Antiochus V

Antiochus V Eupator , whose epithet means "of a good father" ( – 162 BC) was a ruler of the Seleucid Empire who reigned from late 164 to 162 BC (based on dates from 1 Maccabees 6:16 and 7:1).

He was appointed as king by the Romans with his protector Lysias as regent.

Biography Early life and succession Antiochus V was only nine years old when he succeeded to the kingship, following the death in Persia of his father Antiochus IV Epiphanes and his mother Laodice IV. The general Lysias, who had been left in charge of Syria by Epiphanes, served as regent for the child, although he was challenged by other generals. The Roman Senate still kept Demetrius, son of Seleucus IV and the rightful heir to the throne, as a hostage, refusing to release him because they considered it better to have Syria nominally ruled by a boy and his regent than the 22-year-old Demetrius.

Downfall and death When the Roman Senate heard that the Syrian kingdom kept more warships and elephants than allowed by the Treaty of Apamea made in 188 BC, they sent a Roman embassy to travel along the cities of Syria and attempted to cripple Seleucid military power by sinking the Syrians' warships and hamstringing their elephants. Lysias dared do nothing to oppose the Romans, but his subservience so enraged his Syrian subjects that the Roman envoy Gnaeus Octavius was assassinated in Laodicea in 162 BC.

At this juncture Demetrius escaped from Rome and was received in Syria as the true king. Antiochus V Eupator was soon put to death together with his protector Lysias.