ANTIOCHIANS

ANTIOCHIANS (2 Mac 4S- >9).— The efforts of An-tiochus Epiphanes to spread Gr. culture and Gr. customs throughout his dominions were diligently furthered by a section of, the Jews. The leader of this Hellenizing party, Jason, brother of the high priest Onias in., offered a large sum of money to Antiochus to induce the king to allow the inhabitants of Jerusalem 'to be enrolled as Antiochians.' Antiochus acceded to the proposal, and shortly afterwards a party of ' Antioch-ians ' from Jerusalem was sent by him with a contribu-tion of money for the festival of Heracles at Tyre.

ANTIOCHIS (2 Mac 43"). — A concubine of Antiochus Epiphanes, who assigned to her the revenues of the two Cilician cities, Tarsus and Mallus.

ANTIOCHUS (1 Mac 12« 14»; cf. Jos. Ant. xm. V. 8). — The father of Numenius, who was one of the envoys sent (c. B.C. 144) by Jonathan the Maccabee to renew the covenant made by Judas with the Romans, and to enter into friendly relations with the Spartans.

ANTIOCHUS. — A name borne by a number of the kings of Syria subsequent to the period of Alexander the Great.

1. Antiochus I. (b.c. 280-261) was the son of Seleucus Nikator, the chiliarch under Perdiccas who was regent immediately after the death of Alexander. On the murder of his father he came into possession of practically the entire region of Asia Minor as far east as the provinces beyond Mesopotamia. The most important fact of his reign was his defeat of the Celts, who, after devastating Macedonia and Thrace, swarmed into Asia Minor and estabUshed a kingdom which was subsequently known as Galatia. The date and place of the victory are un-known, but it won him the name of Soler ('Saviour'). His capital was Antioch in Syria, but he was never able to bring his vast empire into complete subjection. He was a friend of literature and art, and it is possible that under him the beginning was made for the Greek translation of the Pentateuch.

2. Antiochus H., Theos (b.c. 261-246). — Son of the foregoing, essentially a warrior, carrying on interminable struggles both with the free Greek cities of his own territory, to which he finally gave something like demo-cratic rights, and with Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt. Under him, however, the Jews of Asia Minor gained many civic rights.

3. Antiochus m., the Great. — He ascended the throne when only 15 years of age, and he reigned from b.c. 223 to 187. Along with Antiochus i. and Antiochus ii. he may be referred to in the early portions of Dn 11. His reign, like that of most of his contemporaries, was one of constant war, particularly with Egypt. In the course of these wars he gained possession of Palestine through the battle of Banias (b.c. 198), and established the Syrian administration over Judsea, although for a time he ruled the province jointly with Ptolemy Epiphanes of Egypt. Like Antiochus i., he was a great colonizer, and induced 2000 Jewish families to go. from Mesopotamia into Lydia and Phrygia, thus laying the foundation for the influential Jewish Dispersion in those regions. So warlike a monarch could not fail to come into conflict sooner or later with Rome. He was defeated in the battle of Magnesia in b.c. 190, and three years later was killed, according to some authorities, while plundering a temple at Elymais.

4. Antiochus IV., Epiphanes ('the Illustrious'; also nicknamed Epimanes, 'the Madman'). — The son of the preceding, who had been sent as a hostage to Rome. In b.c. 175 he seized the Syrian throne, and began a series of conquests which bade fair to rival his father's. While in Egypt, however, he was ordered by the Romans to leave that country, and thus found himself forced to limit his energies to Syria. In the course of his conflict with Egypt he had becomesuspicious of Judaea, and determined to force that country into

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complete subjection to his will. His motives were probably more political than religious, but as a part of his programme he undertook to compel the Jews to worship heathen gods as well as, if not in place of, Jehovah. His plans were first put into active operation probably towards the end of b.c. 170, when he returned from Egypt, although the chronology at this point is very obscure and it may have been a couple of years later. He plundered the Temple of some of its treasures, including the seven-branch candlestick, the altar of incense, and the table of shewbread. He also placed a garrison in the citadel of Jerusalem, and set about the complete Hellenizing of Judaea. Circumcision and the observance of the Sabbath were forbidden under penalty of death. Pagan sacrifices were ordered in every town in Judeea, and every month a search was made to discover whether any Jew possessed a copy of the Law or had circumcised his children. In December 168 B.C. a pagan altar, probably to Olympian Zeus, was erected on the altar of burnt-offering, and the entire Jewish worship seemed threatened with extinction. This probability was increased by the apostasy of the high priest.

This excess of zeal on the part of Antiochus led to the reaction, which, under the Chasidim and Mattathias, the founder of the Maccabsean house, ultimately brought about the release of Judaea from Syrian control. The events of this period of persecution are related in detail,— though with a large element of legend, — in 2 Maccabees, and reference is to be found to them also in Dn ll^'-". Antiochus finally died on an expedition against the Parthians in b.c. 164. (For an account of the struggle of Mattathias and Judas against Antiochus, see Maccabees).

5. Antiochus V., Eupalor. — Son of the preceding; began to reign at the death of his father, when a mere boy of 9 (or 12) years. He was left by his father under the control of Lysias, his chief representative in Palestine, and with him was present at the victory of Beth-zacharias, b.c. 163, when Judas Maccabseus was defeated (1 Mac 6^2-17). xhe complete conquest of Judaea was prevented by the rise of the pretender Philip, who, however, was conquered. In the midst of their success, both young Antiochus and Lysias were assas-sinated by Demetrius i. (b.c 162). Their death reacted favourably on the circumstances surrounding the rising Maccabaean house.

6. Antiochus VI., — Son of Alexander Balas. Trypho, one of the generals of Alexander Balas, at first championed the cause of this boy after his father had been killed in Arabia. After a few months, however, he caused the assassination of Antiochus by the physicians of the court, and reigned in his stead (1 Mac 13"').

7. Antiochus VH., Sidetes (b.c. 138-128), the last of the energetic Syrian monarchs, came to the throne during the imprisonment of Demetrius 11. After defeat-ing Trypho, he undertook to establish his sovereignty over the Jews. Simon partially won his favour by presents and by furnishing auxiliary troojw, but at last refused to meet his excessive demands for permitting such independence as Judaea had come to enjoy under theweakpredecessorof Antiochus. Thereupon Antiochus sent his generals into Judaea, but they were defeated by the sons of Simon (1 Mac 15. 16). He himself came during the first year of John Hyrcanus (135-134), and after devastating Judaea shut up Hyrcanus in Jerusalem. He was about to capture the city through starvation when he unexpectedly made terms with Hyrcanus, probably because of the interference of the Romans. These terms laid very heavy demands upon the Jews, and included the destruction of the fortifications of the city. UntU b.c. 129-128 Judffia was again subject to the Syrian State, but at the end of that year Antiochus was killed in a campaign against the Parthians, and Hyrcanus was enabled to reassert his independence. See Maccabees. Shailee Mathews.