Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/786

Rh 74 SELEUCUS. SELEUCUS. truce was concluded by the two brothers (as sup- posed by Droysen), there appears to have been in fact a suspension of hostilities between them. (For the history of these wars in particular, as well as for the reign of Seleucus II. in general, see Niebuhr, Kl. Schn/t. vol. i. pp. 276—286 ; and Droysen, vol. ii. p. 337—359, 410—429.) It must have been during this interval that Se- leucus undertook an expedition to the East, with the view of reducing the revolted provinces of Parthia and Bactria, which had availed themselves of the disordered state of the Syrian empire to throw off its yoke. He was, however, defeated by Arsaces, king of Parthia, in a great battle which was long after celebrated by the Parthians as the foundation of their independence (Justin, xli. 4), and was soon after recalled from these remote regions by fresh troubles which had arisen in his western provinces. Froelich (Ann. St/r. pp. 30, 31) and Clinton (F. H. vol. iii. p. 313) have re- presented him as himself falling a captive into the hands of the Parthians : but it appears, from the Armenian version of Eusebius (p. 167, fol. edit.), that the passage of Posidonius {ap. Allien, iv. p. 153) on which they rely as their authority, refers in fact to Seleucus the scm of Antiochus Sidetes (see Niebuhr, Kl. Schrift. p. 300). It was pro- bably during the same period of partial tranquillity that Seleucus found time to enlarge his capital of Antioch, by the construction of a new quarter of the city. (Strab. xvi. p. 750.) Whether hostilities with Egypt were ever ac- tually renewed, or the truce between the two countries at once passed into a durable peace, we know not ; but it seems certain that such a peace was concluded before the death of Seleucus (Nieb. I.e. p. 287). On the other hand, the war between the two brothers broke out with fresh violence. We have, however, little information of its events ; and we only know that it was terminated by a decisive victory of Seleucus in Mesopotamia, which compelled Antiochus to take refuge with Ariamnes, king of Cappadocia. From thence he made his escape to the court of Ptolemy ; but that monarch being now desirous to maintain friendly relations with Syria, detained him in close custody, from which he only escaped to perish by the hands of robbers. Meanwhile Attalus, king of Pergamus, had ex- tended his dominions over the greater part of Asia Minor, from which he had expelled Antiochus ; and Seleucus appears to have been engaged in an expedition for the recovery of these provinces, when he was accidentally killed by a fall from his horse, in the twenty-first year of his reign, B. c. 226. (Justin, xxvii. 3 ; Trog. Pomp. Prol. xxvii. ; Euseb. Arm. p. 165 ; Droysen, vol. ii. p, 426.) One of the last acts of his reign was to send a magnificent present of com, timber, and other sup- plies, as well as ten quinqueremes fully equipped, to the Rhodians, whose city had suffered severely by an earthquake (Polyb. v. 89). Seleucus had married Laodice, the sister of Andromachus, by whom he left two sons, who successively ascended the throne, Seleucus Ceraunus and Antiochus, after- wards sumaraed the Great (Appian, Syr. QQ ; Polyb. ii. 71). His own surname of Callinicus, which was probably assumed after his recovery of the provinces that had been overrun by Ptolemy, is not found on his coins, Avhich, as they bear no dates, cannot be distinguished with certainty from those of his son. [E. H. B.J COIN OF SELEUCUS II. SELEUCUS III. (2eAey/fos), surnamed Ce- raunus, king of Syria, was the eldest son and successor of Seleucus II. His real name was Alexander, but on his father's death he assumed that of Seleucus ; the surname of Ceraunus was given him by 'the soldiery, apparently in de- rision, as he appears to have been feebel both in mind and body. He, however, followed up his father's plans, by assembling an army, with which he passed Mount Taurus, for the purpose of dis- possessing Attalus of his newly acquired dominions in Asia Minor. He was accompanied by his cousin Achaeus, a man of energy and ability, but the war was notwithstanding feebly conducted : discontents broke out in the army ; and at length Seleucus himself was assassinated by one of his own officers, named Nicanor, and a Gaul of the name of Apaturius. He could have been little more than twenty years old at the time of his death, of which he had reigned nearly three years. (Polyb. iv. 48, v. 40 ; Appian, Syr. 66 ; Hieronym. ad Daniel, xi. 10 ; Euseb. Arm. p. 165.) From an inscription found at Seleuceia, on the Orontes (Pococke, Inscr. Ant. p. 4, No. 18 ; Droysen, vol. ii. p. 520), it appears that the official title or surname assumed by Seleucus, was that of Soter ; but neither this, nor that of Ceraunus by which he is known in history, is found on any of his coins. The latter, indeed, can only be assigned to him conjecturally. Droysen (76. p. 521) has inferred, from the same inscription, that Seleucus must have left an infant son of the name of An- tiochus, whose claims were passed over in favour of his uncle, Antiochus III. ; but no other mention is found of this fact. [E. H. B.] COIN OF seleucus IIL SELEUCUS IV. (2€'A6y/fos), king of Syria, surnamed Philopator, was the son and successor of Antiochus the Great. The date of his birth is not mentioned ; but he must have already attained to manhood in b. c. 19G, when he was left by his father in command of his forces at Lysimachia, in the Chersonese, with orders to rebuild that city, which Antiochus designed, or affected to design, as a royal residence for Seleucus himself (Liv. xxxiii.