Antiochus X Eusebes Philopator, ruler of the Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 Seleucid kingdom

Seleucid Empire

The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...

, was a contestant in the tangled-up family feuds among the last Seleucids. Beginning his reign in 95 BC his first achievement was to defeat his double half-cousin/second cousin Seleucus VI Epiphanes

Seleucus VI Epiphanes

Seleucus VI Epiphanes Nikator, ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid kingdom, was the oldest son of Antiochus VIII Grypus and his wife Tryphaena. In 96 BC, Seleucus defeated his half-uncle Antiochus IX Cyzicenus in revenge for his father's death...

, thus avenging the recent death of his father Antiochus IX Cyzicenus

Antiochus IX Cyzicenus

Antiochus IX Eusebes, ruler of the Greek Seleucid kingdom, was the son of Antiochus VII Sidetes and Cleopatra Thea. Upon the death of his father in Parthia and his uncle Demetrius II Nicator's return to power , his mother sent him to Cyzicus on the Bosporus, thus giving him his nickname...

. The epithets he took tell much of his story: Eusebes (being a title of his father) and also Philopator (father-loving) both honoured his father. After that, he ruled Antioch

Antioch

Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...

 and its surroundings, fighting endlessly against the four brothers of Seleucus VI, the Nabataeans and the Parthian Empire

Parthian Empire

The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...

.

The date of his downfall is uncertain; Josephus

Josephus

Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...

 reckons he was killed around 90 BC fighting the Parthians - and his possession of Antioch

Antioch

Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...

 was certainly lost to Philip I Philadelphus

Philip I Philadelphus

Philip I Philadelphus , a ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid kingdom, was the fourth son of Antiochus VIII Grypus and his wife Tryphaena. Philip I took the diadem in 95 BC together with his older brother Antiochus XI Ephiphanes, after the eldest son Seleucus VI Epiphanes was killed by their cousin...

 around then - whereas for instance Appian

Appian

Appian of Alexandria was a Roman historian of Greek ethnicity who flourished during the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius.He was born ca. 95 in Alexandria. He tells us that, after having filled the chief offices in the province of Egypt, he went to Rome ca. 120, where he practised as...

 speaks of him being defeated when the Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

n king Tigranes invaded Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 by 83 BC, but in that case his actions in the meantime remain unrevealed. A son of Antiochus X, by the name of Antiochus XIII Asiaticus

Antiochus XIII Asiaticus

Antiochus XIII Dionysus Philopator Kallinikos, known as Asiaticus was one of the last rulers of the Greek Seleucid kingdom.He was son of king Antiochus X Eusebes and the Ptolemaic princess Cleopatra Selene I, who acted as regent for the boy after his father's death sometime between 92 and 85 BC...

, was made client king in Syria after the Roman

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

 general

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 Pompey

Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...

 had defeated Tigranes.

External links

• Antiochus X Eusebes entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith