Antiochus XII Dionysus

Antiochus XII Dionysus
Epiphanes/Philopator/Callinicus
Seleucid coin of Antiochus XII, with a cult statue of Hadad on its reverse.
King of the Seleucid Empire (King of Syria)
Reign	87–84 BC (in opposition to Philip I Philadelphus, Antiochus X Eusebes, and Antiochus XI Epiphanes)
Predecessor	Demetrius III
Successor	Philip I Philadelphus or Tigranes
Born	Unknown
Died	84 BC Cana, Gadara (near present-day Umm Qais, Jordan)
Dynasty	Seleucid
Father	Antiochus VIII
Mother	Tryphaena
Religion	presumably Greek polytheism

Antiochus XII Dionysus (Epiphanes/Philopator/Callinicus), a ruler of the Greek Seleucid kingdom who reigned 87–84 BC.

Antiochus XII was the fifth son of Antiochus VIII Grypus and Tryphaena to take up the diadem. He succeeded his brother Demetrius III Eucaerus as separatist ruler of the southern parts of the last remaining Seleucid realms, basically Damascus and its surroundings.

Antiochus initially gained support from Ptolemaic forces and was the last Seleucid ruler of any military reputation, even if it was on a local scale. He made several raids into the territories of the Jewish Hasmonean kings, and tried to check the rise of the Nabataean Arabs. The Battle of Cana against the latter turned out to be initially successful, until the young king was caught in a melee and killed by an Arab soldier. Upon his death, the Syrian army fled and mostly perished in the desert. Soon after, the Nabateans conquered Damascus.

Antiochus' titles - apart from Dionysos - mean respectively (God) Manifest, Father-loving and Beautiful Victor. The last Seleucid kings often used several epithets on their coins.