To get to know our new ruler, we’re going to recap his life up until his accession in 261 BCE at the age of about twenty-five. In addition, I’m going to pan out for a bit and give a lightning quick summary of what the political situation is like in the eastern Mediterranean and the broader Hellenistic world. Then, next time, we’ll plunge back into everyone’s favourite pastime: war with Egypt! Well, it’s something for Antiochus II to do…
Sources for this episode: 1-9) Wikipedia articles for Antiochus II, Laodice I, Seleucus II, Antiochus Hierax, Stratonice of Cappadocia, Laodice, Stratonice of Syria, Nabatean Kingdom and Ashoka (online) [Accessed 25/05/2021]. 10) Rawlinson, G. (1869) A manual of ancient history from the earliest times to the fall of the Western Empire, comprising the history of Chaldea, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Lydia, Phoenicia, Syria, Judea, Egypt, Carthage, Persia, Greece, Macedonia, Rome, and Parthia. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 11) Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus (Vol. I), London: Edward Arthur. 12) For a citation of the Greek naming custom, see the Wikipedia page for Manuel Erotikos Komnenos (online) [Accessed 28/05/2021].