Antiochus IV. (Commagene)

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Coin with Portrait of Antiochus IV.

Gaius Julius Antiochus IV. Epiphanes , also known as Antiochus IV. Epiphanes or Antiochus IV. Of Commagene , ( ancient Greek ο Γαίος Ιούλιος Αντίοχος Επιφανής ) was the last king of Commagene , who ruled between 38 and 72. Antiochus was a vassal king of the Roman Empire .

Life

Antiochus was a prince and son of Antiochus III. and a mother unknown by name. His sister and future wife was Iotapa. He was of Armenian - Greek - Median - Persian descent.

On his father's side he was related to the Seleucids through Laodike VII. Thea, mother of Antiochus I. Antiochus was quite young when his father died in the year 17. The Roman emperor Tiberius agreed with the citizens of Commagenes to make their kingdom part of the Roman province of Syria . Between 17 and 38 Antiochus received Roman citizenship . Since this was bestowed on him by an emperor of the Julian imperial family , he and his descendants added the Roman name Gaius Iulius to their name . Antiochus lived in Rome with his sister. Growing up in Rome, they were a part of the extraordinary court of the Antonia Minor . Antonia Minor was the niece of the first Roman emperor Augustus and the youngest daughter of the triumvir Marcus Antonius . She was a very influential woman and controlled her company from various princes and princesses.

In 38 Antiochus received his fatherly kingdom back from Antonia's grandson, the Emperor Caligula . In addition, the emperor enlarged the empire of Antiochus with parts of Cilicia on the coast. Caligula also gave him all of Commagene's state revenue for the 20 years that it was a Roman province. The reasons for these huge donations to a vassal king remain unclear; perhaps the reason was Caligula's well-documented eccentricity. Antiochus had a close relationship with Caligula, and he and King Herod Agrippa I are said to have instructed the emperor in the art of tyranny. But this friendship did not last long, because he was deposed by Caligula. He did not regain his kingdom until Claudius became emperor in 41.

Antiochus' first son Gaius Julius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes was betrothed to Herod Agrippa's daughter Drusilla in 43 . However, the marriage did not materialize. Instead, some time later, Epiphanes married Claudia Capitolina, the daughter of the scholar Tiberius Claudius Balbillus . Besides Epiphanes, Antiochus had two other children with Iotapa, namely Kallinikos and Iotapa.

In 53 Antiochus put down a revolt of the barbaric Clitae in Cilicia. In 55 he received the order from Nero to raise troops against the Parthians , and in 59 he served under General Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo against King Trdat I , brother of the Parthian King Vologaes I, for this he received parts of Greater Armenia in 61 . He supported Vespasian when he became emperor in 70; from then on he was spoken of as the richest vassal king. In the same year he sent troops under the command of his son Epiphanes to help Titus in the siege of Jerusalem .

Antiochus' decline began in 72 when he was accused by Lucius Junius Caesennius Paetus , the governor of Syria, of conspiracy with the Parthians against the Romans. He was disempowered after 34 years of rule. Antiochus' sons fled to Parthia after a brief encounter with the Roman troops. Antiochus himself retired to Lakedaimōn and then to Rome, where he spent the rest of his life with his sons and was treated with great respect. Among his grandchildren were the famous Athenian citizen Gaius Iulius Philopappus and the poet Iulia Balbilla .

Coins

There are several coins of this king and their drawing marks prove that he ruled large parts of Cappadocia and Cilicia, as well as Commagene himself. On one of these coins he is called ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΣ (Great King Antiochus), a testament to his political ambitions, which no doubt played a role in his decline. The reverse of this coin depicts a scorpion surrounded by bay leaves, the crescent moon and the inscription ΚΟΜΜΑΓΗΝΩΝ. From this coin we learn that his wife was called Iotapa. However, there are also coins from his reign that depict the portrait of Iotapa (or Iotape).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Mark Chahin: The Kingdom of Armenia , pp. 190-191, Routledge Publishing, 2001, ISBN 0700714529
  2. ^ Cassius Dio , LIX. 8th
  3. ^ Suetonius , Caligula , 16.
  4. ^ Cassius Dio, LIX. 24.
  5. ^ Cassius Dio. LX. 8th.
  6. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus , Jüdische Antiquities, XIX. 9. § 1.
  7. ^ Tacitus , Annalen , XII. 55.
  8. ^ Tacitus, Annalen , XIII. 7, 37.
  9. ^ Tacitus, Annals , XIV. 26.
  10. ^ Tacitus, Historien , II. 81.
  11. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, De bello Iudaico , V. 11. § 3
  12. ^ Tacitus, Histories , v. 1.
  13. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, De bello Iudaico , VII. 7
  14. ^ Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, III. p. 255 etc.
  15. ^ 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).
  16. ↑ Kölner Münzkabinett, 105th auction, September 16, 2016, lot 214; RPC 3858
personal data
SURNAME Antiochus IV.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gaius Julius Antiochus IV. Epiphanes; Antiochus IV. Epiphanes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION last king of Kommagene
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC BC or 1st century
DATE OF DEATH 1st century