Seleucid Dynastic Wars

Seleucid Dynastic Wars
Coin of Demetrius II, one of the principal figures in the dynastic wars of the later Seleucid Empire
Date 157–63 BC Location Seleucid Empire Result Decline and collapse of the Seleucid Empire
Belligerents
Line of Seleucus IV 157–63 BC	Line of Antiochus IV 157–123 BC	Line of Antiochus VII 114–63 BC

The Wars of Alexander Balas
Part of Seleucid Dynastic Wars
Alexander Balas was supposedly an illegitimate son of Antiochus IV and was supported by the rulers of Egypt, Pergamon and Cappadocia. He fought against Demetrius Soter and his son Demetrius Nicator, ultimately being defeated and assassinated.
Date 157–145 BC Location Seleucid Empire; Syria; Cilicia; Phoenicia Result Overall victory for the Line of Seleucus IV
Belligerents
Demetrian - Line of Seleucus IV Supported by: Ptolemaic Kingdom (145 BC)	Alexandrian - Line of Antiochus IV Supported by: Ptolemaic Kingdom (157–145 BC)
Commanders and leaders
Demetrius I Soter † Demetrius II Nicator Ptolemy VI † (145 BC)	Alexander Balas † Diodotus Tryphon Ptolemy VI (147-145 BC)

War of Antiochus VI and Tryphon
Part of Seleucid Dynastic Wars
Antiochus VI was the son of Alexander Balas. His regent was Diodotus Tryphon, who at the boys death proclaimed himself king and ruled parts of Syria until his defeat at the hands of Antiochus VII Sidetes.
Date 145–138 BC Location Seleucid Empire; Syria; Phoenicia; Judea; Cilicia Result Overall victory for the Legitimate faction under Antiochus VII.
Belligerents
Legitimate Faction (145–138 BC)	Alexandrian Faction (145–142 BC)	Tryphon Faction (142–138 BC)
Commanders and leaders
Demetrius II Nicator  Antiochus VII Sidetes	Antiochus VI Dionysus † Diodotus Tryphon	Diodotus Tryphon †

War of Alexander Zabinas
Part of Seleucid Dynastic Wars
Alexander Zabinas was put forward as a candidate for the Seleucid throne by the Ptolemaic king Ptolemy VIII to disrupt Demetrius II's plans to support his enemies in a civil war he was conducting against his niece, Cleopatra III of Egypt.
Date 128–123 BC Location Seleucid Empire; Syria; Phoenicia; Result Overall victory for the Legitimate faction.
Belligerents
Legitimate Faction	Usurper Faction Supported by: Ptolemaic Kingdom (128–124 BC)
Commanders and leaders
Demetrius II Nicator † Antiochus VIII Grypus Cleopatra Thea	Alexander II Zabinas †

The War between Grypus and Cyzicenus
Part of Seleucid Dynastic Wars
Coin of Antiochus IX, who in 114 BC launched his bid for the Seleucid throne against his cousin/half-brother Antiochus VIII. A son of Antiochus VII Sidetes, he survived the death of his half-brother to rule the kingdom, only to be killed by Seleucus VI, a son of Grypus, not long afterwards.
Date 114–95 BC Location Seleucid Empire; Syria; Phoenicia; Cilicia Result Victory for the Northern Faction, but immediate continuation of civil war between successors.
Belligerents
Northern Faction	Southern Faction
Commanders and leaders
Antiochus VIII Grypus † Seleucus VI Epiphanes	Antiochus IX Cyzicenus †

The War of the Brothers
Part of Seleucid Dynastic Wars
Coin of Demetrius III, a son of Antiochus VIII Grypus, he held Damascus having been placed there by Ptolemy IX Lathyros and fought against his brothers in the north before being taken prisoner by the Parthians, who were allied to his brother Philip I. He died in captivity, succeeded by his brother Antiochus XII.
Date 95–75 BC Location Seleucid Empire; Syria; Coele-Syria Result Rule of Philip I throughout diminished kingdom. At his death in 75 BC, Antiochus XIII Asiaticus is proclaimed king but Tigranes II the Great of Armenia invades and annexes Syria not long afterwards.
Belligerents
Northern Faction (Line of Grypus) Supported by: Parthian Empire Arab Allies	Line of Cyzicenus	Damascus Faction (Line of Grypus) Supported by: Ptolemaic Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Seleucus VI Epiphanes † Antiochus XI Epiphanes † Philip I Philadelphus	Antiochus X Eusebes † Antiochus XIII Asiaticus	Demetrius III Eucaerus  Antiochus XII Dionysus †

The Seleucid Dynastic Wars were a series of wars of succession that were fought between competing branches of the Seleucid Royal household for control of the Seleucid Empire. Beginning as a by-product of several succession crises that arose from the reigns of Seleucus IV Philopator and his brother Antiochus IV Epiphanes in the 170s and 160s, the wars typified the final years of the empire and were an important cause of its decline as a major power in the Near East and Hellenistic world. The last war ended with the collapse of the kingdom and its annexation by the Romans in 63 BC.

The civil wars that characterized the later years of the Seleucid Kingdom had their origins in the defeat of Antiochus III the Great in the Roman–Seleucid War, under which the peace terms ensured that a representative of the Seleucid royal family was held in Rome as a hostage. Initially the future Antiochus IV Epiphanes was held hostage, but with the succession of his brother, Seleucus IV Philopater, in 187 and his apparent breaking of the Treaty of Apamea with Rome, Seleucus was forced to recall Antiochus to Syria and instead replace him with his son, the future Demetrius I Soter in 178 BC.

When Seleucus was murdered by his minister Heliodorus in a power bid in 175, the legitimate heir was held as a hostage in Rome. With Demetrius so far from home and unable to claim the kingdom, his uncle Antiochus left Athens, where he had been residing for several years, and claimed the kingship for himself. He ruled the empire from 175 until his death whilst on a campaign in the east in 164 BC. A strong and energetic ruler Antiochus left an heir, but he was too young to claim the throne. Before Antiochus had set out on his eastern campaign, he had placed Lysias as his regent in the west and to take charge of his son, Antiochus V Eupator. Lysias and his colleagues fought off a rival to their control of the regency, the former king's ‘Friend’ Philip who had travelled east with him, and attempted to exert control over the Jews led by Judas Maccabeus. Meanwhile, Demetrius in Rome yearned to return to the kingdom, but to Rome they saw the weak rule of the supposedly corrupt regency council and its boy-king as preferable to a strong-willed and energetic-minded ruler who may try to exert Seleucid control once more in the east.

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