Gaius Julius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes
Encyclopedia
Gaius Julius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes, also known as Julius Archelaus Epiphanes; Epiphanes; Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes or simply known as Gaius (Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

: ο Γαίος Ιούλιος Αρχέλαος Αντίοχος Επιφανής, 38-92) was an influential prince of the Kingdom of Commagene
Kingdom of Commagene
The Kingdom of Commagene was an ancient kingdom of the Hellenistic Age.Little is known of the region of Commagene prior to the beginning of the 2nd century BC. However, it seems that, from what little evidence remains, Commagene formed part of a larger state that also included Sophene...

, who lived in the 1st century.
Epiphanes was the first-born son and child to King Antiochus IV of Commagene
Antiochus IV of Commagene
Gaius Julius Antiochus IV Epiphanes , the last king of Commagene, reigned between 38-72 as a client king to the Roman Empire.-Life:Antiochus was a prince and son of Antiochus III of Commagene and his mother was Queen Iotapa of Commagene. The parents of Antiochus IV were full-blooded siblings, who...

 and Queen Iotapa
Iotapa
Iotapa or Iotape also known as Iotapi was the name of various queens and princesses who lived in between the 2nd century BC, 1st century BC, 1st century and 2nd century. The name Iotapa or Iotape originally derives from the name Jotapa or Jotape, which was a name of Persian origin...

 of Commagene. His parents were full-blooded siblings. His parents were Roman Client Monarchs of Commagene that lived under the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 in the 1st century. His younger siblings were prince Callinicus
Callinicus (Prince of Commagene)
Callinicus was a prince of the Kingdom of Commagene, who lived in the 1st century. Callinicus was the second-born son and child to King Antiochus IV of Commagene and Queen Iotapa of Commagene. His parents were full-blooded siblings. His parents were Roman Client Monarchs of Commagene that lived...

 and princess Iotapa
Iotapa
Iotapa or Iotape also known as Iotapi was the name of various queens and princesses who lived in between the 2nd century BC, 1st century BC, 1st century and 2nd century. The name Iotapa or Iotape originally derives from the name Jotapa or Jotape, which was a name of Persian origin...

.

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

n, Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 and Medes
Medes
The MedesThe Medes...

 descent. Through his ancestor from Commagene, Queen Laodice VII Thea
Laodice VII Thea
Laodice VII Thea Philadelphus , was a Greek–Syrian princess of the Seleucid Empire and future queen of Commagene. She was the daughter of Greek–Syrian King Antiochus VIII Grypus and Greek Ptolemaic Princess Cleopatra Tryphaena a daughter of Ptolemy VIII Physcon.Laodice married Mithridates I...

, who was the mother of King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene
Antiochus I Theos of Commagene
Antiochus I Theos Dikaios Epiphanes Philorhomaios Philhellenos Antiochus I Theos Dikaios Epiphanes Philorhomaios Philhellenos Antiochus I Theos Dikaios Epiphanes Philorhomaios Philhellenos (Greek: о Αντίοχος Θεός Δίκαιος Επιφανής Φιλορωμαίος Φιλέλλην, meaning Antiochos, a just, eminent god, friend...

, he was a direct descendant of the Greek 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....

n Kingdom the Seleucid Empire
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...

. He was most probably born in Samosata
Samosata
Samosata was an ancient city on the right bank of the Euphrates whose ruins existed at the modern city of Samsat, Adıyaman Province, Turkey until the site was flooded by the newly-constructed Atatürk Dam....

, the capital of the Kingdom of Commagene or in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. However, he was raised and educated between Rome and Samosata. His mother died around 52 and his father raised him. Epiphanes was named in honor of his father, his ancestors and the late Roman Client King Archelaus of Cilicia
Archelaus of Cilicia
Archelaus was a Cappadocian Prince from Anatolia and was as a Roman Client King of Cilicia Trachea and Eastern Lycaonia. He is sometimes known as Archelaus Minor and Archelaus II to distinguished him from his father Archelaus of Cappadocia.Archelaus was a Monarch of Greek, Armenian and Persian...

.

Antiochus IV was an ally to the Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

s and various members of the Herodian Dynasty
Herodian Dynasty
The Herodian Dynasty was a Jewish dynasty of Idumean descent, client Kings of Roman Judaea Province between 37 BCE and 92 CE.- Origin :During the time of the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus 134-104 BCE, Israel conquered Edom and forced the Edomites to convert to Judaism.The Edomites were integrated...

. Epiphanes was betrothed in 43/44 to the princess
Drusilla
Drusilla (daughter of Agrippa I)
Drusilla was a daughter of Herod Agrippa I and thus sister to Berenice, Mariamne and Herod Agrippa II.-First marriage:She was six years of age at the time of her father's death at Caesarea in 44...

, who was a daughter of Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...

n King Agrippa I
Agrippa I
Agrippa I also known as Herod Agrippa or simply Herod , King of the Jews, was the grandson of Herod the Great, and son of Aristobulus IV and Berenice. His original name was Marcus Julius Agrippa, so named in honour of Roman statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and he is the king named Herod in the...

. Agrippa thought that Epiphanes would embrace the religion Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 and Jewish customs. However, Epiphanes never married Drusilla because he refused to adopt the customs and religion of the Jews. The marriage between Epiphanes and Drusilla had not been contracted on the death of Agrippa I. Later Epiphanes was later betrothed to Drusilla’s sister Mariamne
Mariamne (daughter of Herod Agrippa I)
Mariamne was a daughter of King Herod Agrippa I. She was betrothed by her father to Gaius Julius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes, first son of King Antiochus IV of Commagene, but this marriage had not yet been enacted upon her father's death. Her brother Agrippa II enacted the marriage once he had...

. In 49/50, the brother of Mariamne and Drusilla, King Agrippa II
Agrippa II
Agrippa II , son of Agrippa I, and like him originally named Marcus Julius Agrippa, was the seventh and last king of the family of Herod the Great, thus last of the Herodians. He was the brother of Berenice, Mariamne, and Drusilla...

 had cancelled the wedding between Epiphanes and Mariamne, because again Epiphanes refused to adopt the customs and religion of the Jews.

In 64, Epiphanes had married an Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian Greek woman from Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

 called Claudia Capitolina
Claudia Capitolina
Claudia Capitolina was an Egyptian Greek woman who lived in the Roman Empire, in the 1st century and possibly in the 2nd century. Capitolina came from a distinguished family of Equestrian rank. She was born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt. Capitolina was the daughter and only child of Tiberius...

. Capitolina came from a distinguished family. She was the only child of Tiberius Claudius Balbilus
Tiberius Claudius Balbilus
Tiberius Claudius Balbillus or Balbilus, also known as ‘Balbillus the Wise‘, was an Egyptian Greek astrologer and a learned scholar. Balbillus was the son of astrologer Tiberius Claudius Thrasyllus, also known as Thrasyllus of Mendes and Princess Aka II of Commagene, who was either a granddaughter...

 and an unnamed Greek woman. Balbilus was an Egyptian Greek who was one of the highest magistrates of Equestrian
Equestrian (Roman)
The Roman equestrian order constituted the lower of the two aristocratic classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the patricians , a hereditary caste that monopolised political power during the regal era and during the early Republic . A member of the equestrian order was known as an eques...

 rank in Rome. Balbilus was an astrologer, a learned scholar who was later prefect of Egypt. Capitolina was distantly related to Epiphanes. Capitolina’s paternal grandmother princess Aka II of Commagene
Aka II of Commagene
Aka II of Commagene, also known as Aka II was a Princess from the Kingdom of Commagene, who lived between the 1st century BC and 1st century. She was of Armenian and Greek descent.There are two possibilities on the origins of Aka II...

 was a direct descendant of King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene
Antiochus I Theos of Commagene
Antiochus I Theos Dikaios Epiphanes Philorhomaios Philhellenos Antiochus I Theos Dikaios Epiphanes Philorhomaios Philhellenos Antiochus I Theos Dikaios Epiphanes Philorhomaios Philhellenos (Greek: о Αντίοχος Θεός Δίκαιος Επιφανής Φιλορωμαίος Φιλέλλην, meaning Antiochos, a just, eminent god, friend...

. Aka II was either a granddaughter or great granddaughter of Antiochus I Theos.

Capitolina is not mentioned by Roman Sources, however has been identified as the wife of Epiphanes and mother of Epiphanes’ children, through surviving honorific inscriptions and surviving honorific poetry dedicated to her. After Epiphanes married Capitolina, they settled and lived in the court of Antiochus IV. In 65 Capitolina bore Epiphanes their first son and child Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappos
Philopappos
Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappos or Philopappus, was a Prince of the Kingdom of Commagene who lived in the Roman Empire during the 1st century and 2nd century. He was one of the most prominent Greeks who lived in the Roman Empire....

 in Samosata.

In 70 Epiphanes was sent by his father with troops to command and assist the prince Titus
Titus
Titus , was Roman Emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to come to the throne after his own father....

 to end the siege in Jerusalem. During this war, Epiphanes had met the Roman Jewish Historian 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...

. The Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

 Vespasian
Vespasian
Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...

 had stated then that the Kingdom of Commagene was one of the richest of the tributary kings.

In 72 Lucius Caesennius Paetus
Lucius Caesennius Paetus
Lucius Junius Caesennius Paetus was a Roman aristocrat, member of the Caesennian gens and the Junian gens, who lived in the second half of the 1st century during the Roman Empire. He was Consul Ordinarius for the year 61, and enjoyed several high provincial commands in the East.He was the son of...

, the Roman Governor of Syria
History of Syria
The history of Syria:*Prehistory and Ancient Near East: see Pre-history of the Southern Levant, Fertile Crescent, Ebla, Mitanni*Antiquity: see Syro-Hittite states, Greater Syria, Roman Syria...

 had sent letters addressed to Vespasian accusing Antiochus IV; Epiphanes and his brother Callinicus in planning to revolt against Rome and allying themselves with the King of Parthia
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....

. Paetus accused in these letters that Antiochus IV, Epiphanes and Callinicus of disloyalty to the Emperor. It is not known whether if these accusations were true or false. After reading the letters, Vespasian felt that he could longer trust the family of Antiochus IV and couldn’t trust them to protect the strategic crossing at the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...

 River at Samosata. Vespasian gave orders to Antiochus IV to terminate his rule in Commagene.

Paetus invaded the Kingdom of Commagene, as head of the Legio VI Ferrata
Legio VI Ferrata
Legio sexta Ferrata , was a Roman Legion formed in 65 BC, and in existence up to at least 3rd century. A Legio VI fought in the Roman Republican civil wars of the 40s and 30s BC...

. The client Kings Aristobulus of Chalcis
Aristobulus of Chalcis
Aristobulus of Chalcis was a son of Herod of Chalcis and his first wife Mariamne, hence a great-grandson of Herod the Great.In 55 AD, he was appointed by Nero as King of Armenia Minor, and participated with his forces in the Roman-Parthian War of 58–63, where he received a small portion of Armenia...

 and Sohaemus of Emesa
Sohaemus of Emesa
Gaius Julius Sohaemus, also known as Sohaemus of Emesa and Sohaemus of Sophene , was a prince and a Roman Client Priest King from Syria who lived in the 1st century....

 also supplied troops to Paetus. They all arrived the night before the Battle. As Epiphanes and Callinicus prepared themselves that night for war, Antiochus IV was preparing to flee to Cilicia
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...

.

The next morning that the war was supposed to occur Epiphanes, his family and Callinicus out of fear of the Romans fled to the King of Parthia, while Antiochus IV also out of fear of the Romans fled to Cilicia. There is a possibility that Epiphanes and Callinicus had a short-lived attempt to resist invasion, before they fled to Parthia
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....

.

The family of Antiochus IV had let their own army and the citizens of Commagene down. Antiochus IV and his family never considered to cause a war with Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 and they wanted to clear themselves of these accusations. Vespasian brought peacefully back to Rome, Epiphanes with his family and Callinicus in an honourable Roman Military Escort. Epiphanes with his family and Callinicus lived in Rome with Antiochus IV for the remainder of his life. Vespasian had given Antiochus IV and his family sufficient revenue to live on. Antiochus IV and his family had a glamorous life and were treated with great respect.

They never returned to Commagene. Commagene was reinstated again as apart of the Roman Province of 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....

 and there the citizens of Commagene still proved to be loyal subjects of the Roman Empire.

In 72 Capitolina bore Epiphanes another child, a daughter named Julia Balbilla
Julia Balbilla
Julia Balbilla was a noble Roman woman and a poet who lived between the 1st century and 2nd century in the Roman Empire.-Family & Early Life:...

 in Rome. After the death of his father, Epiphanes and his family moved and finally settled in Athens Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, where he died in 92. It is unknown whether if Callinicus had travelled with them.

After his death, Capitolina returned and lived her remaining years in Alexandria, while his son remained in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 where he became a prominent citizen. His daughter Julia Balbilla became a prominent poet and became a travelling friend to the Roman Emperor Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...

 and wife Roman Empress Vibia Sabina
Vibia Sabina
Vibia Sabina was a Roman Empress, wife and second cousin, once removed, to Roman Emperor Hadrian. She was the daughter to Salonina Matidia , and suffect consul Lucius Vibius Sabinus...

. In a surviving poem written by Balbilla dedicated to the memory to her parents and her grandfathers, Balbilla describes her parents as ‘pious’ people and writes very highly of her ancestry.

Sources


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