Editing Antiochus IV Epiphanes (section)

==Legacy==
===Jewish tradition===
[[File:Georg Pencz - Tyrants of the Old Testament- Antiochus - 1923.398 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg|thumb|Woodcut depicting Antiochus by [[Georg Pencz]]]]
Antiochus IV is remembered as a major villain and persecutor in the Jewish traditions associated with [[Hanukkah]], including the [[Books of the Maccabees]] and the "[[Megillat Antiochus|Scroll of Antiochus]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vedibarta Bam – And You Shall Speak of Them: Megilat Antiochus The Scroll of the Hasmoneans<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/vedibarta-bam/155.htm |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201162529/http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/vedibarta-bam/155.htm |archivedate=1 February 2008 |accessdate=4 December 2022}}</ref> Rabbinical sources refer to him as הרשע ''harasha'' ("the wicked"). ''[[The Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' concluded that "[s]ince Jewish and heathen sources agree in their characterization of him, their portrayal is evidently correct", summarizing this portrayal as one of a cruel and vainglorious ruler who tried to force on all the peoples of his realm a [[Hellenization|Hellenic culture]], "the true essence of which he can scarcely be said to have appreciated".<ref name="je">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Antiochus IV., Epiphanes |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |publisher=Funk and Wagnalls |volume=I: Aach–Apocalyptic literature |year=1925 |pages=634–635 |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.49015002282318;view=1up;seq=690}}</ref> [[Josephus]] writing in [[Antiquities of the Jews]] describes Antiochus IV desecrating the [[Second Jewish Temple]] and renaming it "The Temple of Jupiter Hellenius." Antiochus IV is also described by Josephus as executing anyone performing Jewish practices or in possession of Jewish texts in addition to circumcised males.<ref>{{cite wikisource|chapter=Book XII|wslink=The Antiquities of the Jews|plaintitle=The Antiquities of the Jews|last=|first=|year=|publisher=|page=|wspage=|scan=}} </ref>

=== Divine epithets ===
Antiochus was the first Seleucid king to use divine epithets on coins, perhaps inspired by the [[Graeco-Bactrian|Bactrian]] Hellenistic kings who had earlier done so, or else building on the ruler cult that his father Antiochus the Great had codified within the Seleucid Empire. These epithets included {{lang|grc|Θεὸς Ἐπιφανής}} "manifest god", and, after his defeat of Egypt, {{lang|grc|Νικηφόρος}} "bringer of victory".<ref>C. Habicht, "The Seleucids and their rivals", in A. E. Astin, ''et al.'', ''Rome and the Mediterranean to 133 B.C.'', ''The Cambridge Ancient History'', volume 8, p. 341</ref>

===Historiography===
The most important ancient non-Jewish source on Antiochus IV is the Greek historian [[Polybius]], generally considered one of the highest-quality sources on the time period.  Polybius paints a negative picture of him, and other surviving accounts have as well.  The negative accounts of the Jews in the Books of the Maccabees are also influential.  On the basis of this, Antiochus IV has generally been judged poorly.<ref name="gera" /><ref name="sekunda" />

There are historians who think that these hostile depictions deserve some skepticism, however.  Not all ancient accounts are hostile; the historian [[Appian]] does not say anything particularly bad about Antiochus IV, in contrast.  Polybius does not appear to be neutral on this issue, as he was good friends with Antiochus IV's nephew and rival [[Demetrius I Soter|Demetrius I]]; the two both spent years in exile in Rome.  The [[Achaean League]] which Polybius hailed from was also traditionally hostile to the Seleucid Empire.  Polybius was, like many of the educated upper class, something of an elitist.  So stories related by Polybius such as those of Antiochus IV frolicking with commoners at taverns may have soured his reputation in antiquity, even though modern values would find this kind of behavior unobjectionable.  The historian Dov Gera writes in defense of Antiochus IV that he was a "talented and accomplished politician" and that "the negative portrait of him painted by Polybius was influenced by political considerations of his friends<!--Full quote: , the sons of Apollonius son of Menestheus,-->... and should not be trusted."<ref name="gera">{{cite book |last=Gera |first=Dov |author-link= |date=1998 |title= Judaea and Mediterranean Politics 219 to 161 B.C.E. |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |page=320 |isbn=90-04-09441-5}}</ref>  There is also some evidence on this: historian [[Nick Sekunda]] notes that [[Alexander Balas]] successfully challenged King Demetrius for leadership of the Seleucid Empire decades later in 152 BC while claiming to be an unknown son of Antiochus IV.  This claim appears to have been useful to him, suggesting Antiochus IV was remembered fondly by at least some.  Even 1 Maccabees, an extremely hostile source, has Antiochus IV wonder on his deathbed why calamity has struck him when he was "well-loved in the day of my power".<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Maccabees|6:11|NRSV}}</ref><ref name="sekunda">{{cite book |last1=Sekunda |first1=Nicholas Victor |date=2001 |chapter=Polybius on Antiochus IV |title=Hellenistic Infantry Reform in the 160's BC |location= |publisher=Oficyna Naukowa MS |series=Studies on the History of Ancient and Medieval Art of Warfare 5 |isbn=83-85874-04-6 |pages=159–171 }}</ref> According to the Book of 1 Maccabees, Antiochus IV eventually comes to believe that these misfortunes were the result of the persecution of the Jewish people that he orchestrated in Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1 Maccabees 6:12-13 |url=https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=2%20Maccabees%209:5%E2%80%939&version=nrsvae}}</ref>