ELIZABETH APPI.F.BAUM

AppleTree Editor

hanukah gives us a fairly simple scenario of good guys — the
Hasmoneans, lead by Judah Maccabee — and bad guys — the
Greco-Syrians, headed by Antiochus.
Jewish children who attend day school, afternoon or Sunday
school get a pretty complete picture of Judah Maccabee and his heroic
father and brothers, but all that most of us seem to know about Antiochus
is the evil he imposed on the Jews. (Many can't even pronounce his name
correctly. Based on Hebrew articulation, they call him anti-O-cus, instead
of an-TY-ocus, the proper English pronunciation of a name from classical
civilization.)
So exactly who was Antiochus? A look at his life will enhance our
understanding of Chanukah and place the events of the holiday within
the wider scope of the Mediterranean world of that time.

C

Theos' son adopted the more modest — but still macho — nickname of
Hierax, "the hawk."
The next Antiochus was Hierax's nephew, who eventually came to be
called "the great." He gained this title by rebuilding and expanding the
Seleucid Empire, which had begun to disintegrate when he ascended the
throne at age 18. With the help of the Jews, in 198 BCE he seized Judea
I from Egypt and added it to his empire. In return, he treated the Jews well.
When Antiochus III died in 187 BCE, he was succeeded by his son,
Seleucus IV Philopater, who, unlike his father, had no ambitions to
expand the empire, mainly because he did not have the money. His father
had lost a war to Rome, which demanded a heavy indemnity. His minis-
1 ters did not sympathize with his frugality, and, in 176, one assas s inated
him.
Seleucus' son, Demetrius, was the true heir, but he was being held hostage
in Rome. Seleucus' younger brother, Antiochus, saw his opportunity,
and in 175 he seized the throne from his father's assassin.

A Villain

Portrait Of

A coin
showing
Antiochus V.

The history and life of the evil king of Chanukah.

Antiochus was not an uncommon name in the centuries before the
Common Era. The first Antiochus was a Macedonian general in the army
of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. Although Macedonia today is a
component of the former Yugoslavia, in ancient times Macedonia covered
the area of what is now the northern part of Greece and the southern por-
tions of Albania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.
Ethnically, the Macedonians were Illyrians and Thracians, native peoples
of the Balkans, who were superficially Hellenized, that is, they had adopt-
ed the Greek language and culture.
At the end of the fourth century BCE, Antiochus' son, Seleucus I
Nicator, built his capital city on the Orontes River in Syria. In honor of
his father, Seleucus named the city Antioch. Today, it is called Antakya,
and it's located in Turkey.
The Antiochus we know from Chanukah was the Fifth king with that
name. His ancestors, like most kings of that era, took on additional appel-
lations or nicknames, which spoke of their inflated egos. His great-great-
grandfather, Antiochus I, was called Soter or "savior." The "savior's" son,
Antiochus II, was Theos ("the god"), and, as the name implies, during his
reign the Seleucid dynasty adopted the cult of the king as divine ruler.

This is the man we know today as the villain of the Chanukah story —
Antiochus IV.
Like his older brother, Antiochus IV — who called himself Antiochus
Epiphanes ("God manifest") — also had been taken as a hostage to Rome.
He was treated well, however, and learned something of Roman statecraft.
Apparently, he failed to appreciate the extent of Roman power. In 170,
Egypt tried to recover Palestine, but Antiochus easily defeated the attempt
and went on to invade Egypt and set up a puppet state under the rule of
his 16-year-old nephew, Ptolemy VI Philometer.
Rome ordered Antiochus out of Egypt. He complied only after under-
going a public humiliation: In 168, the Roman envoy Gaius Popilius
Laenas confronted Antiochus in Alexandria, where he asked the king if he
would do as Rome commanded.
Gaius Populius Laenas drew a circle in the sand around Antiochus and
demanded his answer before he stepped out of it.
After he was released from captivity in Rome, Antiochus lived in Athens
and brought back to Syria an enthusiasm for Greek culture, or at least its
symbols. He expended great sums on public buildings and imposed upon

PORTRAIT on page 75

12/7
2001

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