Editing Antiochus IV Epiphanes (section)

==Biography==
===Rise to power===
Born around 215 BC, Antiochus was a son of the [[List of Seleucid rulers|Seleucid]] king [[Antiochus III the Great]].<ref name="Nelson 2014">{{cite book |last=Nelson |first=Thomas |title=NIV, The Chronological Study Bible, eBook |publisher=Thomas Nelson Incorporated |year=2014 |isbn=9781401680138 |page=1078 |quote=Antiochus IV—Epiphanes or Epimanes? (da 11:21–31) Thirteen kings of the Greek Seleucid dynasty from Syria bore the name of Antiochus. Antiochus III (223–187 B.C.), the great conqueror …}}</ref><ref name="Samuels 1967">{{cite book |title=Pathways through Jewish history |last= Samuels |first= Ruth |year=1967 |publisher= Ktav Pub. House|oclc =899113 |quote= Antiochus IV spared no pains to defend his empire against the growing power of Rome. Proud of his Greek ancestry and determined to unite all the peoples of the ancient world under his rule, he had sought to force his subjects to follow the Greek way of life to the exclusion of all others.   |page=98 }}</ref> Antiochus appears to have been originally named Mithridates, although this name would be changed either after the death of his elder brother Antiochus or when he eventually ascended the throne.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mittag|first=Peter|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah09032|title=''"Antiochos IV Epiphanes",'' The Encyclopedia of Ancient History|date=26 October 2012|publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd.|doi=10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah09032 |isbn=9781405179355 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Mittag|first=Peter|title=Antiochos IV. Epiphanes: Eine politische Biographie|date=2006|publisher=Akademie Verlag|isbn=978-3-05-004205-3 |page=34-37}}</ref> As a potential successor to the throne, he became a political [[hostage]] of the [[Roman Republic]] under the terms of the [[Treaty of Apamea]], concluded in 188 BC. After his older brother [[Seleucus IV Philopator]] succeeded their father onto the throne in 187 BC, Antiochus was exchanged for his nephew [[Demetrius I Soter|Demetrius]], the son and heir of Seleucus. After this Antiochus lived in Athens and was there when his brother was assassinated in 175 BC by the government minister [[Heliodorus (minister)|Heliodorus]].

Heliodorus proclaimed himself regent afterward, essentially giving himself control of the government. This arrangement did not last long. With the help of king [[Eumenes II]] of Pergamum, Antiochus IV traveled from Athens through Asia Minor and reached Syria by November 175 BC. Seleucus' legitimate heir Demetrius was still a hostage in Rome, so Antiochus seized the throne for himself, proclaiming himself co-regent with another son of Seleucus, an infant named [[Antiochus, son of Seleucus IV|Antiochus]]. (Antiochus, son of Seleucus IV would later die in 170 BC, possibly murdered by Antiochus IV).<ref>M. Zambelli, "L'ascesa al trono di Antioco IV Epifane di Siria," ''[[Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica]]'' 38 (1960), pp. 363–389</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Grainger |first=John D. |title=The Syrian Wars |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004180505 |pages=292&ndash;293}}  The claim that Antiochus was murdered by his uncle Antiochus IV is from the [[Babylonian astronomical diaries]], although should be taken with some skepticism.</ref>

===Ruling style===
Antiochus IV cultivated a reputation as an extravagant and generous ruler. He scattered money to common people in the streets of Antioch; gave unexpected gifts to people he did not know; contributed money to the [[Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens|Temple of Zeus at Athens]] and the altar at [[Delos]]; put all his [[Seleucid army|Western military forces]] on a massive parade at [[Harbiye, Antakya|Daphne]], a suburb of Antioch; and held opulent banquets with the aristocracy using the best spices, clothing, and food.<ref name="barkochva230" /> He also supplemented the Seleucid army with mercenaries. All of this cost the Seleucid treasury, but the Empire was apparently able to raise enough taxes to pay for it. His eccentric behavior and unexpected interactions with common people such as appearing in the public bath houses and applying for municipal offices led his detractors to call him ''Epimanes'' (Ἐπιμανής, ''Epimanḗs'', "The Mad"), a word play on his title ''Epiphanes'' ("God Manifest").<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/26*.html Polybius 26.1a].  See also Polybius 30.</ref><ref name="barkochva230">{{cite book |last=Bar-Kochva |first=Bezalel |title=Judas Maccabaeus: The Jewish Struggle Against the Seleucids |date=1989 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521323525 |pages=230&ndash;231 |authorlink=Bezalel Bar-Kochva}}</ref>

===Wars against Egypt and relations with Rome===
{{Main|Syrian_Wars#Sixth_Syrian_War_(170–168_BC)|l1=Sixth Syrian War}}
[[File:SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Antiochos IV Epiphanes. 187-175 BC.jpg|thumb|left|[[Sidon]] coinage of Antiochos IV, depicting a victorious galley.|260x260px]]

After his ascension Antiochus took care to maintain good relations with the Roman Republic, sending an embassy to Rome in 173 BC with a part of the unpaid indemnity still owed from the 188 BC [[Treaty of Apamea]]. While there the embassy secured a renewed treaty of friendship and alliance with Rome, greatly helped by the fact Antiochus had come to power with the help of [[Eumenes II]], Rome's principal ally in the region.

The guardians of King [[Ptolemy VI Philometor]] demanded the return of [[Coele-Syria]] in 170 BC, declaring war on the Seleucids on the assumption that the kingdom was divided after Antiochus' murder of his nephew. However, Antiochus had warning of the attack and had prepared more thoroughly. He had already built his forces and moved them into position; as soon as the Egyptian forces left [[Pelusium]] they were attacked and defeated by Antiochus IV and his Seleucid army. The Seleucids then seized Pelusium, giving them supplies and access to all of Egypt. He advanced into Egypt proper, conquering all but [[Alexandria]] and capturing King Ptolemy. This was partially achieved because Rome (Ptolemaic Egypt's traditional ally) was embroiled in the [[Third Macedonian War]] and was not willing to become involved elsewhere.<ref>Grainger, "The Fall of the Seleucid Empire," pp. 20–23.</ref>

To avoid alarming Rome, Antiochus allowed Ptolemy VI to continue ruling as a [[Puppet state|puppet king]] from Memphis. Upon Antiochus' withdrawal, the city of Alexandria chose a new king, one of Ptolemy's brothers, also named [[Ptolemy VIII Physcon|Ptolemy (VIII Euergetes)]]. The Ptolemy brothers reconciled and agreed to rule Egypt jointly instead of fighting a civil war.<ref name="grainger-sw">{{cite book |last=Grainger |first=John D. |title=The Syrian Wars |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004180505 |pages=297&ndash;308}}</ref>

In 168 BC, Antiochus led a second attack on Egypt and also sent a fleet to capture [[Cyprus]]. Before he reached Alexandria, his path was blocked by a single elderly Roman ambassador named [[Gaius Popillius Laenas]] who delivered a message from the [[Roman Senate]] directing Antiochus to withdraw his armies from Egypt and Cyprus or consider himself in a state of war with the Roman Republic. Antiochus said he would discuss it with his council, whereupon the Roman envoy drew a line in the sand around Antiochus and said: "Before you leave this circle, give me a reply that I can take back to the Roman Senate." This implied Rome would declare war if the King stepped out of the circle without committing to leave Egypt immediately. Weighing his options, Antiochus decided to withdraw. Only then did Popillius agree to shake hands with him.<ref name="Polybius 29.27.4">[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/29*.html Polybius 29.27.4], Livy 45.12.4ff.</ref> Ancient sources and traditional historiography describe this "Day of Eleusis" as a great humiliation for Antiochus IV that unhinged him for a time. Some more modern historians conjecture that Antiochus may have been more reconciled to this than ancient sources indicate, as the Roman intervention meant that Antiochus had been given an excuse to not undertake a potentially long and costly siege of Alexandria. He could instead return with treasure and loot having weakened the Egyptian state at little risk and cost compared to a larger-scale invasion.<ref name="grainger-sw" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Portier-Young |first=Anathea |title=Apocalypse Against Empire: Theologies of Resistance in Early Judaism |date=2011 |publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company |isbn=9780802870834 |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |pages=130&ndash;134}}</ref>

===Persecution of the Jews and the Maccabean revolt===
[[File:Antiochos IV Epiphanes.jpg|thumb|280x280px|Silver coin of king Antiochus IV. Reverse shows seated [[Zeus]] holding [[Nike (mythology)|Nike]] and scepter. Greek inscription reads: {{lang|grc|ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ}}, ''Basileōs Antiochou Nikēphorou Theou Epiphanous,'' "of victorious god manifest king Antiochus."]]
The Seleucids, like the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemies]] before them, held a [[suzerainty]] over [[Judea]]: they respected Jewish culture and protected Jewish institutions. This policy was drastically reversed by Antiochus IV, seemingly after what was either a dispute over leadership of the Temple in Jerusalem and the office of [[High Priest of Israel|High Priest]], or possibly a revolt whose nature was lost to time after being crushed.

[[File:Mina Antiochus IV.PNG|thumb|[[Mina (unit)|Mina]] of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.|260x260px]]

Local revolts against the Seleucid Empire were not unusual, but most were not successful. The revolt that Antiochus IV ultimately triggered in Judea was unusually well chronicled and preserved, however. According to the book of [[2 Maccabees]], the crisis had its origins in the years leading up to the [[Syrian Wars#Sixth Syrian War (170–168 BC)|Sixth Syrian War]]. In 171 BC, Antiochus had deposed the High Priest [[Jason (high priest)|Jason]] and replaced him with [[Menelaus (High Priest)|Menelaus]], who had offered Antiochus a large bribe to secure the office. In 168 BC, when Antiochus was campaigning in Egypt, a rumor spread in Judea that he had been killed. Jason gathered a force of 1,000 soldiers and made a surprise attack on the city of [[Jerusalem]]. Menelaus was forced to flee Jerusalem during the ensuing riot.<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Maccabees|5:5|NRSV}}</ref> Jason's intention may have been to retake his former office by force and present his reassumption of power as ''fait accompli'' to the regency that would take power in the wake of the king's death, assuming that they would allow him to stay in power rather than invite further conflict during a delicate political moment.<ref name="themarginaliareview.com">{{cite web |url=https://themarginaliareview.com/re-examining-hanukkah/ |title=Re-Examining Hanukkah |last=Ma |first=John |date=July 9, 2013 |website=Marginalia}}</ref> But Antiochus was still alive, and returned from Egypt enraged by the reverse he had suffered at the hands of the Romans and by the Jews' rejection of his chosen candidate for High Priest; he attacked Jerusalem and restored Menelaus, then executed many Jews.<ref>[[Josephus]], ''[[The Jewish War]]'' 1:1:1–2</ref>

{{blockquote|When these happenings were reported to the king, he thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm. He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses. There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants. In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery.
|title=[[2 Maccabees]] 5:11–14 (NRSV)<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Maccabees|5:11-14}}</ref>}}

According to [[1 Maccabees]], after restoring Menelaus, Antiochus IV issued decrees aimed at helping the most enthusiastically pro-Greek faction of Hellenized Jews against the traditionalists. He outlawed [[Judaism|Jewish religious rites and traditions]] and the Temple in Jerusalem was forcibly changed to a syncretic Greek-Jewish cult that included worship of [[Zeus]].<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Maccabees|1:41-50|NRSV}}</ref> The Greek historian [[Diodorus]] wrote that Antiochus "sacrificed a great swine at the image of Moses, and at the altar of God that stood in the outward court, and sprinkled them with the blood of the sacrifice. He commanded likewise that the books, by which they were taught to hate all other nations, should be sprinkled with the broth made of the swine's flesh. And he put out the lamp (called by them immortal) which burns continually in the temple. Lastly he forced the high priest and the other Jews to eat swine's flesh."<ref>Diodorus 34:1(4)</ref>

These decrees were a departure from typical Seleucid practice, which did not attempt to suppress local religions in their empire,<ref>Tchrikover, Victor. ''Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews''.</ref> though they may be similar to other instances in the Hellenistic era when local polities were punished for revolt against their imperial suzerain by having their autonomy and local laws repealed and local shrines removed from their control.<ref name="themarginaliareview.com"/> The city of Jerusalem was sacked a second time in the disorder. Antiochus established a military Greek [[citadel]] called the [[Acra (fortress)|Acra]] in Jerusalem to serve as a stronghold for Hellenized Jews and a Greek military garrison. This happened from 168&ndash;167 BC.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Newsom |first1=Carol Ann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZK7BwAAQBAJ&q=%22Did+antiochus+IV+begin+his+persecution+of+Judaism+in+168+or+167&pg=PA26 |title=Daniel: A Commentary |last2=Breed |first2=Brennan W. |date=2014-01-01 |publisher=Presbyterian Publishing Corp |isbn=978-0-664-22080-8 |page=26 }}</ref>

Such steps triggered a revolt against his rule, known as the [[Maccabean Revolt]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Hengel |first=Martin |authorlink=Martin Hengel |title=Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in Their Encounter in Palestine During the Early Hellenistic Period |edition=1st English |location=London |publisher=SCM Press |date=1974 |orig-date=1973 |isbn=0334007887 }}</ref> Scholars of [[Second Temple Judaism]] therefore sometimes refer to Antiochus' reign as the 'Antiochene crises' for the Jews.<ref name="Stuckenbruck">{{Cite book |last1=Stuckenbruck |first1=Loren T. |last2=Gurtner |first2=Daniel M. |date=2019 |title=T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism Volume One |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1E6_DwAAQBAJ |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9780567658135 |access-date=5 January 2021}}</ref>  Traditionally, as expressed in the [[1 Maccabees|First]] and Second Books of the Maccabees, the Maccabean Revolt was painted as a national resistance to a foreign political and cultural oppression. In modern times, however, scholars have argued that Antiochus IV was more intervening in a [[civil war]] between the traditionalist Jews in the country and the Hellenized Jews in Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite book|title=Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know about the Jewish Religion, Its People, and Its History|last=Telushkin|first=Joseph|year=1991|publisher=W. Morrow|isbn=0-688-08506-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/jewishliteracy00telu/page/114 114]|url=https://archive.org/details/jewishliteracy00telu/page/114}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Judaism and the Gentile Faiths: Comparative Studies in Religion |last=Schultz |first=Joseph P.|year=1981 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press |isbn=0-8386-1707-7|page=155}}</ref>

Scholars think the revolt also led to the writing of the [[Book of Daniel]], where a villain called the "King of the North" is generally considered to be a reference to Antiochus IV.{{refn|group=note|See [[Book of Daniel]] for details.  In general, scholars fall into two camps: some argue that some form of chapters 2&ndash;6 of Daniel circulated in the 6th, 5th, or 4th centuries BC, shortly after the events of the book, and only the first and final six chapters were written during the Maccabean period (such as [[Lester L. Grabbe]] and [[John J. Collins]]).  Other scholars argue that the entire work was created in the Maccabean period, although presumably loosely influenced by older legends of the Babylonian period.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grabbe |first=Lester L.  |authorlink=Lester L. Grabbe |date=2008 |title=A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: The Coming of the Greeks: The Early Hellenistic Period (335&ndash;175 BCE) |location= |publisher=T&T Clark |volume=68 |series=Library of Second Temple Studies |pages=103–107 |isbn=978-0-567-03396-3}}</ref>  Some traditionalist scholars defend that the entire work was written during or shortly after the life of the Prophet Daniel; of the traditionalists, some say that the prophecies therein have not yet been fulfilled, which would render it unrelated to Antiochus IV Epiphanes, while others of the traditionalist bent see the work as loosely foretelling Antiochus IV.}} The portrayal of Antiochus there attacking the holy city of Jerusalem but eventually meeting his end would influence later Christian depictions of the [[Antichrist]].<ref name="hengel306">{{cite book |last=Hengel |first=Martin |authorlink=Martin Hengel |title=Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in Their Encounter in Palestine During the Early Hellenistic Period |edition=1st English |location=London |publisher=SCM Press |date=1974 |orig-date=1973 |isbn=0334007887 |page=306 }}</ref>

===Final years===
[[File:Noel Halle, Antiochus Falling from His Chariot.jpg|thumb|Antiochus falling from his chariot, painting by [[Noël Hallé]], ca. 1738]]

King [[Mithridates I of Parthia|Mithridates I]] of [[Parthian Empire|Parthia]] took advantage of Antiochus' western problems and attacked from the east, seizing the city of [[Herat]] in 167 BC and disrupting the direct trade route to India, effectively splitting the Greek world in two.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} Antiochus recognized the potential danger in the east but was unwilling to give up control of Judea. He sent a commander named [[Lysias (Syrian chancellor)|Lysias]] to deal with the [[Maccabees]], while Antiochus himself led the main Seleucid army against the Parthians. Antiochus had initial success in his eastern campaign, capturing king [[Artaxias I|Artaxias]]<ref>{{cite book |title=A Political History of Parthia |first=Neilson C. |last=Debevoise |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1938 |page=20 }}</ref> and reconquering the [[Artaxiad dynasty|Kingdom of Armenia]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Land of the Elephant Kings: Space, Territory, and Ideology in the Seleucid Empire |first=Paul J. |last=Kosmin |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2014 |page=21 }}</ref> His campaign went through [[Ecbatana]] and he and his forces attacked [[Persepolis]] but were driven off by the populace.<ref>{{cite book |last=Debevoise |first=Neilson C. |title=A Political History of Parthia |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1938 |pages=20–21}}</ref> On his return home, he died at [[Isfahan]] in 164 BC.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Political History of Parthia |first=Neilson C. |last=Debevoise |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1938 |page=21 }}</ref>

Various religious explanations exist for Antiochus IV's death. Apparently, he attacked a temple of the Mesopotamian deity [[Nanaya]] in Persia shortly before his demise, and his death was possibly attributed to impiety and punishment by Nanaya in some quarters.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kosmin |first1=Paul |author-link=Paul J. Kosmin |date=2016 |title=Indigenous Revolts in 2 Maccabees: The Persian Version |journal=[[Classical Philology (journal)|Classical Philology]] |volume=111 |issue=1 |pages= 32–53|doi=10.1086/684818 |s2cid=162983934 }}</ref> Jewish sources gave credit for Antiochus's death to his earlier impiety at the Temple of Jerusalem. When read literally, there is an apparent contradiction between the books of 1 & 2 Maccabees. The Book of 1 Maccabees places the death of Antiochus IV shortly after the [[Hanukkah|reconsecration of the Jewish temple]], while 2 Maccabees places the death of the king before the reconsecration of the temple.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1 Maccabees 6 |url=https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1%20Maccabees+6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=2 Maccabees 9 |url=https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=2%20Maccabees+9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=2 Maccabees 10 |url=https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=2%20Maccabees+10}}</ref> Some scholars have theorized that the "abomination" torn down in 1 Maccabees 6:7<ref>{{Cite web |title=1 Maccabees 6:7 |url=https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1%20Maccabees%206:7&version=nrsvae}}</ref> was due to a form of civil unrest, and the true reconsecration of the temple occurred after the death of Antiochus IV.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Translation commentary on 1 Maccabees 6:7 |url=https://demo-tips.translation.bible/story/translation-commentary-on-1-maccabees-67/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Berthelot |first=Katell |date= |title=The Maccabean Victory Explained: Between 1 and 2 Maccabees |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03907245v1/document |url-status=live |access-date=16 April 2025 |website=shs.hal.science}}</ref> According to 2 Maccabees, he died from divinely-inflicted disease:

{{blockquote|But the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him with an incurable and invisible blow. As soon as he stopped speaking he was seized with a pain in his bowels, for which there was no relief, and with sharp internal tortures—and that very justly, for he had tortured the bowels of others with many and strange inflictions. Yet he did not in any way stop his insolence, but was even more filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his rage against the Jews, and giving orders to drive even faster. And so it came about that he fell out of his chariot as it was rushing along, and the fall was so hard as to torture every limb of his body. Thus he who only a little while before had thought in his superhuman arrogance that he could command the waves of the sea, and had imagined that he could weigh the high mountains in a balance, was brought down to earth and carried in a litter, making the power of God manifest to all. And so the ungodly man's body swarmed with worms, and while he was still living in anguish and pain, his flesh rotted away, and because of the stench the whole army felt revulsion at his decay.|title=[[2 Maccabees]] 9:5–9 (NRSV)<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Maccabees|9:5–9|NRSV}}</ref>}}

According to the later rabbinical work, the scroll of Antiochus ([[Megillat Antiochus]]), when Antiochus heard that his army had been defeated in Judea, he boarded a ship and fled to the coastal cities. Wherever he came the people rebelled and called him "The Fugitive," so he drowned himself in the sea.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Megillah of Antiochus – The Scroll of the Hasmoneans (Per translation by Phillip Birnbaum, 1974 with some modifications) |url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2830773/jewish/Megilat-Antiochus-The-Scroll-of-the-Hasmoneans.htm |accessdate=December 4, 2022 |website=[[Chabad.org]]}}</ref> This story is from the 2nd century, however, much further removed from the event than Polybius or 2 Maccabees.  It is generally considered secondary and unlikely to be accurate.<Ref>{{cite book |title=The Literature of the Sages: Second Part: Midrash and Targum Liturgy, Poetry, Mysticism Contracts, Inscriptions, Ancient Science and the Languages of Rabbinic Literature |publisher=Royal Van Gorcum, Fortress Press |date=2006 |chapter=Appendix: The Scroll of Antiochos and the Scroll of Fasts |last=Safrai |first=Ze'ev |author-link=Ze'ev Safrai |isbn=90-232-4222-X |series=CRIaNT |pages=238–241 }}</ref>