Insurrection in Media and Persia.
218.
220.
14. Great power of Hermias the Carian, who soon became so formidable to the young monarch, that he was obliged to rid himself of him by murder. The great stand made by the brothers, Molo and Alexander, satraps of Media and Persia, who probably had an understanding with Hermias, threatened the king with the loss of all the upper provinces: it ended in the defeat of Molo, Hermias being at last no longer able to hinder the king from marching against him in person.
War with the Ptolemies: insurrection of Asia Minor, 220.
219.
217.
216.
15. The intrigues of Hermias excited Achæus to rebellion in Asia Minor: but Antiochus held more important, first to execute the plan he had previously traced, of ejecting the Ptolemies from their possessions in Syria; great as the success which at first attended this expedition, it was completely traversed by the battle of Raphia.—Combining with Attalus of Pergamus, Antiochus then defeated Achæus, who, being shut up in the citadel of Sardes, was treacherously delivered into his hands.
Campaign in the upper provinces,
214—205.
210.
206.
16. Great campaign of Antiochus in the upper provinces, in consequence of the seizure of Media by Arsaces III.—Hostilities ended in a compact, by which Antiochus agreed formerly to cede Parthia and Hyrcania; Arsaces, on his side, pledging himself to furnish assistance against Bactria.—But the war with Bactria was also followed by a peace, leaving the king, Euthydemus, in possession of his crown and dominions.—The expedition now undertaken by Antiochus, in company with Demetrius of Bactriana, against India, extended, probably far up the country, and was attended with important consequences to Bactriana. (See below, history of Bactria, book iv. per. iii. Dist. Kingdoms iv. parag. 5.)
The result of these great expeditions was the establishment of the supremacy of the Seleucidæ in Upper Asia; those countries excepted which had been formally resigned.
On his return through Arachotus and Carmania, where he wintered, he likewise undertook a naval expedition on the Persian gulf: here Gerrha, in possession of its freedom, appears a flourishing place of trade.
War with Egypt,
203.
17. Resumption of the plan against Egypt, after the death of Ptolemy Philopator; and alliance with Philip of Macedonia, then carrying on war in Asia. Antiochus, it is true, attained his end in the expulsion of the Ptolemies from their possessions in Syria, Cœle-Syria, and Phœnicia; but then, his success brought him in contact with 203—198. Rome, an event of decisive importance to himself and his successors.