| |
The Third Syrian War was one of a series of
conflicts between the Seleucid Empire and Ptolemaic Egypt, fought for control
of Syria and the coast of Asia Minor. The Third Syrian War developed out of
events meant to bring the two empires closer together. After the Second Syrian
War, the Seleucid emperor Antiochus II had married Berenice Syra, the daughter
of Ptolemy II. To do this he had had to repudiate his first wife, Laodice (thus
the Laodicean War). Laodice and their children were sent to Ephesus while
Berenice replaced her at court, and produced a son. The split between Laodice
and Antiochus was clearly not total – in 247 Antiochus died while visiting
her at Ephesus, while her brother Alexander was retained as general of Lydia.
In the aftermath of Antichus’s death, Laodice claimed that he had named
her son, Seleucus II, as his heir. Soon after this, Ptolemy II died and was
succeeded by his son Ptolemy III, Berenice’s brother. While Laodice was
strong in Asia Minor, Berenice appears to have had support in Antioch. An
Egyptian force from nearby Cyprus landed at Seleuceia in Pieria, the port of
Antioch-on-the-Orontes, then the Seleucid capital city, and an advance force
reached Antioch, but was unable to prevent the murder of Berenice and her son
by supporters of Laodice.
Ptolemy III now belatedly arrived on the scene. He was able to keep the death
of Berenice secret for some time, and occupied Antioch, reaching as far east as
Seleuceia on the Tigris during 246. His rapid advance through the eastern heart
of the Seleucid empire suggests that he was probably unopposed while he could
pretend to be acting in the name of Berenice. These apparent conquests were
short lived. In 245 Ptolemy III had to return to Egypt to deal with a rebellion
in the Nile Delta. News of the death of Berenice finally leaked out, and
opposition to Ptolemy grew. Seleucus II is said to have crossed the River
Taurus in 244, and soon regained the eastern part of what was now his empire.
Antioch and Damascus were soon recovered, but Seleuceia in Pieria remained in
Egyptian hands at the end of the war. Egypt was more successful in Asia Minor,
where she could use her fleet to good effect. Opposition to her there was led
by Seleucus’s half brother Antiochus Hierax (the Hawk), who had been made
regent of the Seleucid possessions in Asia Minor when Seleucus returned to
Syria. He does not appear to have been particularly effective against the
Egyptians, who ended the war in possession of southern Ionia and probably of
Caria and Lycia. The exact scale of Egyptian conquests during the Third Syrian
War is obscured by our lack of detailed information about the Second Syrian
War, making it hard to be sure which places were conquered and which were
simply retained. The war ended in 241. Seleucus probably initiated the peace in
order to deal with his many other problems. Antiochus Heirax had set himself up
as an independent ruler, and was now claiming the entire empire (the resulting
civil war is known as the War of the Brothers). In the east the
Bactrian-Sogdian satrapy was in the process of leaving the empire under the
rule of the Macedonian satraps, who felt they were better able to cope with
nomad invasions if they were independent of a distant power. The vast Seleucid
empire was about to shake itself apart.
|
|
