Antiochus

Who is Antiochus?

Antiochus was a Macedonian man who lived during the time of Philip II of Macedon. He originally came from Orestis, Macedonia.

Antiochus served as an officer under Philip II, and gained distinction as a military general. Antiochus was from an upper noble family. His father was probably called Seleucus, his brother was called Ptolemy and he probably had a nephew called Seleucus. Antiochus married a Macedonian woman called Laodice and in about 358 BC Laodice bore Antiochus a son Seleucus I Nicator, who became a general of Alexander the Great and later founded and became the first king of the Seleucid Empire; she also bore him a daughter, Didymeia. It was pretended, in consequence of a dream which Laodice had, that the god Apollo was the real father of Seleucus.

When Seleucus became king, he founded and named sixteen cities in honor of his father, including the Syrian city of Antioch and the Seleucid Military Outpost, Antioch, Pisidia. Through Seleucus, Antiochus had thirteen Seleucid kings bearing his name, as well as various monarchs from the Kingdom of Commagene. Antiochus had numerous descendants through his son from the 3rd century BC until the 5th century and possibly beyond.