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Article

Cleopatra II, c. 185–116 BCE  

Dorothy J. Thompson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
Cleopatra II (c. 185–116 BCE), daughter of *Cleopatra I and *Ptolemy (1) V and both sister and wife of first *Ptolemy (1) VI Philometor (from 175) and then (from 145) his successor (and brother) *Ptolemy (1) VIII Euergetes II. Her children (by Philometor) were Ptolemy Eupator, *Ptolemy (1) VII Neos Philopator, *Cleopatra III and Cleopatra Thea, and (by Euergetes) Ptolemy Memphites. Her long life was marked by dynastic strife in which she looked to the population of *Alexandria (1) for support. Supplanted in Euergetes’ affection by her daughter, Cleopatra III, in 132–130 she engaged in a civil war against her husband-brother and his new wife. Euergetes fled to Cyprus with Cleopatra III and although he was back in control from 130 mother and daughter only reached an uneasy reconciliation in 124. The reconciliation of Euergetes and his two wives, Cleopatra mother and daughter, was marked by an amnesty decree in 118 (PTeb.

Article

Cleopatra III  

Dorothy J. Thompson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
Cleopatra III, daughter of *Ptolemy (1) VI and *Cleopatra II, was seduced and married by *Ptolemy (1) VIII Euergetes II in 140/139 bce. She spent much of her life in conflict with her mother, whom she followed as her uncle's wife. Following Euergetes’ death (in 116) she ruled with first her elder (*Ptolemy (1) IX Soter II) and then (from 107) her younger son (*Ptolemy (1) X Alexander I). The drama of this final stage of her career, epitomized in 105/bce (PColon. 2. 81) when she served instead of the king as priest in the royal cult, is variously reported; all agree that different sons were favoured successively and that Cleopatra met a violent end (in 101 bce). New appointments in the dynastic cult (see ruler-cult) reflect the troubled times; in 115 three new priestesses joined the cult of this powerful queen.

Article

colonization, Hellenistic  

Pierre Briant

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
*Plutarch, in the eulogy of his hero *Alexander (3) the Great (De Alex. fort.), made the foundation of cities the linchpin of the achievement of Alexander, who wished to spread Greek civilization throughout his realm. Although we must be mindful of the predictable ideology which has structured Plutarch's argument, as well as distrustful of the number of cities attributed to the conqueror (70!), it is nevertheless true that Alexander's conquest opened the countries of the middle east to Greek immigration. The Greeks, however, could only imagine life in cities with Greek-style houses, streets, public buildings, civic institutions, and a rural territory where the colonists could hold plots of land (klēroi; see cleruchy). Begun by Alexander, usually as military colonies rather than cities proper (*Alexandria (1) in Egypt is an exception), this policy was followed by his successors and developed further by the *Seleucids.

Article

Cos  

William Allison Laidlaw and Susan Mary Sherwin-White

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
  3. Roman History and Historiography
A fertile island of the Sporades, situated in the SE Aegean, on the north–south trading route along the coast of Turkey and onwards to Cyprus, Syria, and Egypt. After Mycenaean occupation, the island was colonized, in the ‘Dark Ages,’ by *Dorians, perhaps from *Epidaurus, whose arrival may be identified with the establishment of the settlement attested by the cemeteries at the Seraglio (c.1050–c.750 bce). It was a member of the Dorian Hexapolis. The Doric dialect continued to be used into late antiquity (e.g. POxy. 2771: ce 323).In the late Archaic period the island was subject initially to Persia and to the Lygdamid (see artemisia(1)) dynasty of *Halicarnassus, which faced Cos across the straits between the island and Turkey, and then to Athens. Cos is not attested as a member of the *Second Athenian Confederacy (founded 378 bce) and perhaps did not join.

Article

Ctesias  

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
Ctesias of Cnidus was a doctor at the court of Artaxerxes II and the author of a history of Persia and other works. He seems to have studied, and possibly practised, medicine at Cnidus. The exact time and reason for Ctesias’ arrival in Persia (maybe as a prisoner of war) is unknown. He is attested at the battle of Cunaxa in 401bce, when the armies of two royal brothers, King Artaxerxes II and Prince Cyrus, clashed over the right to the throne. There is every possibility that Ctesias was Artaxerxes’ physician before the revolt of Cyrus, and certainly after the battle Ctesias received numerous honours from the king (T3, 6b). He was resident in Persia for seventeen years (c. 413–397bce) as the king’s physician (T5). It appears that he also cared for Artaxerxes’ wife, Stateira, and his revered mother, Parysatis (T11d). In 399–397bce he left the Persian heartland for Cyprus and served as a go-between for Artaxerxes in his negotiations with Conon, who at the time commanded a Persian fleet in the Aegean under the orders of the Cypriot king Evagoras I of Salamis.

Article

Egypt, Ptolemaic  

Dorothy J. Thompson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East

In the period from the death of Alexander (3) the Great in 323 bce until Octavian's conquest and the death of *Cleopatra VII in 30 bce the Egyptian throne was held by Macedonians, and from 304 by the one family (for which see ptolemy (1)) descended from Alexander's general Ptolemy son of Lagus. Externally the main problem remained the extent of the kingdom, while internally the nature of administrative control and relations with the native Egyptians formed the major concerns of this new resident dynasty of foreign pharaohs. For the modern observer it is the incomplete nature of the historical record which presents problems. Contemporary historical analysis is limited in period (*Polybius (1), *Diodorus (3) Siculus), much of it concentrating on the scandalous and sensational (*Pompeius Trogus, *Justin), and while numerous papyri and ostraca, preserved through the dry desert conditions, join with inscriptions to make Egypt better documented than other Hellenistic kingdoms, these illustrate the details of administration and everyday life without its wider context.

Article

Evagoras, c. 435–374/373 BCE  

Donald Ernest Wilson Wormell and Simon Hornblower

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
Evagoras (Εὐαγόρας, c. 435–374/3 bce), an interesting and important figure in Greek, Persian, and Cypriot history. He was a member of the Teucrid house (cf. Tod 194), the traditional rulers of *Salamis (2). Exiled during his youth, which fell in a period of Phoenician domination, he gathered some 50 followers at Soli in Cilicia, and with their help established himself as ruler of Salamis in 411. His subsequent policy aimed at strengthening *Hellenism in *Cyprus by co-operation with Athens (which honoured him c.407, perhaps for shipping corn there); and his court became a centre for Athenian émigrés, of whom *Conon (1) was the most distinguished. A clash with Persia was ultimately inevitable, but in his early years he was not out of line with Persia, and he postponed the confrontation by assisting in the revival of Persian sea-power culminating in the triumph of *Cnidus (394, see athens (history)).

Article

Fratarakā, Sub-Seleucid Dynasty in Persis  

Josef Wiesehöfer

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
29 March 2017
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East

Shortly after his reconquest of Babylonia in 312bce, Seleucus, a former general of Alexander the Great, was able to conquer the Achaemenid heartland of Persis (Fars), and in the second half of the 2nd centurybce, it was the Arsacids who put themselves in possession of this prestigious region. Shortly before, Fars had been allowed to enjoy a brief period of independence, when the Seleucid empire, at least after Antiochus III’s heavy defeat by Rome, had shown clear signs of an internal and external crisis. Scholars have openly discussed the date and duration of Persid independence, and even sometimes denied the existence of conflicts between Seleucids and Persid dynasts (Fratarakā; cf. Engels). In these debates, the dating and interpretation of the coins of sub-Seleucid dynasts and independent rulers of Fars are decisive, but this procedure should not be tackled without taking into due and independent consideration the existing archaeological, epigraphic, and literary evidence.

Article

inequality  

John Weisweiler

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
20 June 2022
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Greek History and Historiography
  3. Late Antiquity
  4. Near East
  5. Roman History and Historiography

The just distribution of social goods was fiercely debated in the ancient Mediterranean and the ideologies of egalitarianism and inegalitarianism developed in Rome and Athens shaped Euro-American political thought from the Enlightenment onward. By contrast, the study of actual income and wealth distributions in ancient societies is a more recent development. Only in the early 21st century have scholars begun to make systematic attempts to quantify levels of inequality in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. Since we lack the documentary sources on which the study of inequality in contemporary economies is based, most of these reconstructions rely on a combination of modelling and the interpretation of isolated figures found in literary texts. This fragmentary evidence suggests that in the best-attested regions of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East inequality was considerable. In particular, the formation of large territorial states—most notably the empires of Babylon, Persia, and Rome—facilitated the concentration of wealth into fewer hands. But it is unclear whether inequality increased over time. At least, there is no unambiguous evidence that wealth and income were more unequally distributed in late antiquity than in earlier periods of Roman history.

Article

John Hyrcanus  

Katell Berthelot

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
19 October 2022
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Jewish Studies
  3. Near East
John Hyrcanus was a member of the Hasmonean dynasty, a priestly family that ruled Judea from 152 to 63 bce. He became high priest in 135 bce and succeeded, after Antiochus VII Sidete’s death, in establishing an independent Judean state thanks to the growing dissensions among the members of the Seleucid dynasty. In the last years of his rule, between 111 and 105 bce, he enlarged Judea’s borders through a series of military campaigns in Idumea, Samaria, and the Transjordan area. He destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim and imposed Jewish laws and circumcision upon the Idumeans. Josephus’s work and rabbinic writings convey a generally positive record of his rule.John Hyrcanus was a member of the Hasmonean dynasty, a priestly family that ruled Judea from 152 to 63bce—from 63 to 37bce they remained in charge to some extent, but under Roman supervision.1 John Hyrcanus was the son of Simon, the nephew of Judas Maccabeus, and the grandson of Mattathias, who started the “Maccabean revolt” against the Seleucid king .

Article

Laodice (2), Seleucid queen, wife of Antiochus (2) II, c. 285–unknown  

Monica D'Agostini

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
The first wife of the Seleucid king Antiochos II Theos, Laodice, was the daughter of Achaeus the Elder, a Greco-Macedonian local dynast of Asia Minor. She had estates in both Asia Minor and Babylonia. Following the second wedding of her husband Antiochos II with Berenice, Ptolemy II’s daughter, in 252 bce, Laodice remained the wife of the king and member of the royal family. Her son Seleucus II was acclaimed king after the death of his father, Antiochus II, in 246 bce. War broke out between Laodice and Seleucus II and Berenice, who claimed the throne for her infant Antiochus. Laodice controlled Asia Minor, whereas Berenice’s authority extended over Cilicia and Syria. Berenice’s brother Ptolemy III sailed for Seleucia, to his sister’s aid with a fleet and an army, and waged war against Seleucus II. Berenice and her son were killed in Antioch by supporters of Laodice. During the reign of Seleucus II, Antiochus Hierax rebelled against his brother in Asia Minor causing the so-called “War of the Brothers,” and Laodice supported his secession. The circumstances of her passing are unknown. Appian alone claims she died in 246 bce, killed by Ptolemy III.

Article

Laodice (3), Seleucid queen, consort of Antiochus (3) III  

Monica D'Agostini

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
Laodice was the daughter of Mithradates II of Pontos and Laodice, daughter of the Seleucid king Antiochus II. In c. 222 bce, she married Antiochus III and was proclaimed queen. As a Seleucid queen, she was present at the battle of Raphia in 217 bce between her husband and Ptolemy IV. By acting as a benefactor and engaging in humanitarian initiatives in Asia Minor, she contributed to the political relationship between the Seleucids and local institutions. Because of her patronage, she received honours from cities. In 193 bce, Laodice was the first Seleucid queen to have a ruler cult that mirrored that of her husband and his ancestors. The cult was established by Antiochus III and was to be managed by eponymous high priestesses. Laodice gave birth to two Seleucid kings, Seleucus IV and Antiochus IV, and a Seleucid queen also named Laodice. Her daughter Cleopatra married Ptolemy V. Although Antiochus III remarried in 192 bce, she remained the only Seleucid queen.

Article

Ptolemy(1), name of the Macedonian kings of Egypt  

Dorothy J. Thompson, Albert Brian Bosworth, Theodore John Cadoux, and Ernst Badian

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
  3. Roman History and Historiography
The name of all the Macedonian kings of Egypt.(‘Saviour’) (c. 367–282 bce) son of Lagus and Arsinoë, served *Alexander (3) the Great of Macedon as an experienced general and childhood friend. At Susa in 324 he married Artacama (also called Apame), daughter of *Artabazus, whom he later divorced. He later married the Macedonian Eurydice (6 children) and subsequently *Berenice (1) I, mother of the dynastic line. After Alexander's death (323) he hijacked the conqueror's embalmed corpse and, taking it to Memphis in Egypt, established himself as satrap in place of *Cleomenes (3). In the following year he took Cyrene and in 321 repulsed the invasion of *Perdiccas (3). In the complex struggles of Alexander's successors he was not at first particularly successful. In 295 however he recovered Cyprus, lost in 306 to *Demetrius (4) Poliorcetes, and from 291 he increasingly controlled the Aegean League of Islanders (.

Article

Ptolemy III Euergetes (“Benefactor”) I, king of Egypt, early 246 to 221 BCE  

Stanley Burstein

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 November 2022
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East

Ptolemy III Euergetes (“Benefactor”) I, king of Egypt, early 246–February 221 bce. Born mid‑280s bce, the son of Ptolemy II and Arsinoë I, daughter of Lysimachus, married Berenice II, thereby reuniting Cyrene and Egypt. Two crises determined the course of his reign: the Third Syrian War (246–241 bce) and the first Egyptian uprising (c. 245 bce) and the accompanying famine. Initially having been begun in 246 bce in support of Ptolemy’s sister Berenice, widow of Antiochus II Theos, the Third Syrian War resulted in extensive territorial gains in Anatolia and Thrace, which Ptolemy strove to retain throughout the remainder of his reign. Almost simultaneously, the Egyptian uprising and famine that occurred c. 245–244 bce led to significant innovations in the internal governance of Egypt and relations between the government and the Egyptian priesthood, which was now required to meet annually in synods but also received important benefits, most notably an extensive temple-building program which included construction of the Serapeum at Alexandria and the temple of Horus at Edfu.

Article

Seleucids  

Susan Mary Sherwin-White and R. J. van der Spek

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
06 July 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
Rulers of the empire founded by *Seleucus (1) I , governing a vast realm, sometimes called ‘Asia’, stretching from modern Turkey to Afghanistan. The Seleucids from the start continued (and adapted) *Achaemenid institutions in the army (use of local peoples), in administration (e.g. taxation and satrapal organization; see satrap ), the use of plural ‘royal capitals’ ( *Seleuceia (1) on Tigris , *Antioch (1) , *Sardis ), the use of local languages (and people) in local bureaucracy; also, from the beginning, *Babylon, *Babylonia , and the Babylonian kingship were central, in Seleucid planning, to an empire, the pivotal point of which, joining east and west, was the Fertile Crescent. New was the policy of founding a great number of cities and veteran colonies all over the empire (see *Colonization, Hellenistic ). *Antiochus (3) III conquered southern Syria and Palestine from Egypt (c. 200), but by the peace of Apamea (188), negotiated with Rome, the Seleucids gave up possessions north of the Taurus mountains in Anatolia.

Article

Seleucus (2) II Callinicus, 'Gloriously Victorious', Seleucid king, c. 265–225 BCE  

Guy Thompson Griffith, Susan Mary Sherwin-White, and R. J. van der Spek

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East

Seleucus (2) II Callinicus, king of the *Seleucid empire (246–226/5 or 225/4bce), the eldest son of *Antiochus (2) II and *Laodice (2). Seleucus' accession was immediately contested by *Ptolemy (1) III who tried to defend the right of the son of Antiochus II's second wife and his own sister *Berenice (2), invaded Syria, took Seleucia in Pieria and Antioch and proceeded as far as Babylon (‘Third Syrian War,’ 246–241; App. Syr. 65, Polyaenus, Strat. 8.50; BCHP 11). Seleucus, however, was immediately accepted as (sole) king in Asia Minor and Babylonia, Berenice and her son were murdered, and Ptolemy had to return to Egypt in 245 (Just. Epit. 27.1.9). *Seleucia in Pieria, however, remained in Ptolemaic hands until 219. Later he had to cope with the claims of his younger brother *Antiochus (8) Hierax in Asia Minor, which led to the ‘War of the Brothers’.

Article

Seleucus (3) III Ceraunus, 'Thunderbolt', Seleucid king, c. 243–222 BCE  

Susan Mary Sherwin-White and R. J. van der Spek

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
Seleucus (3) III Ceraunus, king of the Seleucid empire (226/5 or 225/4–222bce), eldest son of *Seleucus (2) II. His original name was Alexandros (PorphyryFGrH 260 F 32,9). He subsidized the New Year Festival in *Babylon (BCHP 12). He was assassinated while on a campaign against *Attalus I of Pergamum trying to regain Seleucid possessions in Asia Minor.

Article

Seleucus (4) IV Philopator, 'Father-lover', Seleucid king, c. 218–175 BCE  

Guy Thompson Griffith, Susan Mary Sherwin-White, and R. J. van der Spek

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
Seleucus (4) IV Philopator, king of the *Seleucid empire (187–175 bce), second son of *Antiochus (3) III, was made co-regent after the battle of Magnesia (189; see magnesia, battle of). In his reign he maintained careful relations with Rome (his brother *Antiochus (4) IV was hostage in Rome) and observed the harsh terms of the peace of Apamea (188), which forbade the Seleucid navy to sail west of the river Calycadnus and the promontory of Sarpedon on offensive missions. However, Seleucus toyed with the notion of intervening to support *Pharnaces (1) I, king of Pontus, against Pergamum (Diod. Sic. 29. 24). Seleucus is depicted as patron (II Macc. 3: 3; Cotton, Wörrle2007) and a despoiler of temples (II Macc. 3:7ff). At the end of his reign Seleucus exchanged his brother Antiochus for his son *Demetrius (10) to serve as hostage in Rome. Seleucus was assassinated in 175 by his highest officer Heliodorus.

Article

Seleucus (1) I Nicator, 'Conqueror', founder of the Seleucid empire, c. 358–281 BCE  

Guy Thompson Griffith, Susan Mary Sherwin-White, and R. J. van der Spek

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
Seleucus (1) I Nicator, founder of the *Seleucid empire, fought with *Alexander (3) the Great as ‘companion’ (hetairos), from 326 as commander of the elite corps of hypaspistai; after Alexander's death commander of the Companion cavalry (323–320), satrap of Babylonia (320–316 or 315), self-appointed stratēgos of Asia (311–305) and king (305–281).After Alexander's death, his empire became a bone of contention for his generals. In Babylon *Perdiccas was nominated chiliarchos, ‘Grand Vizier’, but jealousy of the other generals led to the First Diadoch War (322–320) and his assassination by Seleucus, when he tried to invade Egypt, the satrapy of *Ptolemy I (320 bce). At Triparadeisos in Syria a new division of satrapies was agreed in which Seleucus received Babylonia, *Antigonus (1) I Monophthalmus Phrygia and the supreme command over the army in Asia (stratēgos of Asia).

Article

Zeuxis(1), of Heraclea (1) in Lucania, painter, 397 BCE  

Karim Arafat

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
Zeuxis (1), painter, of *Heraclea(1) in Lucania, pupil of Neseus of Thasos or Damophilus of Himera. *Pliny(1) dates him 397 bce, rejecting 424. *Quintilian dates both him and *Parrhasius to the *Peloponnesian War. In *Plato(1)'s Protagoras (dramatic date about 430) he is young and a newcomer to Athens. His rose-wreathed *Eros is mentioned in Ar. Ach.991–2 (425). He painted Alcmena for Acragas before 406, and *Archelaus (2)'s palace between 413 and 399. He ‘entered the door opened by Apollodorus and stole his art’; he added the use of highlights to shading, and *Lucian praises in the *Centaur family (an instance of the unusual subjects which Zeuxis preferred) the subtle gradation of colour from the human to the animal body of the female Centaur; his paintings of grapes were said to have deceived birds; he said that if he had painted the boy carrying the grapes better, the birds would have been frightened off. His figures lacked the ethos (character) of *Polygnotus, although his Penelope was morality itself, and his Helen (for Croton or Acragas) an ideal picture compiled from several models; pathos (emotion) rather than ethos distinguished the Autoboreas with *Titan look and wild hair, and the *Menelaus (1) drenched in tears.