Lysias (regent)

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Lysias ( Greek  Λυσίας ; † 162 BC ) was a regent of the Seleucid Empire .

In the Maccabees , Lysias is referred to as a “prince from a royal tribe”. He was therefore a relative of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV. Epiphanes .

When the king in 165 BC When he set out on a campaign in the upper Asian satrapies , he appointed Lysias as trustee of his underage son and heir to the throne Antiochus V. Eupator , whose cousin Lysias was. To this end, he received instructions to put down the Maccabees' uprising that had just begun . Antiochus IV died in 164 BC. On his campaign, whereby Lysias took over the reign of the Seleucid Empire. After the first military operations in Judea had failed and Judas Maccabeus had entered Jerusalem , he ordered the king's army back from the upper satrapies to use it in the fight against the Maccabees. In 163 BC He achieved a complete victory over Maccabeus in the battle of Beth-Sur and then took Jerusalem. Here he concluded a compromise peace with the so-called pious (Hasidim) by appointing Alcimos as the new high priest of the Jewish temple. Judas Maccabeus and his followers, however, continued their resistance.

Subsequently, Lysias was involved in a diplomatic dispute with King Ariarathes V of Cappadocia over the remains of his mother and a sister. Both had once fled to the court of the Seleucids for unknown reasons, where they had Lysias killed when he came to power. A diplomatic delegation from Rome to act as arbitrator arrived to settle this conflict . Lysias had to hand over the ashes of the two women to Ariarathes V and kill all of the war elephants of the Seleucid army in retaliation for the murder of them .

One of the leaders of the delegation, the former consul Gnaeus Octavius , was named during the negotiations in 162 BC. Murdered in Laodikeia . A little later Demetrios I arrived in Tripoli and demanded rule over the Seleucid Empire. Before there was a military clash with him, Lysias and King Antiochus V were murdered by sympathizers of Demetrios, who was actually able to take over the rule.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ 1. Book of the Maccabees 3:32.
  2. ↑ 2. Book of the Maccabees 11: 1.
  3. ↑ 1 Makk 3.31-37  EU ; Josephus , Jüdische Antiquities 12, 295–6.
  4. ↑ 1 Makk 6.18-54  EU ; Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 12, 361–378.
  5. ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 12, 258-261.
  6. ↑ Polybios 31, 7, 2.
  7. ↑ Appian Syriake 46-47.
personal data
SURNAME Lysias
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Λυσίας (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Regent of the Seleucid Empire
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 162 BC Chr.