Editing Antiochus IV of Commagene

{{Short description|King of Commagene from AD 38 to 72}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name            = Antiochus IV
| image = Antioco IV Commagene 1 coin.jpg
| caption = Coin depicting Antiochus IV
| succession      = King of [[Commagene]]
| reign           = AD 38 – AD 72<br/>(34 years)
| predecessor     = [[Antiochus III of Commagene|Antiochus III]]
| successor       = None<br/>(Kingdom abolished)
| full name       = Gaius Julius Antiochus IV Epiphanes
| spouse          = [[Julia Iotapa (daughter of Antiochus III)|Princess Iotapa of Commagene]]
| issue           = [[Gaius Julius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes|Prince Gaius]]<br/>[[Callinicus (Prince of Commagene)|Prince Callinicus]]<br/>[[Julia Iotapa (daughter of Antiochus IV)|Iotapa, Queen of Cetis]]
| royal house     = [[Orontid dynasty]]
| father          = [[Antiochus III of Commagene|King Antiochus III of Commagene]]
| mother          = [[Iotapa (spouse of Antiochus III)|Princess Iotapa of Commagene]]
| birth_date   = before AD 17
| birth_place  =
| death_date   = after AD 72
| death_place  = [[Rome]], [[Roman Empire]]
| place of burial =
|}}

'''Gaius Julius Antiochus IV Epiphanes''' ({{langx|grc|Γάιος Ἰούλιος Ἀντίοχος ὀ Ἐπιφανής}}, before 17 AD &ndash; after 72 AD), the last king of [[Commagene]], reigned between 38 and 72 as a client king to the [[Roman Empire]]. The epithet "Epiphanes" means "the Glorious".

==Life==
Antiochus was born a prince of the royal family of Commagene. His parents King [[Antiochus&nbsp;III of Commagene]] and Queen [[Iotapa (spouse of Antiochus III)|Iotapa]] were full-blooded siblings who had married each other. The younger Antiochus himself would marry his full-blooded sister [[Julia Iotapa (daughter of Antiochus III)|Iotapa]]. Antiochus was of [[Armenian people|Armenian]]<ref name=chahin>{{cite book
  | last = Chahin
  | first = Mark
  | title =The Kingdom of Armenia
  | publisher = Routledge
  | year =2001
  | pages = 190–191
  | isbn = 0-7007-1452-9}}</ref> descent. Through his ancestor from Commagene, Queen [[Laodice&nbsp;VII Thea]], who was the mother of King [[Antiochus&nbsp;I of Commagene]], he was a direct descendant of the Greek [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid kings]].

Antiochus appears to have been very young when his father died in 17. The [[Roman emperor]] [[Tiberius]] agreed with the citizens of Commagene to make their kingdom a part of the [[Roman province]] of [[Syria]]. Between 17 and 38, Antiochus seems to have gained [[Roman citizenship]]. He lived and was raised in [[Rome]], along with his sister. While he and his sister were growing up in Rome, they were part of the remarkable court of [[Antonia Minor]], a niece of the first Roman emperor [[Augustus]] and the youngest daughter of the triumvir [[Mark Antony]]. Antonia Minor was a very influential woman and supervised her circle of various princes and princesses. Her circle assisted in the political preservation of the Roman Empire's borders and affairs of the client states.

In 38, Antiochus received his paternal dominion from Antonia's grandson, the Roman emperor [[Caligula]]. In addition, the emperor enlarged Antiochus' territory with a part of [[Cilicia]] bordering on the seacoast. Caligula also gave him the whole amount of the revenues of Commagene during the twenty years that it had been a Roman province.<ref>[[Cassius Dio]], lix. 8</ref><ref>[[Suetonius]], ''Caligula'', 16.</ref> The reasons for providing a client king with such vast resources remain unclear; it was perhaps a stroke of Caligula's well-attested eccentricity. Antiochus was on most intimate terms with Caligula, and he and King [[Agrippa&nbsp;I]] are spoken of as the instructors of the emperor in the art of tyranny.<ref>Cassius Dio, lix. 24.</ref> This friendship, however, did not last very long, for he was subsequently deposed by Caligula.

Antiochus did not regain his kingdom till the accession of Roman Emperor [[Claudius]] in 41.<ref>Cassius Dio. lx. 8.</ref> In 43 his first son, [[Gaius Julius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes|C.&nbsp;Julius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes]], was betrothed to [[Drusilla (daughter of Agrippa I)|Drusilla]], a daughter of [[Agrippa I]].<ref>[[Josephus]], ''Jewish Antiquities'', xix. 9. § 1.</ref> Apart from Epiphanes, Antiochus had another two children with Iotapa: [[Callinicus (Prince of Commagene)|Callinicus]] and a younger [[Julia Iotapa (daughter of Antiochus IV)|Iotapa]]. In 53, Antiochus put down an insurrection of some barbarous tribes in Cilicia, called Clitae.<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''Annals'', xii. 55.</ref> In 55 he received orders from the Roman emperor [[Nero]] to levy troops to make [[Roman–Parthian War of 58–63|war]] against the [[Parthia]]ns, and in the year 59 he served under General [[Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo|Cn.&nbsp;Domitius Corbulo]] against King [[Tiridates I of Armenia]], brother of the Parthian King [[Vologases&nbsp;I of Parthia]].<ref>Tacitus, ''Annals'', xiii. 7, 37.</ref> In consequence of his services in this war, in the year 61 he obtained parts of [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]].<ref>Tacitus, ''Annals'', xiv. 26.</ref>

He took the side of [[Vespasian]] when the latter was proclaimed Roman emperor in 70; and he is then spoken of as the richest of the tributary kings.<ref>Tacitus, ''Histories'', ii. 81.</ref> In the same year he sent forces, commanded by his son Epiphanes, to assist prince [[Titus]] in the siege of [[Jerusalem]].<ref>Josephus, ''Jewish War'', v. 11. § 3</ref><ref>Tacitus, ''Histories'', v. 1.</ref> During his reign as king, he founded the following cities: [[Ermenek|Germanicopolis]], [[Aytap|Iotapa]] and Neronias.<ref>Bowman, ''The Augustan Empire'', p. 672</ref>

Antiochus' downfall came only two years afterwards, in 72, when he was accused by [[Lucius Caesennius Paetus|L.&nbsp;Caesennius Paetus]], the governor of [[Syria (Roman province)|Syria]], of conspiring with the Parthians against the Romans. He was therefore deprived of his kingdom, after a reign of thirty-four years from his first appointment by Caligula. Antiochus' sons, the princes Epiphanes and Callinicus, fled to [[Parthia]] after a brief encounter with Roman troops. Antiochus himself retired first to [[Sparta]] and then to [[Rome]], where he passed the remainder of his life with his sons Epiphanes and Callinicus and was treated with great respect.<ref>Josephus, ''Jewish War'', vii. 7</ref> Among the grandchildren of Antiochus and Iotapa was the prominent Athenian citizen [[Philopappos]] who lived in [[Greece]] between the 1st and 2nd centuries.

==Coinage==
There are several coins of this king extant, and their die-marks prove he did rule large parts of [[Cappadocia]] and [[Cilicia]] as well as Commagene proper. In one of those coins he is called ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΣ ("Great King Antiochus"), a testament to his political ambitions. On the reverse of that coin a scorpion is represented, surrounded with the foliage of the laurel, and inscribed ΚΟΜΜΑΓΗΝΩΝ ("of the Commagenians"). From his coins we also learn the name of his wife, [[Julia Iotapa (daughter of Antiochus III)|Iotapa]].<ref>[[Joseph Hilarius Eckhel]], iii. p. 255 etc.</ref><ref>Henry Fynes Clinton, ''Fasti Hellenici, the Civil and Literary Chronology of Greece from the 55th to the 124th Olympiad'', iii. p. 343 etc., (1824-1851).</ref>

==See also==
* [[Aytap]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
* {{cite web|url=http://www.mavors.org/PDFs/Commagene.pdf |publisher=Mavors–Institute for Ancient Military History |title=Early Roman Rule in Commagene |author=Michael Alexander Speidel |date=c. 2005 |access-date=2015-10-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151227175141/http://www.mavors.org/PDFs/Commagene.pdf |archive-date=2015-12-27 }}
* ''This entry incorporates [[public domain]] text originally from:''
**[[William Smith (lexicographer)|William Smith]] (ed.), ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', 1870.
* A.K. Bowman, E. Champlin & A. Lintott, The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C.-A.D. 69, Cambridge University Press, 1996
*The Building Program of Herod the Great, By Duane W. Roller, Published by University of California Press 1998, {{ISBN|0-520-20934-6}}
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S_iZdOzcQCoC&q=Strabo+and+Antonia+&pg=PA192 |title=Antonia Augusta: Portrait of a Great Roman Lady |author=Nikos Kokkinos |publisher=Psychology Press |date=1992|isbn=9780415080293 }}

==External links==
* [http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/commagene/kings/antiochos_IV/t.html Coinage of Antiochus IV]

{{Hellenistic rulers}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antiochus 04 of Commagene}}
[[Category:Kings of Commagene]]
[[Category:Roman client monarchs]]
[[Category:1st-century monarchs in Asia]]
[[Category:1st-century Romans]]
[[Category:Julii|Antiochus Epiphanes, Gaius]]