Antiochus II Theos

Successor of: Antiochus I Soter

Relatives:

• Father: Antiochus I Soter
• Mother: Stratonice I
• Wives:
• Laodice I
• Son: Seleucus II Callinicus
• Son: Antiochus Hierax
• Daughter: Apame [1]
• Daughter: Stratonice II (married to Demetrius II of Macedonia)
• Daughter: Laodice (married to Mithradates II of Pontus)
• Berenice Phernephorus (daughter of Ptolemy II Philadelphus)
• Son: Antiochus (born 251; killed in the late summer of 246)

• c.286 Born
• After 268: Antiochus I Soter executes his eldest son Seleucus; Antiochus II becomes crown prince
• 2 June 261: Death of Antiochus I; Antiochus II succeeds
• 260: Outbreak of the Second Syrian War against Ptolemy II Philadelphus; the Seleucids achieve several successes in western Asia Minor
• 259/258: Liberates Miletus from a tyrant Timarchus, and is awarded the surname Theos, 'the god'
• c. 257: Marries his sister Stratonice III to Ariarathes III of Cappadocia
  
• 253: Peace with Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who recognizes Seleucid territorial gains in the west
• 252: Antiochus divorces his wife Laodice and marries Ptolemy's daughter Berenice Phernephorus
• c.252: Marries his daughter Stratonice II to Demetrius II of Macedonia
• 251: Birth of Antiochus
• 28 January 246: Death of Ptolemy II; Antiochus II repudiates Berenice, who stays in Antioch; he returns to his first wife Laodice
• early July 246: dies in Ephesus, only forty years old, and is buried in the Belevi Mausoleum
• His death provokes the Third Syrian War

Sources:

• Seleucid successions chronicle (BCHP 10)
• Appian of Alexandria, Syrian Wars, 65
• Diodorus of Sicily, Library of World History, 31.19
• Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 7.43
• Polyaenus, Stratagems, 8.50

Literature

• O.L. Gabelko & Yu.N. Kuzmin, "Matrimonial Policy of Demetrius II of Macedonia. New Solutions of Old Problems", in: Vestnik drevnej istorii 264 (2008) 141-164