Antiochus IV of Commagene

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Antiochus IV Epiphanes, (Ancient Greek: Ἀντίοχος Ἐπιφαής), was king of Commagene (38, 41–72 AD), an ally of Rome against Parthia, and the last royal descendant of Seleucus I.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Life 2 Coinage 3 Notes 4 References

[edit] Life

Antiochus was apparently a son of Antiochus III who received his paternal dominion from Caligula in 38. In addition, the emperor even enlarged Antiochus' territory with a part of Cilicia bordering on the seacoast. Caligula also gave him the whole amount of the revenues of Commagene during the twenty years that it had been a Roman province.^[1][2] The reasons for providing a client king with such vast resources remain unclear; it was perhaps a stroke of Caligula's well-attested eccentricity.^{[citation needed]} He lived on most intimate terms with Caligula, and he and Herod Agrippa are spoken of as the instructors of the emperor in the art of tyranny.^[3] This friendship, however, was not of very long continuance, for he was subsequently deposed by Caligula.

He did not obtain his kingdom again till the accession of Claudius in 41.^[4] In 43 his son, also called Antiochus Epiphanes, was betrothed to Drusilla, the daughter of Agrippa I.^[5] In 53 Antiochus put down an insurrection of some barbarous tribes in Cilicia, called Clitae.^[6] In 55 he received orders from Nero to levy troops to make war against the Parthians, and in the year 59 he served under Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo against Tiridates I of Armenia, brother of the Parthian king Vologases I.^[7] In consequence of his services in this war, he obtained in the year 61 part of Armenia.^[8]

He espoused the side of Vespasian when the latter was proclaimed emperor in 70; and he is then spoken of as the richest of the tributary kings.^[9] In the same year he sent forces, commanded by his son Antiochus, to assist Titus in the siege of Jerusalem.^[10][11]

Antiochus' downfall came only two years afterwards, 72, when he was accused by Paetus, the governor of Syria, of conspiring with the Parthians against the Romans. He was in consequence deprived of his kingdom, after a reign of thirty-four years from his first appointment by Caligula. Antiochus' sons Epiphanes and Callinicus fled to Parthia after a brief encounter with Roman troops.^{[citation needed]} Antiochus himself first retired to Lacedaemon, and then to Rome, where he passed the remainder of his life with his sons Antiochus and Callinicus, and was treated with great respect.^[12]

[edit] Coinage

There are several coins of this king extant, and their die-marks prove he did rule large parts of Cappadocia and Cilicia as well as Commagene proper. In one of those coins he is called ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΣ (Great King), a testament to his political ambitions, which no doubt played a part in his downfall.^{[citation needed]} On the reverse of that coin a scorpion is represented, surrounded with the foliage of the laurel, and inscribed ΚΟΜΜΑΓΗΝΩΝ. Also from his coins we learn that the name of his wife was Iotape. ^[13][14]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

This entry incorporates public domain text originally from:

• William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870.