Antiochus VIII Grypus

In 193 BC Cleopatra I, a Seleucid princess, married King Ptolemy V of Egypt. Their granddaughter Cleopatra Thea of the Ptolemaic dynasty married the claimant Alexander Balas half a century later in 150 BC.{{sfn|Whitehorne|1994|pp=81, 149}} She later married Demetrius II of Syria, and they had two sons.{{#tag:ref|Antiochus VIII, the younger, was born sometime between 143 and 140 BC; he was between 15 and 17 when he took the throne. He may have been sent to Athens to prevent competition for the throne. However, this is not certain. In any case, he was in Syria in 125 BC.{{sfn|Wright|2008|pp=39–41}}|group=note}} Demetrius II was captured and held as a prisoner by the Parthian Empire. Antiochus VIII's uncle Antiochus VII took the throne and married Cleopatra Thea, but died in 129 BC while fighting against the Parthians; Demetrius II then returned to the throne, and died in 125 BC while waging a war for the Syrian throne against the claimant Alexander II. Demetrius II's eldest son Seleucus V became king after his death, but was soon killed by Cleopatra Thea. She made Antiochus VIII king, ruling as his co-regent.{{sfn|Wright|2008|pp=39–41}}

Shortly after taking the throne, Antiochus VIII married his cousin, the Ptolemaic princess Tryphaena. Silver and bronze coins issued during the co-regency (125–121{{nbs}}BC) of Antiochus VIII and Cleopatra Thea show the head of the queen appearing at front with her son's head behind hers. Her name is also the first listed on the coinage. These facts signify that she was the senior co-ruler.{{sfn|Wright|2008|p=40}} He defeated usurper Alexander II Zabinas in 123 BC. In 121 BC, Antiochus decided to rid himself of his influential mother.{{cite book|last1=Ogden|first1=Daniel|title=Polygamy Prostitutes and Death. The Hellenistic Dynasties|date=1999|publisher=Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd.|location=London|isbn=07156-29301|page=150}} According to Justin, his mother tried to poison him with wine, but the suspicious king forced her to drink the cup herself.{{cite book|last1=Justin|author-link1=Justin (historian)|title=Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories|url=http://www.attalus.org/translate/justin6.html#39.2|chapter=39.2.7-8}} However, it was Grypus himself who would become famous for his interest in toxicology.Galen, 14 p. 185 Some poems about poisonous herbs believed to have been written by him are quoted by the famous physician Galen.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

Image:AntiochusGrippusCoin.jpg standing on the horned lion, in his pyre surmounted by an eagle.]]

Despite political shortcomings, Grypus was a popular king. His ugly, lazy appearance on coins (common among the last Seleucids), together with stories of his lavish banquets, made posterity believe his dynasty was degenerate and decadent. This was, however, a conscious image invoking the Hellenistic concept of Tryphe - meaning good life, which the last Seleucids strove to be associated with, as opposed to the exhausting civil wars and feuds which troubled their reigns in reality.{{cite book|title=Aspects of Hellenistic Kingship|first=Per|last=Bilde|publisher=Aarhus University Press|series=Studies in Hellenistic civilization|volume=7|year=1996|page=36|issn=0906-3463|isbn=978-8-772-88474-5}}

A story of his luxurious parties claims he sent food home with guests who attended banquets, complete with a camel as beast of burden, as well as an attendant to carry the guest himself. This should certainly have caused some strain on the already depleted treasury.{{cite web|url=http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus5c.html|title=Athenaeus: Deipnosophists - Book 5 (c)|first=Andrew|last=Smith|website=www.attalus.org}}

In 116 BC his half-brother and cousin Antiochus IX Cyzicenus returned from exile and a civil war began. Cyzicenus' wife, also named Cleopatra, was a sister of Tryphaena and was eventually killed in a dramatic fashion in the temple of Daphne outside Antioch, on the order of Tryphaena. Cyzicenus eventually killed Tryphaena as revenge. The two brothers then divided Syria between them until Grypus was killed by his minister Heracleon in 96 BC.

He married the Ptolemaic princess Tryphaena ca. 125, and had six children by her:

• Seleucus VI Epiphanes
• Antiochus XI Epiphanes Philadelphus
• Philip I Philadelphus
• Demetrius III Eucaerus
• Antiochus XII Dionysus
• Laodice VII Thea, married to king Mithridates I Callinicus of Commagene as part of a settlement by Mithridates' father Sames II Theosebes Dikaios to ensure peace between the Kingdom of Commagene and the Seleucid Empire. Laodice and Mithridates' son was King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, grandson to Grypus.

In 102, Cleopatra III of Egypt gave him her daughter Cleopatra Selene I in marriage, but she gave him no children. Afterwards, she went to marry Antiochus IX Cyzicenus.

{{Portal|Asia}}

• List of Syrian monarchs
• Timeline of Syrian history

{{reflist|group=note}}

• {{cite book|title=Cleopatras|first=John|last=Whitehorne|year=1994|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-05806-3}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Wright |first1=Nicholas L. |date=2008 |title=A note on Cleopatra Thea, Antiochus Grypus, and Athens |url=https://www.academia.edu/252838 |journal=Mediterranean Archaeology |volume=21 |pages=39–42 |jstor=24651722 |access-date=26 April 2019 }}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://virtualreligion.net/iho/antiochus_8.html Antiochus VIII Grypus] entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith

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{{s-hou|Seleucid dynasty||Unknown||96 BC}}

{{s-bef|before=Cleopatra Thea}}

{{s-ttl|title=Seleucid King (King of Syria)|years=125–96 BC|regent1=Cleopatra Thea|years1=126–121/3 BC}}

{{s-aft|after=Antiochus IX Cyzicenus}}

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{{Hellenistic rulers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grypus, Antiochus VIII}}

Category:2nd-century BC births

Category:96 BC deaths

Category:2nd-century BC Seleucid monarchs

Category:1st-century BC Seleucid monarchs

Category:Year of birth unknown

Category:1st-century BC murdered monarchs