Stratonice of Syria

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Stratonice (in Greek Στρατoνικη) of Syria was the daughter of king Demetrius Poliorcetes and Phila, the daughter of Antipater. In 300 BC, at which time she could not have been more than seventeen years of age, her hand was solicited by Seleucus, king of Syria, and she was conducted by her father Demetrius to Rhosus, on the Pierian coast (in Macedonia), where her nuptials were celebrated with the utmost magnificence.¹ Notwithstanding the disparity of their ages, she appears to have lived in perfect harmony with the old king for some years, and had already borne him one child, a daughter called Phila, when it was discovered that her stepson Antiochus was deeply enamoured of her, and Seleucus, in order to save the life of his son, which was endangered by the violence of his passion, in 294 BC gave up Stratonice in marriage to the young prince, whom he at the same time constituted king of the eastern provinces.² The union seems to have been a prosperous one, but we find little subsequent mention of Stratonice. She bore five children to Antiochus: Seleucus, Laodice, Antiochus II Theos, who was to succeed his father as king (Seleucus having been executed for rebellion); Apama, married to Magas, king of Cyrene; and Stratonice of Macedonia. The city of Stratonikeia in Caria was named after her by Antiochus.³ [1]