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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Magnus Maximus, post: 5132525, member: 73473&quot;]Antiochus II was arguably one of the more sucessful Seleucid monarchs; he won a major war against Ptolemaic Egypt and gained territory in Anatolia while sucessfully defending his Syrian posessions. However, one area where Antiochus II objectively failed was in establishing a clear line of sucession and training said successor adequately for the job of governance. In early 246 BCE, Antiochus left his Egyptian born wife and entered Ephesus to meet his first wife Laodice I. Antiochus II either was murded by his ex-wife or died of natural causes in July of 246. Regardless of how Antiochus II died&nbsp; the results were disatrous for the Seleucid state.</p><p><br /></p><p>Seleucus II(Antiochus’s oldest son) took power in late summer of 246 and was immediatly faced with a war with Ptolemy III of Egypt. To make matters worse for Seleucus II, his mother had her partisans murder Ptolemy&#039;s sister(Antiochus II&#039;s second wife) and nephew(Antiochus II&#039;s third son) in a riot. Instead of supporting her eldest son, Laodice worked to undermine the young King by supporting her younger son Antiochus Hierax in Anatolia. Seleucus II, being pressed by the advancing Ptolemaic army, bregrudingly accepted his younger brother’s rule in Anatolia. After the war with Ptolemy concluded in 241, Seleucus focused his attention on Hierax in Anatolia. Hierax for his part was certainly as ambitious as any hellenistic monarch, and had assembled a large mercenary army by the time Seleucus II arrived. Amazingly Hierax was able to score a large victory over his brother that resulted in him losing over 25,000 men(a very high number considering the size of hellenistic armies).</p><p><br /></p><p>After his defeats at the hands of Hierax, Seleucus withdrew from Anatolia and turned east to try to restore order to the rouge satrapies of Parthia and Bactria. In the mean time a sort of cold war between the brothers set in, with neither side able to dislodge the other. Ironically it wasn’t a large hellenistic state that would ruin Hierax&#039;s kingdom, but the the city-state of Pergamon led by Attalus I Soter. Attalus managed to inflict a desicive defeat on Hierax in 228 that forced him to abandon all his territories in Anatolia and flee to Thrace. Never content with his lot in life, Hierax tried to raise an army in Thrace but was murdered by group of roving bandits in 227 BCE, he was 32 years old.</p><p><br /></p><p>With the death of a rival for the throne, Seleucus II was more secure in his postion and began assembling an army to reclaim territory previously lost to Hierax in Anatolia.</p><p><br /></p><p>I’m not sure what Antiochus Hierax should be classified as: a Seleucid king, usurper, or a separatist? He did control Seleucid territory in Anatolia for a little over a decade, however he never really made any major moves to conquer Syria and the Seleucid heartland. Most of Hierax’s army were made up of mercenaries(usually Galatians) yet they were able to inflict serious losses on Seleucus II’s professional army. Not much is know about Hierax’s actual reign in Anatolia, or how much actual governance he did; Hierax was 13 when his mother raised him to rebel in 246/5 BCE.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another fascinating thing about this period is how the legacy of Antiochus I Soter was still very much being used. Hierax used the portrait of his grandfather on his coins, depicting him as rejuvenated and wearing a winged diadem.</p><p><br /></p><p>Speaking of which!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1204338[/ATTACH]</p><p>Material: Silver</p><p>Weight: 16.77 g</p><p>Syria, Antiochus Hierax; 242(?)-227 BC. Alexandria Troas mint, Workshop B(?): Series II, Group B, Tetradrachm, 16.77g. SC-882.6 (same obverse die). Obv: Diademed head of Antiohcus I, r., rejuvenated and idealized with hair in bangs over forehead, wearing winged diadem. Rx: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ on r., ANTIOXOY on l., partially nude, with slight drapery on thigh, Apollo seated l. on omphalos, testing arrow and resting l. hand on grounded bow. Control marks in outer left field and above arrow in left field. Horse grazing to right in exergue.. VF</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>A video of my coin. It really is a nice piece in hand.</p><p>[MEDIA=vimeo]470725067[/MEDIA]</p><p>Courtesy of Harlan J Berk. </p><p><br /></p><p>A rough estimate of Antiochus Hierax’s territory in the 230’s BCE.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1204340[/ATTACH]</p><p>Please post your coins of Antiochus II, Ptolemy III, Antiochus Hierax, Seleucus II, Attalus I, and any other characters from the 240’s-220’s BCE![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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