Antiochus IV of Commagene

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Antiochus IV
Prince Callinicus
Iotapa, Queen of Cetis
Names
Gaius Julius Antiochus IV Epiphanes
HouseOrontid dynasty
FatherKing Antiochus III of Commagene
MotherPrincess Iotapa 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 and 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

Laodice VII Thea, who was the mother of King Antiochus I 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

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

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

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]

See also

Notes

  1. ISBN 0-7007-1452-9
    .
  2. ^ Cassius Dio, lix. 8
  3. ^ Suetonius, Caligula, 16.
  4. ^ Cassius Dio, lix. 24.
  5. ^ Cassius Dio. lx. 8.
  6. ^ Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, xix. 9. § 1.
  7. ^ Tacitus, Annals, xii. 55.
  8. ^ Tacitus, Annals, xiii. 7, 37.
  9. ^ Tacitus, Annals, xiv. 26.
  10. ^ Tacitus, Histories, ii. 81.
  11. ^ Josephus, Jewish War, v. 11. § 3
  12. ^ Tacitus, Histories, v. 1.
  13. ^ Bowman, The Augustan Empire, p. 672
  14. ^ Josephus, Jewish War, vii. 7
  15. ^ Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, iii. p. 255 etc.
  16. ^ 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

External links
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