Cleopatra Thea & Antiochos VII 138-129 BC. Silver Drachm.3.0 gr. Dark toning

Description: Cleopatra Thea(Greek: , which means "Cleopatra the Goddess"; c. 164 121 BC) surnamedEueteria(i.e., "good-harvest/fruitful season") was the ruler of theHellenisticSeleucid Empire. She wasqueen consortof Syria from 150 to about 125 BC as the wife of threeSyriankings:Alexander Balas,Demetrius II Nicator, andAntiochus VII Sidetes. She ruled Syria from 125 BC after the death of Demetrius II Nicator, eventually in co-regency with her sonAntiochus VIII Grypusuntil 121 or 120 BC. Childhood and first marriage Cleopatra Thea grew up in Egypt as the daughter ofPtolemy VIandCleopatra II. She was probably born ca. 164 BC. She may have been engaged to her uncle Ptolemy VIII king of Cyrene in 154, but he eventually married her sister Cleopatra III. In 152 BC, her father, who had come into conflict with the Seleucid kingDemetrius I, chose to promoteAntiochus IV's sonAlexander Balasagainst him and supported him with troops and officers. When Alexander triumphed over Demetrius in 150 BC, he requested Ptolemy's daughter as a warranty of alliance. The two kings met, amid sumptuous ceremonies, inPtolemais Akko, and Alexander received Cleopatra in marriage. The marriage soon produced a son namedAntiochus VI Dionysus. Divorce and later marriages In 147 BC, Demetrius Soter's sonDemetrius IIinvaded Cilicia. Two years later Ptolemy VI brought his army into Syria, ostensibly to help Alexander Balas fight the invaders. Having installed garrisons in the Seleucid coastal cities, he eventually betrayed Alexander outright by seizing Antioch. There he reunited with Cleopatra. In accordance with her father's new political program, she divorced Alexander and married Demetrius II instead.The marriage deal stated that Ptolemy would help Demetrius take the throne from Alexander; in exchange, Egypt would receive the province of Coele-Syria, which had been Seleucid territory sinceAntiochus IIItook it fromPtolemy Vin 200 BC. Alexander quelled the Cilician revolt and returned home, confronting Ptolemy and Demetrius in the plain of the river Oeneparas, close to Antioch. The ensuing battle saw Alexander defeated and Ptolemy wounded so badly that he died a few days later. Demetrius repudiated his alliance with Egypt and expelled or massacred all of Ptolemy's garrisons in Syria as far as Gaza, reinstating Seleucid control over the province. His control over the realm was fragile, since the Syrians had hostile memories of his father, and he faced rebellions in Antioch as soon as 144 BC. Demetrius instituted purges, but these aggravated the discontent instead of stifling it. Diodotus, a former general of Alexander and probable participant in the Antiochene rebellion, abducted Cleopatra's first sonAntiochus VIand used him as a figurehead for a secessionist kingdom in Coele-Syria. In 142/1 BC, Diodotus murdered the boy and proclaimed himself as king. During these years of brutal civil war, Cleopatra and Demetrius had at least three children, Seleucus, Antiochus and a daughter called Laodike. In 139 BC, Demetrius II was captured in battle against the kingdom ofParthia, which held him prisoner until 129 BC. Diodotus took the opportunity to conquer all of the Seleucid kingdom except the city of Seleucia in Pieria, where Cleopatra sought refuge. She sent for Demetrius's younger brother,Antiochus VII Sidetes, proposing that he should marry her and become the new king. Accepting the offer, Antiochus VII defeated and killed Diodotus in 138 BC, ending the civil wars which had been ongoing since 152. Cleopatra Thea bore the new king at least one son,Antiochus IX Cyzicenus. The names of any other children are uncertain. During his reign, Cleopatra's third husband reestablished Seleucid authority in the kingdom west of the Euphrates. Between 134 and 130 BC he waged a war to reclaim all the satrapies his predecessors had lost to the Parthians. The Parthian kingPhraates IIdecided to release Demetrius II, who had been married to his sister Rhodogune, and to send him to Syria, thus provoking a civil war between the brothers and compelling Antiochus VII to retreat. In the winter of 130/129 Phraates killed Antiochus in an ambush near Ectabane, but Demetrius managed to enter his kingdom before the Parthians could retrieve him. Cleopatra received Demetrius peaceably, but took the precaution of sending Antiochus IX (her son by Antiochus VII) toCyzicus, out of the king's immediate reach; she was said to be inwardly furious at Demetrius taking a Parthian wife and having children with her.In 128 BC, Demetrius took an army to Egypt to help Cleopatra's mother, Cleopatra II, with her ongoing struggle against her brother and husbandPtolemy VIII Physcon.He was forced to retreat near Pelousion because his soldiers refused to obey him, and Cleopatra Thea, then in Antioch, rebelled against him and established her son Antiochus as king. In the same year, Antioch was occupied byAlexander II Zabinas, a false child of Alexander Balas sent with troops by Ptolemy to wage war against Demetrius in Syria. Cleopatra Thea fled the city, and probably went to Ptolemais, where she had married Alexander Balas some twenty years earlier. During the period between 128 and 125, while Demetrius was fighting against Alexander, Cleopatra remained in Ptolemais, probably with her two sons by Demetrius, Seleucus and Antiochus. In 125 Demetrius was completely defeated near Damascus by Alexander and his Egyptian allies, and also fled to Ptolemais. Cleopatra refused to admit him to the city; he went instead to Tyre, where the local Seleucid administrator killed him on Cleopatra's orders. Later years as co-regent Demetrius' elder son, Seleucus, proclaimed himself the new king with the name Seleucus V, but Cleopatra Thea had him executed by archers soon after. From 125 BC to 121 BC Cleopatra ruled Syria, sharing the throne with her son,Antiochus VIII Grypus, whom she had proclaimed king in Antioch in 128 BC. Antiochus VIII was married toTryphaena, the daughter of Ptolemy VIII Physcon and Cleopatra III.Cleopatra Thea thus procured an Egyptian alliance, causing Ptolemy to turn against Alexander II (whom he had previously supported as a means of keeping the Seleucids preoccupied with civil war). By 123 BC Alexander II had been defeated and executed, Cleopatra and Grypus remaining joint rulers in Cilicia, Syria and Northern Mesopotamia. Grypus became less controllable as he grew up, and in 121 BC Cleopatra Thea decided to eliminate him. She offered him a cup of poisoned wine, but Grypus guessed her intention and forced her to drink the wine, which killed her.Grypus's sole reign was peaceful until ca. 114 BC, when Cleopatra Thea's other son, Antiochus IX, returned to Syria to claim the throne and civil war started again. Cleopatra Thea was a daughter ofPtolemy VI PhilometorandCleopatra IIof Egypt. She had two brothers namedPtolemy Eupatorand Ptolemy respectively. Her sisterCleopatra IIIwas Queen of Egypt and married toPtolemy VIII, an uncle, who had been a former co-ruler of Cleopatra Thea's parents. It is possible that Berenice, the fiance ofAttalus III, king ofPergamumis another sister. Cleopatra Thea married three times: Alexander Balasin about 150 BC. This union producedAntiochus VI Dionysus. Alexander Balas was neither popular, nor an efficient ruler. The marriage was dissolved by her father.Alexander Balas died in battle against Demetrius II of Syria in 145 BC. Demetrius II Nicatorin 145 BC. Demetrius became a captive of the Parthians from 139 to 129 BC. He was assassinated in Tyre in 125 BC on Cleopatra Thea's orders.Demetrius and Cleopatra Thea had at least two sonsSeleucus V Philometor, who was killed by his mother for taking the crown without her permission; andAntiochus VIII Grypus, who eventually killed his mother in turn. They also had a daughter Laodice, whomPhraates II of Parthiacaptured and later married for her beauty. Antiochus VII Sidetes, Demetrius' younger brother, in 137 BC after Demetrius was captured by the Parthians. Cleopatra and Antiochus VII had at least one son:Antiochus IX Cyzicenus. They also likely had two other sons named Antiochus and Seleucus and one or two daughters named Laodice.

Price: 155 USD

Location: Reading, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2024-04-11T00:42:37.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5.99 USD