Antiochus (III) the Great (c. 241–187 BC)

King of Syria 223–187 BC. He earned his title ‘the Great’ by restoring the Seleucid empire in 25 years of continuous campaigning from western Asia Minor to Afghanistan. He also finally wrested the Lebanon and Palestine from Egypt, despite defeat at Raphia in 201 BC.

His western ambitions, which led him to seize Ptolemaic possessions in southwest Anatolia and to further Seleucid claims to Thrace, brought him into conflict with the Roman Republic. He invaded Greece, but was defeated at Thermopylae, and withdrew to Asia Minor, where he was again defeated at Magnesia late in 190 BC. By the Treaty of Apamea (188 BC), he surrendered all his possessions in Anatolia apart from Pamphylia and Cilicia. He finally died of wounds after plundering a temple in southwest Iran.