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Third Syrian War (246–241)
See also: Battle of Andros (246)
Also known as the Laodicean War, the Third Syrian War began with one of the
many succession crises that plagued the Hellenistic states. Antiochus II left
two ambitious mothers, his repudiated wife Laodice and Ptolemy II's daughter
Berenice Syra, in a competition to put their respective sons on the throne.
Laodice claimed that Antiochus had named her son heir while on his deathbed,
but Berenice argued that her newly born son was the legitimate heir. Berenice
asked her brother Ptolemy III, the new Ptolemaic king, to come to Antioch and
help place her son on the throne. When Ptolemy arrived, Berenice and her child
had been assassinated. Ptolemy declared war on Laodice's newly crowned son,
Seleucus II, in 246, and campaigned with great success (his forces possibly
being commanded by Xanthippus of Sparta, aka Xanthippus of Carthage, the
mercenary general responsible for defeating a Roman army at Tunis/Bagrades in
255). He won major victories over Seleucus in Syria and Anatolia, briefly
occupied Antioch and, as a recent cuneiform discovery proves, even reached
Babylon. These victories were marred by the loss of the Cyclades to Antigonus
Gonatas in the Battle of Andros. Seleucus had his own difficulties. His
domineering mother asked him to grant co-regency to his younger brother,
Antiochus Hierax, as well as rule over Seleucid territories in Anatolia.
Antiochus promptly declared independence, undermining Seleucus' efforts to
defend against Ptolemy. In exchange for a peace in 241, Ptolemy was awarded new
territories on the northern coast of Syria, including Seleucia Pieria, the port
of Antioch. The Ptolemaic kingdom was at the height of its power.
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