
Antiochus I Soter (26 June 324 BC-2 June 261 BC) was the Basileus of the Seleucid Empire from September 281 to 2 June 261 BC, succeeding Seleucus and preceding Antiochus II Theos.
Biography[]
Antiochus was born in 324 BC, the son of the Macedonian general Seleucus and his Sogdian wife Apama. On the assassination of his father in 281 BC, Antiochus inherited the vast Seleucid Empire, and he abandoned his father's campaigns in Macedonia and Thrace in order to quell a revolt in Syria. He was also unable to conquer the Persian dynasties of Bithynia or Cappadocia in Asia Minor, although, in 278 BC, he saved Anatolia from a Gallic invasion and earned the nickname Soter ("savior"). He went on to fight Ptolemaic Egypt for control of the Levant, and, in 262 BC, he was defeated at Sardis while trying to curb the growing power of Pergamon. He died soon afterwards and was succeeded by his second son Antiochus II Theos.