Hi there, you're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast.

Episode 121, the Seleucid Empire, the man they called Sidetis.

The failure of Demetrius II's campaign to retake Babylonia and his subsequent imprisonment by the Parthian ruler Mithridates I was a colossal misfire, one that seriously threatened the stability

of the Seleucid Empire, something that had already been strained by civil war and local revolts.

The Parthians now dominated the east, and in the west the usurper diodotivus trifen was still

entertaining the notion of becoming ruler of all Syria.

Demetrius' own children were far too young to take the throne, and the fate of the empire would end up being placed in the hands of an unexpected savior.

Before Demetrius departed for the upper satrapes,

he entrusted the administration of his realm to his satraps and his wife, Queen Cleopatra Thea, who ruled from Salukia by the sea.

According to the Greek and Jewish sources, Cleopatra learned of her husband's captured by the Parthians and became deeply concerned for her own safety.

This is understandable, since her first son Antiochus

the 6 was murdered by Trifon, and he would have no use keeping her alive unless he

planned on taking her as a bride, and who knew if the citizens of Selukia would tolerate

her presence before casting her aside in favor of diodotus. Cleopatra then turned to the sole salucid male within

arms reach, that being Demetrius's brother Antiochus. Antiochus was the youngest surviving son of

Demetrius I. Sotr, and like his sibling, was escorted out of Syria to avoid being killed

during the war with Alexander

Ballas. He and Demetrius resided in Nidus together for some time, before the elder son

sat on his own expedition to reclaim the throne from Balas. Shortly afterwards, Antiochus

moved to the city of Saidi in Pamphylia, the modern region of Antalya, which is why he received

his nickname, Sidetes, by later authors.

Before long he made his way to Rhodes, and this is where he comes into the picture.

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