Editing Seleucid Empire (section)

====Expansion into Greece and war with Rome====
{{Further|Roman–Seleucid War}}
[[File:Asia Minor 188 BCE.jpg|thumb|The reduced empire (titled: ''Syria, Kingdom of the Seleucids'') and the expanded states of [[Kingdom of Pergamon|Pergamum]] and [[Rhodes]], after the defeat of [[Antiochus III]] by Rome. Circa 188 BC.|250x250px]]
Following the defeat of his erstwhile ally [[Philip V of Macedon|Philip]] by Rome in 197 BC, Antiochus saw the opportunity for expansion into Greece itself. Encouraged by the exiled [[Carthage|Carthaginian]] general [[Hannibal]], and making an alliance with the disgruntled [[Aetolian League]], Antiochus launched an invasion across the [[Hellespont]]. With his huge army he aimed to establish the Seleucid empire as the foremost power in the Hellenic world, but these plans put the empire on a collision course with the new rising power of the Mediterranean, the [[Roman Republic]]. At the battles of [[Battle of Thermopylae (191 BC)|Thermopylae]] (191 BC) and [[Battle of Magnesia|Magnesia]] (190 BC), Antiochus's forces suffered resounding defeats, and he was compelled to make peace and sign the [[Treaty of Apamea]] (188 BC), the main clause of which saw the Seleucids agree to pay a large indemnity, to retreat from [[Anatolia]] and to never again attempt to expand Seleucid territory west of the [[Taurus Mountains]]. The [[Kingdom of Pergamum]] and the [[Rhodes#Hellenistic and Roman periods|Republic of Rhodes]], Rome's allies in the war, gained the former Seleucid lands in Anatolia. Antiochus died in 187 BC on another expedition to the east, where he sought to extract money to pay the indemnity.