Antiochus XI Epiphanes

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox royalty Antiochus XI Epiphanes Philadelphus (Template:Langx; died 93 BC) was a Seleucid monarch who reigned as King of Syria between 94 and 93 BC, during the late Hellenistic period. He was the son of AntiochusVIII and his wife Tryphaena. AntiochusXI's early life was a time of constant civil war between his father and his uncle AntiochusIX. The conflict ended with the assassination of AntiochusVIII, followed by the establishment of AntiochusIX in Antioch, the capital of Syria. AntiochusVIII's eldest son SeleucusVI, in control of western Cilicia, marched against his uncle and had him killed, taking Antioch for himself, only to be expelled from it and driven to his death in 94 BC by AntiochusIX's son AntiochusX.

Following the murder of SeleucusVI, AntiochusXI declared himself king jointly with his twin brother PhilipI. Dubious ancient accounts, which may be contradicted by archaeological evidence, report that AntiochusXI's first act was to avenge his late brother by destroying Mopsuestia in Cilicia, the city responsible for the death of SeleucusVI. In 93 BC, AntiochusXI took Antioch, an event not mentioned by ancient historians but confirmed through numismatic evidence. AntiochusXI appears to have been the senior king, minting coinage as a sole king and reigning alone in the capital, while PhilipI remained in Cilicia, but kept his royal title. AntiochusXI may have restored the temple of Apollo and Artemis in Daphne, but his reign did not last long. In the autumn of the same year, AntiochusX regrouped and counter-attacked; AntiochusXI was defeated and drowned in the Orontes River as he tried to flee.

Name, family and early life

A coin struck by Antiochus VIII of Syria (reigned 125–96 BC). Portrait of Antiochus VIII on the obverse; depiction of Zeus holding a star and staff on the reverse

Coin of Antiochus VIII, father of AntiochusXI

The name Antiochus is of Greek etymology and means "resolute in contention".Template:Sfn The capital of Syria, Antioch, was named after Antiochus, father of the city's founder, King SeleucusI (reigned 305–281 BC);Template:Sfn this name became dynastic and many Seleucid kings bore it.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In c. Template:Trim AntiochusVIII married the Ptolemaic princess Tryphaena, who died in 109 BC.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The couple had many children, including SeleucusVI, the eldest; AntiochusXI and PhilipI;Template:Sfn their younger brother DemetriusIII;Template:Sfn and the youngest AntiochusXII.Template:Sfn The mother of PhilipI was mentioned explicitly as Tryphaena by the fourth-century historian Eusebius, who also mentioned that AntiochusXI and PhilipI were twins (didymoi).Template:Sfn AntiochusXI's date of birth is unknown, but by the time he came to power he was at least in his twenties.Template:Sfn

In 113 BC, Antiochus IX declared himself king and started a civil war against his half-brother AntiochusVIII. The conflict between the brothers would last a decade and a half;Template:Sfn it claimed the life of Tryphaena and ended with the assassination of AntiochusVIII at the hands of his minister Herakleon of Beroia in 96 BC.Template:Sfn In the aftermath of AntiochusVIII's death, AntiochusIX took the capital Antioch and married AntiochusVIII's second wife and widow, Cleopatra Selene.Template:Sfn The sons of AntiochusVIII responded; DemetriusIII took Damascus and ruled it,Template:Sfn while SeleucusVI killed AntiochusIX in 95 BC and took Antioch.Template:Sfn The new king was defeated by AntiochusIX's son AntiochusX (Template:Reign BC), who took the capital.Template:Sfn SeleucusVI escaped to Mopsuestia in Cilicia where he was killed by rebels in 94 BC.Template:Sfn

Reign

Map depicting the kingdom of Syria in the year 95 BC when it was divided between Seleucus VI in the north with his capital at Antioch; Demetrius III in the south with his capital at Damascus; and Antiochus X in the west with his base at Arwad

Syria in 95 BC

File:Silver Coin of Antiochus XI Epiphanes Philadelphus, Philip I Epiphanes Philadelphus.jpg

Antiochus XI and PhilipI bearded

File:Antiochus 11 and Philip I.png

Jugate coin of Antiochus XI and PhilipI. AntiochusXI is depicted with a sideburn.

The reigns of the late Seleucid kings are poorly attested in ancient literature through brief passages and summaries, often riddled with conflations and contradictions;Template:Sfn the numismatic evidence is therefore the primary source when reconstructing the reigns of late Seleucid monarchs.Template:Sfn During SeleucusVI's reign, AntiochusXI and his twin probably resided in Cilicia.Template:Sfn In the aftermath of SeleucusVI's death, AntiochusXI and PhilipI declared themselves kings in 94 BC; the historian Alfred Bellinger suggested that their base was a coastal city north of Antioch,Template:Sfn while Arthur Houghton believed it was Beroea, because the city's rulers were PhilipI's allies.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

It is more likely that Tarsus was the main base of operations;Template:Sfn both AntiochusXI and PhilipI's portraits appeared on the obverses of jugate coins they struck,Template:Sfn and all the jugate coins were minted in Cilicia. Three series of jugate coins are known; as of 2008, one series has six known surviving specimens,Template:Sfn depicting both kings with beards.Template:Sfn The excellent craftsmanship of the portraits depicted on the coins of the six specimen series indicates that the minting facility was located in a city that was a center of culture, making Tarsus the likely site of the mint and so the probable base of operations.Template:Sfn

The other two coin series have fewer surviving specimens and depict AntiochusXI with a sideburn.Template:Sfn Those coins were not minted in Tarsus, and the sideburn indicates that those issues were produced by cities west of the main base, as the king passed them on his way to Tarsus; by the time AntiochusXI arrived at his headquarters, he was depicted with a full beard. On all jugate coins, AntiochusXI was portrayed in front of PhilipI, his name taking precedence,Template:Sfn showing that he was the senior monarch. According to Josephus, AntiochusXI became king before PhilipI, but the numismatic evidence suggests otherwise, as the earliest coins show both brothers ruling jointly.Template:Sfn

Epithets and royal image

Hellenistic monarchs did not use regnal numbers but usually employed epithets to distinguish themselves from other kings with similar names; the numbering of kings is mostly a modern practice.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn On his coins, AntiochusXI appeared with the epithets Epiphanes (God Manifest) and Philadelphus (Brother-Loving).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Epiphanes served to emphasize AntiochusXI's paternity as a son of AntiochusVIII, who bore the same epithet;Template:Sfn while Philadelphus was probably a sign of respect to SeleucusVI and PhilipI.Template:Sfn The beard sported by AntiochusXI on his jugate coins from Tarsus is probably a sign of mourning and the intention to avenge SeleucusVI's death.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The last issue of AntiochusXI from Antioch depicts him beardless, highlighting that the vow was fulfilled.Template:Sfn

File:Antiochus XI.jpg

Portrait of Antiochus XI exemplifying the tryphé tradition

Drawing his legitimacy from his father, Antiochus XI appeared on his coinage with an exaggerated hawked nose, in the likeness of AntiochusVIII.Template:Sfn The iconography of AntiochusXI's portrait was part of the tryphé-king tradition, heavily used by AntiochusVIII. The ruler's portrait express tryphé (luxury and magnificence), where his unattractive features and stoutness are emphasized. The tradition of tryphé images started in Egypt, and was later adopted in Syria. The Romans considered the tryphé portraits as evidence of the degeneracy and decadence of Hellenistic kings; the softness depicted in the portraits was seen as a sign of the rulers' incompetence, a way to explain the decline of the Hellenistic dynasties. However, the Roman view is not factual; those images were an intentional policy in a kingdom ravaged by civil war. Most late Seleucid monarchs, including AntiochusXI, spent their reigns fighting, causing havoc in their lands. The image of a warrior king on coins, as was customary for Hellenistic Bactrian kings for example, would have alienated the already impoverished population suffering the consequences of war. The people needed peace and copiousness, and the tryphé portrait was an attempt to imply that the king and his people were living a pleasurable life. By employing the tryphé image, AntiochusXI suggested that he would be a successful and popular king like his father.Template:Sfn

Avenging Seleucus VI and taking the capital

According to Eusebius, the brothers sacked Mopsuestia and destroyed it to avenge SeleucusVI.Template:Sfn Eusebius's statement is doubtful because in 86 BC, Rome conferred inviolability upon the cult of Isis and Sarapis in Mopsuestia, which is proven by an inscription from the city.Template:Sfn After Mopsuestia, AntiochusXI left PhilipI in Cilicia and advanced on Antioch, driving AntiochusX from the city at the beginning of 93 BC.Template:Sfn Ancient historians do not note AntiochusXI's reign in the capital, stating that he fought against AntiochusX and was defeated.Template:Sfn The 6th-century Byzantine monk and historian John Malalas, whose work is considered generally unreliable by scholars,Template:Sfn mentions the reign of AntiochusXI in his account of the Roman period in Antioch.Template:Sfn The material evidence for AntiochusXI's success in taking the capital was provided in 1912, when an account of a coin struck by him in Antioch was published.Template:Sfn

File:Antiochus XI Philadelphos.jpg

Tetradrachm of Antiochus XI, Antioch mint

Philip I did not take residence in the capital and AntiochusXI minted coinage as a sole king.Template:Sfn PhilipI kept the royal title while remaining in the city which was his base during the preparations to avenge SeleucusVI.Template:Sfn The numismatist Edward Theodore Newell assigned AntiochusXI a reign of a few weeks in the capital, but according to the numismatist Oliver Hoover, estimating the average annual die usage rate of the King suggests a reign of several months.Template:Sfn According to Malalas, King Antiochus Philadelphus, i.e. AntiochusXI, built a temple for Apollo and Artemis in Daphne, and set up two golden statues representing the gods, as well as conferring the right of asylum to anyone who took refuge in the temple;Template:Sfn this statement cannot be correct since the temple was attested during the time of AntiochusIII (Template:Reign BC).Template:Sfn The historian Glanville Downey, observing Malalas's writing style in Greek, suggested that by "building", Malalas meant renovating or restoring, which indicates that a predecessor of AntiochusXI may have desecrated the temple and melted down the golden statues.Template:Sfn

End and succession

By autumn 93 BC, Antiochus X counter-attacked, defeating AntiochusXI,Template:Sfn who drowned in the Orontes River as he tried to flee.Template:Sfn Ancient accounts dealing with the last battle differ: according to the first-century historian Josephus, AntiochusXI fought alone, while Eusebius has both AntiochusXI and PhilipI in the battle. Eusebius failed to note the reign of AntiochusXI in Antioch, stating that the final battle took place immediately after the destruction of Mopsuestia; a statement contradicted by numismatic evidence. In the view of Bellinger, the brothers' combined armies must have been deployed, but since only AntiochusXI perished, it is probable that PhilipI stayed behind at his capital with AntiochusXI leading the armies in the field.Template:Sfn

Nothing is known regarding Antiochus XI's marriages or children.Template:Sfn According to the first century biographer Plutarch, the first-century BC Roman general Lucullus said that the Armenian king, TigranesII, who conquered Syria in 83BC, "put to death the successors of Seleucus, and [carried] off their wives and daughters into captivity". Ancient sources regarding the late Seleucid period are fragmentary and do not mention many details. Therefore, the statement of Lucullus makes it possible that a wife or daughters of AntiochusXI existed, and that they were taken by the Armenian king.Template:Sfn Following his victory, AntiochusX regained the capital and ruled it until his death.Template:Sfn

Family tree

Family tree of Antiochus XI
Citations:

See also

• List of Syrian monarchs
• Timeline of Syrian history

External links

• Several coins of Antiochus XI exhibited in the blog of the numismatist Jayseth Guberman.
• The biography of Antiochus XI Template:Webarchive in the website of the numismatist Petr Veselý.
• An engraved gem. Property of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It depicts either AntiochusXI or DemetriusIII.