Research Notes:

Antiochus II Theos, born ca. 286, Eusebius reports he was forty years old when he died in July/August 246 (Chron. I, p. 251; Sachs and Wiseman, “A Babylonian King List,” p. 206). After the death of his father, Antiochus II ruled without a co-regent (Parker and Dubberstein, Chronology, p. 21). The first years of his reign saw him fighting in Asia Minor and Thrace (Memnon, in Jacoby, Fragmente, no. 434 F15; Polyaenus 4.16). During most of his reign he was preoccupied by the Second Syrian War, which ended ca. 251. The peace agreement included the marriage of Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy II, to Antiochus, who repudiated Laodice and her two sons. The result was instability at the Seleucid court and the mysterious death of Antiochus while reunited with Laudice at Ephesus (Will, Histoire politique, pp. 234-48). The neglect of the eastern provinces during the reign of Antiochus II probably contributed to the growing independence of Bactria under Diodotus, Parthia under Androgoras (q.v.), and the region of Astauene under Arsaces. The satraps appear to have become increasingly dependent on the Greek and native inhabitants of their provinces to defend the northern and eastern frontiers, while the Seleucid king remained in the west (Will, op. cit., pp. 281-90). ¹