| |
Antiochus I Soter "Antiochus
the Saviour"; c. 324/3 – 2 June 261) was a king of the Hellenistic
Seleucid Empire. He succeeded his father Seleucus I Nicator in 281 BC and
reigned until his death on 2 June 261 BC.[1] He is the last known ruler to be
attributed the ancient Mesopotamian title King of the Universe.
Biography:
Antiochus I was half Sogdian, his mother Apama, daughter of Spitamenes, being
one of the eastern princesses whom Alexander the Great had given as wives to
his generals in 324. The Seleucids fictitiously claimed that Apama was the
alleged daughter of Darius III, in order to legitimise themselves as the
inheritors of both the Achaemenids and Alexander, and therefore the rightful
lords of western and central Asia. In 294, prior to the death of his father
Seleucus I, Antiochus married his stepmother, Stratonice, daughter of Demetrius
Poliorcetes. The ancient sources report that his elderly father reportedly
instigated the marriage after discovering that his son was in danger of dying
of lovesickness.
Stratonice bore five children to Antiochus: Seleucus (later executed for
rebellion), Laodice, Apama II, Stratonice of Macedon and Antiochus II Theos,
who succeeded his father as king. The Ruin of Esagila Chronicle, dated between
302 and 281, mentions that a crown prince, most likely Antiochus, decided to
rebuild the ruined Babylonian temple Esagila, and made a sacrifice in
preparation. However, while there, he stumbled on the rubble and fell. He then
ordered his troops to destroy the last of the remains. On the assassination of
his father in 281, the task of holding together the empire was a formidable
one. A revolt in Syria broke out almost immediately. Antiochus was soon
compelled to make peace with his father's murderer, Ptolemy Keraunos,
apparently abandoning Macedonia and Thrace. In Anatolia he was unable to reduce
Bithynia or the Persian dynasties that ruled in Cappadocia.
In 278 the Gauls broke into Anatolia, and a victory that Antiochus won over
these Gauls by using Indian war elephants in 275 is said to have been the
origin of his title of Soter (Greek for "saviour"). At the end of 275
the question of Coele-Syria, which had been open between the houses of Seleucus
and Ptolemy since the partition of 301, led to hostilities (the First Syrian War). It had been continuously in
Ptolemaic occupation, but the house of Seleucus maintained its claim. War did
not materially change the outlines of the two kingdoms, though frontier cities
like Damascus and the coast districts of Asia Minor might change hands. In 268
Antiochus I laid the foundation for the Ezida Temple in Borsippa. His eldest
son Seleucus had ruled in the east as viceroy from c. 275 until 268/267;
Antiochus put his son to death in the latter year on the charge of rebellion.
Around 262 Antiochus tried to break the growing power of Pergamum by force of
arms, but suffered defeat near Sardis and died soon afterwards. He was
succeeded in 261 by his second son Antiochus
II Theos.
Relations with India:
Antiochus I maintained friendly diplomatic relations with Bindusara, ruler of
the Maurya Empire of India. Deimachos of Plateia was the ambassador of
Antiochus at the court of Bindusara. The 3rd century Greek writer Athenaeus, in
his Deipnosophistae, mentions an incident that he learned from Hegesander's
writings: Bindusara requested Antiochus to send him sweet wine, dried figs and
a sophist. Antiochus replied that he would send the wine and the figs, but the
Greek laws forbade him to sell a sophist. Antiochus is probably the Greek king
mentioned in the Edicts of Ashoka, as one of the recipients of the Indian
Emperor Ashoka's Buddhist proselytism: "And even this conquest [preaching
Buddhism] has been won by the Beloved of the Gods here and in all the
borderlands, as far as six hundred yojanas (5,400–9,600 km) away, where
Antiochus, king of the Yavanas [Greeks] rules, and beyond this Antiochus four
kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule." Ashoka also
claims that he encouraged the development of herbal medicine, for men and
animals, in the territories of the Hellenic kings: "Everywhere within
Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi's [Ashoka's] domain, and among the people
beyond the borders, the Cholas, the Pandyas, the Satiyaputras, the
Keralaputras, as far as Tamraparni and where the Greek king Antiochus rules,
and among the kings who are neighbors of Antiochos, everywhere has
Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, made provision for two types of medical
treatment: medical treatment for humans and medical treatment for animals.
Wherever medical herbs suitable for humans or animals are not available, I have
had them imported and grown. Wherever medical roots or fruits are not available
I have had them imported and grown. Along roads I have had wells dug and trees
planted for the benefit of humans and animals." Alternatively, the Greek
king mentioned in the Edict of Ashoka could also be Antiochus's son and
successor, Antiochus II Theos, although the proximity of Antiochus I with the
East may makes him a better candidate.
|
|
