:NbsVIII responded; DemetriusTemplate:NbsIII took Damascus and ruled it,Template:Sfn while SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI killed AntiochusTemplate:NbsIX in 95 BC and took Antioch.Template:Sfn The new king was defeated by AntiochusTemplate:NbsIX's son [[Antiochus X Eusebes|AntiochusTemplate:NbsX]] (Template:Reign BC), who took the capital.Template:Sfn SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI escaped to Mopsuestia in Cilicia where he was killed by rebels in 94 BC.Template:Sfn
Reign
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[[File:Antiochus 11 and Philip I.png|thumb|Jugate coin of Antiochus XI and [[Philip I Philadelphus|PhilipTemplate:NbsI]]. AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI is depicted with a sideburn.]]
The reigns of the late Seleucid kings are poorly attested in ancient literature through brief passages and summaries, often riddled with conflations and contradictions;Template:Sfn the numismatic evidence is therefore the primary source when reconstructing the reigns of late Seleucid monarchs.Template:Sfn During SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI's reign, AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI and his twin probably resided in Cilicia.Template:Sfn In the aftermath of SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI's death, AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI and PhilipTemplate:NbsI declared themselves kings in 94 BC; the historian Alfred Bellinger suggested that their base was a coastal city north of Antioch,Template:Sfn while Arthur Houghton believed it was Beroea, because the city's rulers were PhilipTemplate:NbsI's allies.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
It is more likely that Tarsus was the main base of operations;Template:Sfn both AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI and PhilipTemplate:NbsI's portraits appeared on the obverses of jugate coins they struck,Template:Sfn and all the jugate coins were minted in Cilicia. Three series of jugate coins are known; as of 2008, one series has six known surviving specimens,Template:Sfn depicting both kings with beards.Template:Sfn The excellent craftsmanship of the portraits depicted on the coins of the six specimen series indicates that the minting facility was located in a city that was a center of culture, making Tarsus the likely site of the mint and so the probable base of operations.Template:Sfn
The other two coin series have fewer surviving specimens and depict AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI with a sideburn.Template:Sfn Those coins were not minted in Tarsus, and the sideburn indicates that those issues were produced by cities west of the main base, as the king passed them on his way to Tarsus; by the time AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI arrived at his headquarters, he was depicted with a full beard. On all jugate coins, AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI was portrayed in front of PhilipTemplate:NbsI, his name taking precedence,Template:Sfn showing that he was the senior monarch. According to Josephus, AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI became king before PhilipTemplate:NbsI, but the numismatic evidence suggests otherwise, as the earliest coins show both brothers ruling jointly.Template:Sfn
Epithets and royal image
[edit]Hellenistic monarchs did not use regnal numbers but usually employed epithets to distinguish themselves from other kings with similar names; the numbering of kings is mostly a modern practice.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn On his coins, AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI appeared with the epithets Epiphanes (God Manifest) and Philadelphus (Brother-Loving).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Epiphanes served to emphasize AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI's paternity as a son of AntiochusTemplate:NbsVIII, who bore the same epithet;Template:Sfn while Philadelphus was probably a sign of respect to SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI and PhilipTemplate:NbsI.<ref group="note">The historian Alfred von Gutschmid suggested that whenever a Hellenistic king assumed the epithet Philadelphus, it meant that he had been asked by his reigning brother to share the throne.Template:Sfn In the case of AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI and PhilipTemplate:NbsI, since both used the epithet, von Gutschmid considered it an exception of the rule. He suggested that the brothers assumed their epithet to legitimize their claim to the throne, which was contested by the line of AntiochusTemplate:NbsIX, by emphasizing their relation to their brother, the former king SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI. Von Gutschmid's arguments were criticized by many scholars, especially Template:Ill,Template:Sfn who considered the epithet a homage to SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI and an affirmation of the fraternal concord between AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI and PhilipTemplate:NbsI.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn The beard sported by AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI on his jugate coins from Tarsus is probably a sign of mourning and the intention to avenge SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI's death.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The last issue of AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI from Antioch depicts him beardless, highlighting that the vow was fulfilled.Template:Sfn
Drawing his legitimacy from his father, Antiochus XI appeared on his coinage with an exaggerated hawked nose, in the likeness of AntiochusTemplate:NbsVIII.Template:Sfn The iconography of AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI's portrait was part of the tryphé-king tradition, heavily used by AntiochusTemplate:NbsVIII.<ref group="note">An engraved gem is kept by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Its accession number is 13.244. Its style resembles the style used for AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI's portraits; the gem could be depicting him, or his brother DemetriusTemplate:NbsIII.Template:Sfn Such portraits on intaglios served a function parallel but different from the portraits depicted on coins. Both portraits emphasized the characters of the monarch they depicted,Template:Sfn but while coin portraits were means of guaranteeing value and genuineness, and thus followed standardized models, aimed at delivering a political message of continuity which signified the king's dynastic connections and his prowess as a monarch, gem portraits did not follow the standards used for coinage,Template:Sfn and served a more private purpose, depicting the ruler in a more delicate manner.Template:Sfn Gems bearing royal portraits and cut under direct royal auspice served many functions; they were probably used as personal gifts to followers and foreign ambassadors, and bearers of royal intaglios indicated their loyalty to the king, or his memory, by using his portrait as their signet.Template:Sfn</ref> The ruler's portrait express tryphé (luxury and magnificence), where his unattractive features and stoutness are emphasized.<ref group="note">Gluttony and corpulence were a sign of a monarch's wealth in Hellenistic art. Many kings were depicted with double chins and fleshy faces.Template:Sfn</ref> The tradition of tryphé images started in Egypt, and was later adopted in Syria. The Romans considered the tryphé portraits as evidence of the degeneracy and decadence of Hellenistic kings; the softness depicted in the portraits was seen as a sign of the rulers' incompetence, a way to explain the decline of the Hellenistic dynasties. However, the Roman view is not factual; those images were an intentional policy in a kingdom ravaged by civil war. Most late Seleucid monarchs, including AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI, spent their reigns fighting, causing havoc in their lands. The image of a warrior king on coins, as was customary for Hellenistic Bactrian kings for example, would have alienated the already impoverished population suffering the consequences of war. The people needed peace and copiousness, and the tryphé portrait was an attempt to imply that the king and his people were living a pleasurable life. By employing the tryphé image, AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI suggested that he would be a successful and popular king like his father.<ref group="note">Evidence that the Roman conception of the meaning of tryphé portraits was incorrect, includes the iconography of Seleucia Pieria's Tyche (tutelary deity) during the reign of AntiochusTemplate:NbsVIII. The goddess's features resemble those of the king. If tryphé was a sign of degeneration, then it would have never been used to portray a deity.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn
Avenging Seleucus VI and taking the capital
[edit]According to Eusebius, the brothers sacked Mopsuestia and destroyed it to avenge SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI.Template:Sfn Eusebius's statement is doubtful because in 86 BC, Rome conferred inviolability upon the cult of Isis and Sarapis in Mopsuestia, which is proven by an inscription from the city.Template:Sfn After Mopsuestia, AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI left PhilipTemplate:NbsI in Cilicia and advanced on Antioch, driving AntiochusTemplate:NbsX from the city at the beginning of 93 BC.<ref group="note">Eusebius stated that both brothers marched on Antioch, while the first century historian Josephus mentioned only AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI; the latter account is more accurate and is supported by numismatic evidence.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn Ancient historians do not note AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI's reign in the capital, stating that he fought against AntiochusTemplate:NbsX and was defeated.Template:Sfn The 6th-century Byzantine monk and historian John Malalas, whose work is considered generally unreliable by scholars,Template:Sfn mentions the reign of AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI in his account of the Roman period in Antioch.Template:Sfn The material evidence for AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI's success in taking the capital was provided in 1912, when an account of a coin struck by him in Antioch was published.Template:Sfn
Philip I did not take residence in the capital and AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI minted coinage as a sole king.<ref group="note">The numismatist Arthur Houghton attributed a jugate coin of AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI and PhilipTemplate:NbsI to Antioch, but later retracted the attribution in favour of a Cilician mint.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn PhilipTemplate:NbsI kept the royal title while remaining in the city which was his base during the preparations to avenge SeleucusTemplate:NbsVI.Template:Sfn The numismatist Edward Theodore Newell assigned AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI a reign of a few weeks in the capital, but according to the numismatist Oliver Hoover, estimating the average annual die usage rate of the King suggests a reign of several months.<ref group="note">The estimation is conducted using the Esty formula, which was developed by the mathematician Warren W. Esty; it is a mathematical formula that can calculate the relative number of obverse dies used to produce a certain coin series. The calculation can be used to measure the coinage production of a certain king and thus estimate the length of his reign.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn According to Malalas, King Antiochus Philadelphus, i.e. AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI,<ref group="note">This epithet was also used by King [[Antiochus XIII Asiaticus|AntiochusTemplate:NbsXIII]] (Template:Reign BC),Template:Sfn who had the distinction of being the last Seleucid king, after whose death Rome annexed Syria.Template:Sfn Malalas used the epithet "Dionysus" when referring to AntiochusTemplate:NbsXIII,Template:Sfn which was in fact an epithet of AntiochusTemplate:NbsXII, who never controlled Antioch.Template:Sfn According to the historian Glanville Downey, the Byzantine historian conflated AntiochusTemplate:NbsXIII with AntiochusTemplate:NbsXII,Template:Sfn and used the epithet "Philadelphus" when referring to AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI.Template:Sfn</ref> built a temple for Apollo and Artemis in Daphne, and set up two golden statues representing the gods, as well as conferring the right of asylum to anyone who took refuge in the temple;Template:Sfn this statement cannot be correct since the temple was attested during the time of [[Antiochus III the Great|AntiochusTemplate:NbsIII]] (Template:Reign BC).Template:Sfn The historian Glanville Downey, observing Malalas's writing style in Greek, suggested that by "building", Malalas meant renovating or restoring, which indicates that a predecessor of AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI may have desecrated the temple and melted down the golden statues.<ref group="note">The second-century theologian Clement of Alexandria (Template:Fl. AD) reported that AntiochusTemplate:NbsIX melted a statue of Zeus, making him a candidate for the monarch who melted the statues of Apollo and Artemis.Template:Sfn On the other hand, Clement of Alexandria might have misread the accounts of the first-century BC historians Diodorus Siculus or Trogus, who both reported the sacrilege of Zeus's statue by [[Alexander II Zabinas|AlexanderTemplate:NbsII]].Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn
End and succession
[edit]By autumn 93 BC, Antiochus X counter-attacked, defeating AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI,Template:Sfn who drowned in the Orontes River as he tried to flee.Template:Sfn Ancient accounts dealing with the last battle differ: according to the first-century historian Josephus, AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI fought alone, while Eusebius has both AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI and PhilipTemplate:NbsI in the battle. Eusebius failed to note the reign of AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI in Antioch, stating that the final battle took place immediately after the destruction of Mopsuestia; a statement contradicted by numismatic evidence. In the view of Bellinger, the brothers' combined armies must have been deployed, but since only AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI perished, it is probable that PhilipTemplate:NbsI stayed behind at his capital with AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI leading the armies in the field.Template:Sfn
Nothing is known regarding Antiochus XI's marriages or children.Template:Sfn According to the first century biographer Plutarch, the first-century BC Roman general Lucullus said that the Armenian king, [[Tigranes the Great|TigranesTemplate:NbsII]], who conquered Syria in 83Template:NbsBC, "put to death the successors of Seleucus, and [carried] off their wives and daughters into captivity". Ancient sources regarding the late Seleucid period are fragmentary and do not mention many details. Therefore, the statement of Lucullus makes it possible that a wife or daughters of AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI existed, and that they were taken by the Armenian king.Template:Sfn Following his victory, AntiochusTemplate:NbsX regained the capital and ruled it until his death.Template:Sfn
Family tree
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See also
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[edit]Sources
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External links
[edit]- Several coins of Antiochus XI exhibited in the blog of the numismatist Jayseth Guberman.
- The biography of Antiochus XI Template:Webarchive in the website of the numismatist Petr Veselý.
- An engraved gem. Property of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It depicts either AntiochusTemplate:NbsXI or DemetriusTemplate:NbsIII.
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