Antiochus VII Sidetes

Successor of: Demetrius II Nicator and Diodotus Tryphon

Relatives:

• Father: Demetrius I Soter
• Mother: 
• Wife: Cleopatra Thea (daughter of Ptolemy VI Philometor; former wife of Alexander I Balas and Demetrius II Nicator)

• Lives in Side during the reign of his brother Demetrius II Nicator, and stays out of his conflict with Diodotus Tryphon
• July/August 138: Demetrius taken captive by the Parthian king Mithradates I the Great, who has conquered Media, Babylonia, and Elam
• After August 138: Antiochus VII Sidetes, supported by several parties, attacks Diodotus Tryphon in Dor, but he escapes
• Diodotus commits suicide in Apamea
• Early 137: Antiochus' commander Cendebeus defeated by Simon, high priest in the Hasmonaean kingdom
• 134: January: Simon is assassinated; Antiochus invades Judaea, besieges Jerusalem, and recognizes John Hyrcanus as high priest; he does not interfere with the Jewish religion (and is therefore sometimes called Euergetes, 'benefactor').
• 133: Sends expensive presents to Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, who is besieging Numantia
• 132: Death of the Parthian king Mithradates; he is succeeded by Phraates II
• 130: Antiochus successfully fights a war against the Parthians, who are expelled from Babylonia and Media
• 129: Antiochus demands full restoration of all Seleucid territories in Iran; the Parthians defeat him
• After 20 May 129: suicide
• The Parthians reconquer Media and Babylonia, add Mesopotamia, and reach the Euphrates. Demetrius II, who is still held in captivity, is allowed to return to his old kingdom, which has by now been reduced to Syria and Cilicia

• 1 Maccabees, 15-16
• Appian of Alexandria, Syrian Wars, 68
• Diodorus of Sicily, Library of World History, 34/35.1, 34/35.15-18
• Flavius Josephus, Jewish War, 1.50-51, 61-62
• Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 7.393, 13.219ff, 236ff, 261ff, 271ff
• Flavius Josephus, Against the Greeks, 2.82
• Strabo, Geography, 14.668