ANTIOCHUS II. (Theos, the God), the son and successor of Antiochus I. Under him Syria was troubled with a long Egyptian war, and lost Parthia and Bactria, which became independent. He was forced by Ptolemy of Egypt to put away his wife and marry an Egyptian princess, Berenice; but on Ptolemy’s death Berenice was discarded, and Laodice restored. The latter, however, out of revenge or mistrust, procured the death of her husband, her rival, and their son, 246 b.c.

ANTIOCHUS III., surnamed the Great, was the son of Seleucus Callinicus, and ascended the Syrian throne at the age of fifteen, on the death of his brother, Seleucus Ceraunus. His reign embraced a series of wars against revolted provinces and neighbouring kingdoms, in the prosecution of which his disasters and successes were equally great. His march to India; his agreement with Philip of Macedonia for the partition of Egypt; his conquest of Palestine and Coele-Syria; his occupation of Asia Minor and the Thracian Chersonese; his collision with the Homans; his expedition into Greece, with the defeat at Thermopylae by Acilius Glabrio, and at Mount Sipylus (in Asia Minor) by Scipio; and his dearly purchased peace in 188 b.c., are the chief events of his life. He was killed in an attempt to plunder a temple at Elymais, 187 b.c., and was succeeded by his son Seleucus Philopator.