page_title: Antiochus XI Epiphanes
section_title: Avenging Seleucus VI and taking the capital
hierarchical_section_title: Antiochus XI Epiphanes / Reign / Avenging Seleucus VI and taking the capital
caption_attribution_description: English: From the website: Ex Kern and Houghton Collections CNG 109, Lot: 348. Estimate $5000. Sold for $9500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee. SELEUKID EMPIRE. Antiochos XI Epiphanes Philadelphos. Circa 94/3 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26mm, 14.48 g, 12h). Antioch on the Orontes mint. Diademed head right within fillet border / BAΣIΛEΩ[Σ] ANTIOXO[V] EΠIΦAN[OVΣ] ΦIΛAΔEΛ[ΦOV], Zeus Nikephoros seated left; to outer left, monogram above [A]; monogram below throne; all within laurel wreath. SC 2441 (this coin referenced); HGC 9, 1299; CSE 388 (this coin). VF, toned, slight porosity, off center on reverse. Very rare. From the MNL Collection, purchased from Jonathan Kern, August 2011. Ex Arthur Houghton Collection, purchased from Numismatic Fine Arts, December 1977.
context_page_description: Antiochus XI Epiphanes Philadelphus was a Hellenistic Seleucid monarch who reigned as the King of Syria between 94 and 93 BC. He was the son of Antiochus VIII and his wife Tryphaena. Antiochus XI's early life was a time of constant civil war between his father and his uncle Antiochus IX. The conflict ended with the assassination of Antiochus VIII, followed by the establishment of Antiochus IX in Antioch, the capital of Syria. Antiochus VIII's eldest son Seleucus VI, in control of western Cilicia, marched against his uncle and had him killed, taking Antioch for himself, only to be expelled from it and driven to his death in 94 BC by Antiochus IX's son Antiochus X.
  Following the murder of Seleucus VI, Antiochus XI declared himself king jointly with his twin brother Philip I. Dubious ancient accounts, which may be contradicted by archaeological evidence, report that Antiochus XI's first act was to avenge his late brother by destroying Mopsuestia in Cilicia, the city responsible for the death of Seleucus VI. In 93 BC, Antiochus XI took Antioch, an event not mentioned by ancient historians but confirmed through numismatic evidence.
context_section_description: According to Eusebius, the brothers sacked Mopsuestia and destroyed it to avenge Seleucus VI. Eusebius' statement is doubtful because in 86 BC, Rome conferred inviolability upon the cult of Isis and Sarapis in Mopsuestia, which is proven by an inscription from the city. After Mopsuestia, Antiochus XI left Philip I in Cilicia and advanced on Antioch, driving Antiochus X from the city at the beginning of 93 BC. Ancient historians do not note Antiochus XI's reign in the capital, stating that he fought against Antiochus X and was defeated. The 6th-century Byzantine monk and historian John Malalas, whose work is considered generally unreliable by scholars, mentions the reign of Antiochus XI in his account of the Roman period in Antioch. The material evidence for Antiochus XI's success in taking the capital was provided in 1912, when an account of a coin struck by him in Antioch was published. 
  Philip I did not take residence in the capital and Antiochus XI minted coinage as a sole king. Philip I kept the royal title while remaining in the city which was his base during the preparations to avenge Seleucus VI. The numismatist Edward Theodore Newell assigned Antiochus XI a reign of a few weeks in the capital, but according to the numismatist Oliver Hoover, estimating the average annual die usage rate of the King suggests a reign of several months. According to Malalas, King Antiochus Philadelphus, i.e. Antiochus XI, built a temple for Apollo and Artemis in Daphne, and set up two golden statues representing the gods, as well as conferring the right of asylum to anyone who took refuge in the temple; this statement cannot be correct since the temple was attested during the time of Antiochus III (r. 222–187 BC). The historian Glanville Downey, observing Malalas' writing style in Greek, suggested that by "building", Malalas meant renovating or restoring, which indicates that a predecessor of Antiochus XI may have desecrated the temple and melted down the golden statues.
caption: Tetradrachm of Antiochus XI, Antioch mint
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