Episode 258
Cleopatra Selene of Syria
Thu, 2018-Jan-18 00:44 UTC
Length - 3:22
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Thursday, 18 January 2018 is Cleopatra Selene of Syria.
Cleopatra Selene (Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Σελήνη; c. 135/130 – 69 BC) was the monarch of Syria as Cleopatra II Selene (83–69 BC). She was the daughter of Ptolemy VIII of Egypt by Cleopatra III. Cleopatra Selene was favored by her mother and became a pawn in Cleopatra III's political maneuvers. In 115, Cleopatra Selene became the queen of Egypt when she was married to her brother king Ptolemy IX by Cleopatra III as a replacement for the strong Cleopatra IV, who was also a daughter of Cleopatra III. Tension between the king and his mother grew and ended with Ptolemy IX's expulsion from Egypt, leaving Cleopatra Selene behind; she probably then married the new king, Ptolemy X.
In 103, Cleopatra III decided to establish an alliance with Antiochus VIII of Seleucid Syria; Cleopatra Selene was sent as his bride and stayed with him until his assassination in 96 BC. The now widowed queen decided to marry her previous husband's brother, Antiochus IX, but she lost her new husband in 95 BC. She then married her stepson, Antiochus IX's heir, Antiochus X; this was Cleopatra Selene's last marriage. Antiochus X disappeared from the records and is presumed to have died in 92 BC; Cleopatra Selene hid somewhere in Syria with her children until 83 BC when the Seleucid thrones in Antioch, ruled by Philip I, and Damascus, ruled by Antiochus XII, became vacant.
Cleopatra Selene had many children by several husbands. In 83 BC, she declared Antiochus XIII, her son by Antiochus X, king, and seems to have declared herself co-ruler. But the people of both Antioch and Damascus, exhausted by the Seleucids' civil wars, invited foreign monarchs to rule them: Tigranes II of Armenia took Antioch, while Aretas III of Nabataea took Damascus. Cleopatra Selene controlled several coastal towns until 69 BC, when she was besieged by Tigranes in Ptolemais; the Armenian king captured the queen and later executed her.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:44 UTC on Thursday, 18 January 2018.
For the full current version of the article, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra_Selene_of_Syria.
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