Laodice

Who is Laodice?

Laodice was a Greek Princess of the Seleucid Empire. Laodice was of Greek Macedonian and Persian descent. She was one of the daughters and youngest child born to the Seleucid Monarchs Antiochus II Theos and Laodice I. Among her siblings were her brothers Seleucus II Callinicus and Antiochus Hierax. Laodice was born and raised in the Seleucid Empire.

Anywhere from 245 BC to 239 BC, her mother and Seleucus II arranged for her to marry King Mithridates II of Pontus. Laodice married Mithridates II, as a part of a political alliance between the Seleucid Empire and the Kingdom of Pontus. In 245 BC, her mother and Seleucus II were in the Third Syrian War Third Syrian War. To gain support from the Kingdom of Pontus, Laodice was given to Mithridates II in marriage and as a marriage gift, Phrygia was transferred as well.

Through her marriage Laodice became Queen of Pontus. Mithridates’ marriage to Laodice was one of the most important features in his reign and was an ambitious marriage policy he initiated. Through his political alliance and marriage to Laodice, Mithridates II allied himself to the most important royal house in Asia and gaining impressive recognition for Pontus as a political power in the Hellenistic world. This marriage also strengthened the pro-Seleucid orientation in foreign policy of Pontus.