Antiociiis, the name of several kings of Syria, of whom the following are the most important in its history: I. Antiochns I., Soter, born about 325 B. C, died in 261. He was the son of Seleucus Nicator and Apama, the daughter of the Persian satrap Artabazus. At the battle of Ipsus he commanded the cavalry of his father, and was routed by Demetrius Poliorcetes. He fell ill through love for his stepmother Stratonice, and his father not only abandoned to him the object of his desire, but abdicated a portion of his dominions in his favor, He joined his father in his expeditions into the countries lying between the Indus and the Caspian. On the assassination of Se-leucus in Thrace (280) he inherited all his dominions. In his reign a division of the Gauls, who had ravaged Macedonia, Hellas, and Thrace, penetrated into Asia Minor, and settled permanently in northern Phrygia, subsequently known as Galatia. Antiochus gained a brilliant victory over them in 275, from which he took his surname of Soter (Saviour). He disputed the throne of Macedon with An-tigonus Gonatas, the son of Demetrius Poliorcetes; but the matter was arranged by Anti-gonus retaining the throne and marrying the daughter of Antiochus. After an unsuccessful war with Eumenes, king of Pergamus, he put to death his eldest son, Ptolemy, who had revolted against him.

He was killed by a Gaul in a battle near Ephesus.

II. Antiochns III., the Great, son of Seleucus Callinicus and Laodicea, born about 238 B. 0., slain in 187. He succeeded his brother Seleucus Ceraunus at a time when his kingdom was in a disorganized condition. After reducing a revolt of the governors of Media and Persia, and of Artabazanes, governor of Atropatenc, he was defeated by Ptolemy Philopator near Gaza (217) in an attempt to secure possession of Code-Syria and Palestine, but recovered bis laurels by suppressing the rebellion of his cousin Achaeus, whom he besieged in Sardis, captured by treachery, and put to death, thus reannexing a considerable portion of Asia Minor to the Syrian monarchy (214). In pursuance of his scheme of restoring his kingdom to the position it held at the death of its founder, Seleucus Nicator, he turned his arms against Parthia, and reduced Arsaces III. to vassalage. He was unsuccessful against Euthymedus, king of Bactria. Crossing the mountains of Paropamisus (Hindoo Koosh) into India, he made a treaty of alliance with the king of the Punjaub, and directed his march homeward through the provinces of Arachosia, Drangiana, and Carmania, and reestablished the Syrian supremacy in those regions.

For this seven years expedition he received from his subjects the surname of the Great. Soon after his return to Antioch (205), Ptolemy Philopator died, and his son Ptolemy Epiphanes, then five years old, succeeded to the throne of Egypt. Antiochus thereupon entered into an alliance with Philip of Macedon to overrun and partition Egypt. He quickly gained'possession of Palestine and Cade-Syria, and after a great victory near Paneas was received by the Jews in Jerusalem with great enthusiasm. Learning the defeat of his ally Philip by the Romans at Cynoscepha-lae in 197, he made peace with Ptolemy, proceeded with a fleet along the coast of Asia Minor, reducing many of the Greek cities there, crossed the Hellespont, and took possession of the Thracian Chersonese. The Roman senate sent an ambassador in 196 to demand that he should restore what he had taken from Philip and Ptolemy, whose guardianship the Roman people had just assumed. They also demanded immunity for their ally Attains, king of Pergamus. Antiochus replied that as he did not seek to interfere with what the Romans did in Italy, they must not trouble him in Asia. In the following year (195) Hannibal, driven from Carthage, took refuge with Antiochus at Ephesus. Hannibal's advice was to carry the war immediately into Italy, but Antiochus did not move till 192. Then he crossed over into Greece at the invitation of the Aetolians, who were in arms against the Romans. He brought only 10,000 men with him, but was chosen commander-in-chief by the Aetolian assembly, and began by making Philip of Macedon his enemy instead of his friend.

After capturing Eubœa, instead of pressing forward, be wasted his time in treating about the surrender of a number of little cities, fell in love with a Eubœan damsel and married her, and spent the winter at Chal-cis in a round of dissipation, in which his army shared. The Roman consul Acilius Glabrio, with Cato for his legate, now advanced upon him. He made a stand at Thermopylae, was entirely routed, and barely escaped with his new wife (191). The next year Lucius Cornelius Seipio took the conduct of the war, with his brother Africanus as his lieutenant. Disheartened and panic-struck by the defeat of his fleet, Antiochus withdrew his troops from Ses-tos and Abydos, and the other fortified maritime cities of Asiatic Greece, which might have held the Romans in check. Thus the latter had free passage into Asia. The two armies met at Magnesia near Mt. Sipylus; that of Antioclius numbered 70,000 men, that of the Romans 30,000. The Syrians were thoroughly defeated and cut to pieces, and Antiochus was compelled to submit to whatever terms the Romans chose to impose.

These terms were to resign the provinces west of the Taurus, to pay a large sum for the expenses of the war, to deliver up to the Romans his elephants and ships of war, and to surrender Hannibal and the other anti-Roman refugees. Hannibal and another were allowed to save themselves by flight; the rest were given up together with hostages for the execution of the treaty. One of these hostages was Antiochus Epiph-anes, the king's younger son. In collecting means to pay the indemnity, he plundered a wealthy temple in the province of Elymais, upon which the indignant people rose and massacred him and his attendants.

III. An-tiochus IV., Epiphanes, or the Illustrious, second son of the preceding, succeeded his elder brother Seleucus Philopator in 175 B. 0., died in 164. He was kept as hostage at Rome until his brother sent his own son Demetrius to replace him. He recovered Cœle-Syria and Palestine in a single campaign (171), overran all Egypt except Alexandria, took captive the young king, Ptolemy Philometor, and in 170 sacked Jerusalem and plundered the temple, as related in the book of the Maccabees. He undertook four expeditions into Egypt, and would have annexed that country had not the Roman ambassadors met him on the last occasion (168) and ordered its immediate evacuation. On his return home he commenced that great persecution of the Jews which is related in the 2d book of the Maccabees, during which time the service of the temple was broken off for three years. He set up the statue of Jupiter Olympus there, and desired to introduce the worship of the Greek deities, but was thwarted by the insurrection of Mattathias and his sons the Maccabees. After a frustrated attempt to plunder a temple in Elymais, he became raving mad, in which condition he died.

His subjects called him, in parody on his surname, Epima-nes, the madman.