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Antiochus I Soter
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This article is about the Seleucid King of the third century BC. For the king of
Commagene of the first century BC, see Antiochus I Theos of Commagene.
Antiochus I Soter
Antiochos I Tetradrachm 620447.jpg
Silver coin of Antiochus I. The reverse shows Apollo seated on an omphalos.
Basileus of the Seleucid Empire
Reign September 281 � 2 June 261 BC
Predecessor Seleucus I Nicator
Successor Antiochus II Theos
Born c. 324/323 BC
Persia or Mesopotamia
Died 2 June 261 BC
(aged 61�63)
Syria
Spouse Stratonice of Syria
Issue Seleucus
Laodice
Apama II
Stratonice of Macedon
Antiochus II Theos
Dynasty Seleucid dynasty
Father Seleucus I Nicator
Mother Apama
Religion Greek polytheism
Antiochus I Soter (Greek: ??t????? ?? ? S?t??; epithet means "the Saviour"; c.
324/3 � 2 June 261 BC), was a king of the Hellenic Seleucid Empire. He succeeded
his father Seleucus I Nicator in 281 BC and reigned until his death on 2 June 261
BC.[1] He is the last known ruler to be attributed the ancient Mesopotamian title
King of the Universe.

Contents
1 Biography
2 Relations with India
3 Neoclassical art
4 References
5 Bibliography
6 External links
Biography
Antiochus I was half Sogdian,[2][3] his mother Apama, daughter of Spitamenes, being
one of the eastern princesses whom Alexander the Great had given as wives to his
generals in 324 BC.[4] [5] The Seleucids fictitiously claimed that Apama was the
alleged daughter of Darius III, in order to legitimise themselves as the inheritors
of both the Achaemenids and Alexander, and therefore the rightful lords of western
and central Asia.[6]

In 294 BC, prior to the death of his father Seleucus I, Antiochus married his
stepmother, Stratonice, daughter of Demetrius Poliorcetes. The ancient sources
report that his elderly father reportedly instigated the marriage after discovering
that his son was in danger of dying of lovesickness[7]. Stratonice bore five
children to Antiochus: Seleucus (he was executed for rebellion), Laodice, Apama II,
Stratonice of Macedon and Antiochus II Theos, who succeeded his father as king.
Cylinder of Antiochus, as great king of kings of Babylon, restorer of gods E-sagila
and E-zida. Written in Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian.[8][9][10][11]

Gold stater of Antiochus I minted at Alexandria on the Oxus, c. 275 BC. Obverse:
Diademed head of Antiochus right. Reverse: Nude Apollo seated on omphalos left,
leaning on bow and holding two arrows. Greek legend: ??S???OS ???????? (of King
Antiochos). ? monogram of Ai-Khanoum in left field.
On the assassination of his father in 281 BC, the task of holding together the
empire was a formidable one. A revolt in Syria broke out almost immediately.
Antiochus was soon compelled to make peace with his father's murderer, Ptolemy
Keraunos, apparently abandoning Macedonia and Thrace. In Anatolia he was unable to
reduce Bithynia or the Persian dynasties that ruled in Cappadocia.[5]

In 278 BC the Gauls broke into Anatolia, and a victory that Antiochus won over
these Gauls by using Indian war elephants (275 BC) is said to have been the origin
of his title of Soter (Greek for "saviour").[5]

At the end of 275 BC the question of Coele-Syria, which had been open between the
houses of Seleucus and Ptolemy since the partition of 301 BC, led to hostilities
(the First Syrian War). It had been continuously in Ptolemaic occupation, but the
house of Seleucus maintained its claim. War did not materially change the outlines
of the two kingdoms, though frontier cities like Damascus and the coast districts
of Asia Minor might change hands.[5]

In 268 BC Antiochus I laid the foundation for the Ezida Temple in Borsippa.[12] His
eldest son Seleucus had ruled in the east as viceroy from c. 275 BC until 268/267
BC; Antiochus put his son to death in the latter year on the charge of rebellion.
Around 262 BC Antiochus tried to break the growing power of Pergamum by force of
arms, but suffered defeat near Sardis and died soon afterwards.[5] He was succeeded
in 261 BC by his second son Antiochus II Theos.[13]

Relations with India

Antiochus may be the Greek king mentioned[14] in the Edicts of Ashoka, as one of
the recipients of the Indian Emperor Ashoka's Buddhist proselytism:

Antiochos I coin. Antioch mint. Macedonian shield with Seleucid anchor in central
boss. Elephant walking right, with Greek legend ??S???OS ???????? - "of King
Antiochus".

Buddhist proselytism at the time of king Ashoka (260�218 BCE), according to the
Edicts of Ashoka.
"And even this conquest [preaching Buddhism] has been won by the Beloved of the
Gods here and in all the borderlands, as far as six hundred yojanas (5,400�9,600
km) away, where Antiochus, king of the Yavanas [Greeks] rules, and beyond this
Antiochus four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule."[15]
Ashoka also claims that he encouraged the development of herbal medicine, for men
and animals, in the territories of the Hellenic kings:

"Everywhere within Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi's [Ashoka's] domain, and

among the people beyond the borders, the Cholas, the Pandyas, the Satiyaputras, the
Keralaputras, as far as Tamraparni and where the Greek king Antiochus rules, and
among the kings who are neighbors of Antiochos, everywhere has Beloved-of-the-Gods,
King Piyadasi, made provision for two types of medical treatment: medical treatment
for humans and medical treatment for animals. Wherever medical herbs suitable for
humans or animals are not available, I have had them imported and grown. Wherever
medical roots or fruits are not available I have had them imported and grown. Along
roads I have had wells dug and trees planted for the benefit of humans and
animals."[16]
Alternatively, the Greek king mentioned in the Edict of Ashoka could also be
Antiochus's son and successor, Antiochus II Theos, although the proximity of
Antiochus I with the East may make him a better candidate.[14]

Neoclassical art

Antiochus and Stratonica (1774), Jacques-Louis David, �cole nationale sup�rieure

des Beaux-Arts.

Antiochus und Stratonike, Theodoor van Thulden (1669).

The love between Antiochus and his stepmother Stratonice was often depicted in
Neoclassical art, as in a painting by Jacques-Louis David.

References
"Antiochus I Soter". Livius.
Magill, Frank N. et al. (1998), The Ancient World: Dictionary of World Biography,
Volume 1, Pasadena, Chicago, London,: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Salem Press, p.
1010, ISBN 0-89356-313-7.
Holt, Frank L. (1989), Alexander the Great and Bactria: the Formation of a Greek
Frontier in Central Asia, Leiden, New York, Copenhagen, Cologne: E. J. Brill, pp
64�65 (see footnote #63 for a discussion on Spitamenes and Apama), ISBN 90-04-
08612-9.
Arrian, Anabasis 7.4.6
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Seleucid Dynasty s.v. Antiochus
I. Soter". Encyclop�dia Britannica. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p.
604.
Shahbazi, A. Sh. "Apama". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
Plutarch, Demetrius, 38 gives the most famous account of this tale. See also
Appian, Syr. IX.59
Haubold, Johannes (2013). Greece and Mesopotamia: Dialogues in Literature.
Cambridge University Press. p. 135. ISBN 9781107010765.
Andrade, Nathanael J. (2013). Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World. Cambridge
University Press. p. 46. ISBN 9781107244566.
"Antiochus cylinder". British Museum.
Wallis Budge, Ernest Alfred (1884). Babylonian Life and History. Religious Tract
Society. p. 94.
Oelsner, Joachim (2000). "Hellenization of the Babylonian Culture?" (PDF). The
Melammu Project. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
Smith, Andrew. "Johannes Malalas - translation". www.attalus.org. Retrieved 2017-
06-06.
Jarl Charpentier, "Antiochus, King of the Yavanas" Bulletin of the School of
Oriental Studies, University of London 6.2 (1931: 303�321) argues that the
Antiochus mentioned was unlikely to be Antiochus II, during whose time relations
with India were broken by the Parthian intrusion and the independence of Diodotus
in Bactria, and suggests instead the half-Iranian Antiochus I, with stronger
connections in the East.
Translation of Jarl Charpentier 1931:303�321.
Edicts of Ashoka, 2nd Rock Edict.
Bibliography
Mookerji, Radha Kumud (1988) [first published in 1966], Chandragupta Maurya and his
times (4th ed.), Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0433-3
Traver, Andrew G. (2002). From Polis to Empire, the Ancient World, c. 800 B.C.-A.D.
500: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313309427.
Retrieved 7 September 2013.
External links
Media related to Antiochus I at Wikimedia Commons
Appianus' Syriaka
Antiochus I Soter: fact sheet at Livius.org
Babylonian Chronicles of the Hellenic Period
Antiochus I Soter entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
Hellenization of the Babylonian Culture?
Coins of Antiochus I
Antiochus I Soter
Seleucid dynasty
Born: 324 BC Died: 261 BC
Preceded by
Seleucus I Nicator Seleucid ruler
281�261 BC Succeeded by
Antiochus II Theos
vte
Hellenistic rulers
Authority control Edit this at Wikidata
GND: 11864534X LCCN: n83206552 VIAF: 13100715 WorldCat Identities (via VIAF):
13100715
Categories: 320s BC births261 BC deaths3rd-century BC Babylonian kings3rd-century
BC Seleucid rulersSeleucid rulers3rd-century BC rulersKings of the Universe
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