Mar 13 2020 23 mins 523
Synopsis: While the Ptolemies intrigue in Coele Syria, Antiochus VIII Grypus and his half-brother Antiochus IX Cyzicenus struggle for seventeen years to win control of the north. After the rivals die in quick succession, the kingdom comes under control of Seleucus VI and Demetrius III, the allied sons of Grypus. “Then Grypus proceeded to besiege Antioch, the city where Cyzicenus’ wife Cleopatra (IV) was to be found, and when it was captured Tryphaena, the wife of Grypus, ordered that the highest priority be given to hunting down her sister…to ensure that she escape one of the miseries of captivity. For Tryphaena believed that it was from feelings of jealousy towards herself that Cleopatra had entered this kingdom rather than any other, and that she had declared herself her sister’s enemy by marrying her sister’s foe.” – Justin, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, Book 39
