Antiochus X Eusebes

Who was Antiochus X Eusebes?

Antiochus X Eusebes Philopator, ruler of the Greek Seleucid kingdom, was a contestant in the tangled-up family feuds among the last Seleucids. Beginning his reign in 95 BC his first achievement was to defeat his double half-cousin/second cousin Seleucus VI Epiphanes, thus avenging the recent death of his father Antiochus IX Cyzicenus. The epithets he took tell much of his story: Eusebes and also Philopator both honoured his father. After that, he ruled Antioch and its surroundings, fighting endlessly against the four brothers of Seleucus VI, the Nabataeans and the Parthian Empire.

The date of his downfall is uncertain; Josephus reckons he was killed around 90 BC fighting the Parthians - and his possession of Antioch was certainly lost to Philip I Philadelphus around then - whereas for instance Appian speaks of him being defeated when the Armenian king Tigranes invaded Syria by 83 BC, but in that case his actions in the meantime remain unrevealed. A son of Antiochus X, by the name of Antiochus XIII Asiaticus, was made client king in Syria after the Roman general Pompey had defeated Tigranes.