Antiochus IV of Commagene

Gaius Julius Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Ancient Greek: Γάιος Ἰούλιος Ἀντίοχος ὀ Ἐπιφανής, before 17 AD – after 72 AD), the last king of Commagene, reigned between 38–72 as a client king to the Roman Empire. The epithet "Epiphanes" means "the Glorious".

Life

Antiochus was born a prince of the royal family of Commagene. His parents King Antiochus III of Commagene and Queen Iotapa were full-blooded siblings who had married each other. The younger Antiochus himself would marry his full-blooded sister Iotapa. Antiochus was of Armenian,^[1] Greek and Median descent. Through his ancestor from Commagene, Queen Laodice VII Thea, who was the mother of King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, he was a direct descendant of the Greek Seleucid kings.

Antiochus appears to have been very young when his father died in 17. The Roman emperor Tiberius agreed with the citizens of Commagene to make their kingdom a part of the Roman province of Syria. Between 17 and 38, Antiochus seems to have gained Roman citizenship. He lived and was raised in Rome, along with his sister. While he and his sister were growing up in Rome, they were part of the remarkable court of Antonia Minor, a niece of the first Roman emperor Augustus and the youngest daughter of the triumvir Mark Antony. Antonia Minor was a very influential woman and supervised her circle of various princes and princesses. Her circle assisted in the political preservation of the Roman Empire’s borders and affairs of the client states.

In 38, Antiochus received his paternal dominion from Antonia's grandson, the Roman emperor Caligula. In addition, the emperor 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.^[2]^[3] The reasons for providing a client king with such vast resources remain unclear; it was perhaps a stroke of Caligula's well-attested eccentricity. Antiochus was on most intimate terms with Caligula, and he and King Agrippa I are spoken of as the instructors of the emperor in the art of tyranny.^[4] This friendship, however, did not last very long, for he was subsequently deposed by Caligula.

Antiochus did not regain his kingdom till the accession of Roman Emperor Claudius in 41.^[5] In 43 his first son, C. Julius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes, was betrothed to Drusilla, a daughter of Agrippa I.^[6] Apart from Epiphanes, Antiochus had another two children with Iotapa: Callinicus and a younger Iotapa. In 53, Antiochus put down an insurrection of some barbarous tribes in Cilicia, called Clitae.^[7] In 55 he received orders from the Roman emperor Nero to levy troops to make war against the Parthians, and in the year 59 he served under General Cn. Domitius Corbulo against King Tiridates I of Armenia, brother of the Parthian King Vologases I of Parthia.^[8] In consequence of his services in this war, in the year 61 he obtained parts of Armenia.^[9]

He took the side of Vespasian when the latter was proclaimed Roman emperor in 70; and he is then spoken of as the richest of the tributary kings.^[10] In the same year he sent forces, commanded by his son Epiphanes, to assist prince Titus in the siege of Jerusalem.^[11]^[12] During his reign as king, he founded the following cities: Germanicopolis, Iotapa and Neronias.^[13]

Antiochus' downfall came only two years afterwards, in 72, when he was accused by L. Caesennius Paetus, the governor of Syria, of conspiring with the Parthians against the Romans. He was therefore deprived of his kingdom, after a reign of thirty-four years from his first appointment by Caligula. Antiochus' sons, the princes Epiphanes and Callinicus, fled to Parthia after a brief encounter with Roman troops. Antiochus himself retired first to Sparta and then to Rome, where he passed the remainder of his life with his sons Epiphanes and Callinicus and was treated with great respect.^[14] Among the grandchildren of Antiochus and Iotapa was the prominent Athenian citizen Philopappos who lived in Greece between the 1st and 2nd centuries.

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 Antiochus"), a testament to his political ambitions. On the reverse of that coin a scorpion is represented, surrounded with the foliage of the laurel, and inscribed ΚΟΜΜΑΓΗΝΩΝ ("of the Commagenians"). From his coins we also learn the name of his wife, Iotapa.^[15]^[16]

Notes

↑ Chahin, Mark (2001). The Kingdom of Armenia. Routlege. pp. 190–191. ISBN 0-7007-1452-9.
↑ Cassius Dio, lix. 8
↑ Suetonius, Caligula, 16.
↑ Cassius Dio, lix. 24.
↑ Cassius Dio. lx. 8.
↑ Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, xix. 9. § 1.
↑ Tacitus, Annals, xii. 55.
↑ Tacitus, Annals, xiii. 7, 37.
↑ Tacitus, Annals, xiv. 26.
↑ Tacitus, Histories, ii. 81.
↑ Josephus, Jewish War, v. 11. § 3
↑ Tacitus, Histories, v. 1.
↑ Bowman, The Augustan Empire, p. 672
↑ Josephus, Jewish War, vii. 7
↑ Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, iii. p. 255 etc.
↑ Henry Fynes Clinton, Fasti Hellenici, the Civil and Literary Chronology of Greece from the 55th to the 124th Olympiad, iii. p. 343 etc., (1824-1851).

References

Michael Alexander Speidel (c. 2005). "Early Roman Rule in Commagene" (PDF). Mavors–Institute for Ancient Military History. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-27. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
This entry incorporates public domain text originally from:
- William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870.
A.K. Bowman, E. Champlin & A. Lintott, The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C.-A.D. 69, Cambridge University Press, 1996
The Building Program of Herod the Great, By Duane W. Roller, Published by University of California Press 1998, ISBN 0-520-20934-6
Nikos Kokkinos (1992). Antonia Augusta: Portrait of a Great Roman Lady. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415080293.

External links

Coinage of Antiochus IV

Hellenistic rulers
Argeads	Philip II Alexander III the Great Philip III Arrhidaeus Alexander IV
Antigonids	Antigonus I Monophthalmus Demetrius I Poliorcetes Antigonus II Gonatas Demetrius II Aetolicus Antigonus III Doson Philip V Perseus Philip VI (pretender)
Ptolemies	Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy II Philadelphus Ptolemy III Euergetes Ptolemy IV Philopator Ptolemy V Epiphanes Cleopatra I Syra (regent) Ptolemy VI Philometor Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator Cleopatra II Philometor Soter Ptolemy VIII Physcon Cleopatra III Ptolemy IX Lathyros Ptolemy X Alexander Berenice III Ptolemy XI Alexander Ptolemy XII Auletes Cleopatra VI Tryphaena Berenice IV Epiphanea Ptolemy XIII Ptolemy XIV Cleopatra VII Philopator Ptolemy XV Caesarion
Kings of Cyrene	Magas Demetrius the Fair Ptolemy VIII Physcon Ptolemy Apion
Seleucids	Seleucus I Nicator Antiochus I Soter Antiochus II Theos Seleucus II Callinicus Seleucus III Ceraunus Antiochus III the Great Seleucus IV Philopator Antiochus IV Epiphanes Antiochus V Eupator Demetrius I Soter Alexander I Balas Demetrius II Nicator Antiochus VI Dionysus Diodotus Tryphon Antiochus VII Sidetes Alexander II Zabinas Seleucus V Philometor Antiochus VIII Grypus Antiochus IX Cyzicenus Seleucus VI Epiphanes Antiochus X Eusebes Antiochus XI Epiphanes Demetrius III Eucaerus Philip I Philadelphus Antiochus XII Dionysus Antiochus XIII Asiaticus Philip II Philoromaeus
Lysimachids	Lysimachus
Antipatrids	Cassander Philip IV Alexander V Antipater II Antipater Etesias Sosthenes
Attalids	Philetaerus Eumenes I Attalus I Eumenes II Attalus II Attalus III Eumenes III
Greco-Bactrians	Diodotus I Diodotus II Euthydemus I Demetrius I Euthydemus II Antimachus I Pantaleon Agathocles Demetrius II Eucratides I Plato Eucratides II Heliocles I
Indo-Greeks	Demetrius I Antimachus I Pantaleon Agathocles Apollodotus I Demetrius II Antimachus II Menander I Zoilos I Agathokleia Lysias Strato I Antialcidas Heliokles II Polyxenos Demetrius III Philoxenus Diomedes Amyntas Epander Theophilos Peukolaos Thraso Nicias Menander II Artemidoros Hermaeus Archebius Telephos Apollodotus II Hippostratos Dionysios Zoilos II Apollophanes Strato II Strato III
Kings of Bithynia	Boteiras Bas Zipoetes I Nicomedes I Zipoetes II Etazeta (regent) Ziaelas Prusias I Prusias II Nicomedes II Nicomedes III Nicomedes IV Socrates Chrestus
Kings of Pontus	Mithridates I Ctistes Ariobarzanes Mithridates II Mithridates III Pharnaces I Mithridates IV Philopator Philadephos Mithridates V Euergetes Mithridates VI Eupator Pharnaces II Darius Arsaces Polemon I Pythodorida Polemon II
Kings of Commagene	Ptolemaeus Sames II Mithridates I Antiochus I Mithridates II Antiochus II Mithridates III Antiochus III Antiochus IV
Kings of Cappadocia	Ariarathes I Ariarathes II Ariamnes II Ariarathes III Ariarathes IV Ariarathes V Orophernes Ariarathes VI Ariarathes VII Ariarathes VIII Ariarathes IX Ariobarzanes I Ariobarzanes II Ariobarzanes III Ariarathes X Archelaus
Kings of the Cimmerian Bosporus	Mithridates I Pharnaces Asander with Dynamis Mithridates II Asander with Dynamis Scribonius’ attempted rule with Dynamis Dynamis with Polemon Polemon with Pythodorida Aspurgus Mithridates III with Gepaepyris Mithridates III Cotys I

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