Antiochos Seleukid

Antiochos I Seleukid (324 - 246 BC) was the son of Seleukos I Nikator and gained control over the Seleukid Empire after his father's death in 283 BC. He died in a freak accident while campaigning against the Antigonids.

Family
He fathered a son name Seleukos. However relations between Antiochos' wife Zosime and Seleukos were tense, as she saw in him an obstacle for her own children to inherent. In the late 260s BC she hatched a plot to have him poisened. While the plot was discovered and she was imprisoned, she was successful in having Seleukos poisoned.

After Zosime was imprisoned he tried to marry Philippa Andromachid, but was prevented from doing so by Haustanes, who subsequently fell from favour at court. Antiochos subsequently married Simon Demadid.

Early Life
Antiochos' loving and guileless characteristic made the court believe him to be poorly suited to take over from his father, favouring his brother Achaios as the new Basileus. In an effort to prepare him for his future role he was made put in control of the royal treasury, a function where he excelled and managed to greatly improve state revenue. During this period he was lauded for his personal charm, decency and honour, though also showed a tendency to be taken into foolish schemes by his courtiers. One such example is failed a scheme to prove his brother Achaios disloyalty he got cought up in.

Early Reign
Realising that there was no basis for dynastic succession of the Seleukids, he spend most of his early reign establishing his legimacy as ruler, and visited many far flung corners of the empire.

During he time as archigrammateus he also build a firm understanding of economic realities of the empire, and focused considerable effort on the productivity of the food producing region of Mardiene.

The Syrian Rebellion
Soon into his reign Antiochos' fears about the lack of dynastic tradition would result in open rebellion was realised. In 279 BC a wave of rebellion spread across the empire, starting in Syria. His personal strategy of striking at the heart of the rebellion in Assyria was a failure, with the rebels refusing open battle and using mobility to evade Antiochos, while him moving the royal army away from the capital left it dangerously exposed. A mercenary forces had to be raised by the citizens themselves to save the city. His capable generals, and his long breath and deep pockets, eventual did win the war, but he had to accept the independence of Atropatene, while he would not bother reestablishing Seleukid authority to Gerrha.

Eastward Expanions
Antiochos oversaw the return of most of Eastern Satrapies lost earlier by Seleukos I Nikator to Chandragupta I. Chandragupta's empire existed with his person; when he passed his empire devolved into civil war. Antiochos supported the rebel side under Bhadrasena Brihadratha in exhange for the eastern satrapies. This deal would sour relations between the Mauryans and Seleukids for years to come, as Antiochos also invaded satrapies who had choosen Bhadrasena's side in the war.

Later Life
While considered guileless and foolish early in his life, he would catch on to the intricisies of the world and lost his foolish, guileless behaviour.

By the late 250's Antiochos' health started deterioting and he showed signs of dementia. This greatly hampered the administration of the empire as tasked which used to take just hours could not take weeks.

With with the Antigonids
Spying an opportunity for westward expansion, Antiochos declared war on the Antigonds. He positioned himself on the northern border with the intention of invading Phrygia proper himself, leaving the occupation of Phoenicia to his generals. Unexpectedly, the Antigonids signed a disadvantages peace with the Ptolomies and moved their, larger than expected, armies north to face the Seleukid threat. The defeat of a Seleukid army at Kadasa forced Antiochos to abandon his plans on Phrygia and march south to meet the Antigonids. A series of indecisive engagements followed, which -even though superiour on the battlefield- threatened to overwhelm Antiochos by sheer weight of numbers -the army which had been mobilised to fight against the Ptolomies being significantly larger than expected. Antiochos hatched a plan for a decisive battle to be fought at Maked, hoping to eliminate the whole Antigonid army in one fell swoop. The plan failed, and although heavy casaulties were inflicted on the Antigonid forces, he had was forced to withdraw to northern Syria. Disunity amongst the Antigonid allies prevented them from fully capitalising on their victory, allowing Antiochos to salvage the Seleukid position at Seleukobelos the following year. He would however die a few weeks later, throwing the Seleukid armies in disarray. Seleukos II favoured a quick peace deal, but the Antigonid pyrrhic victory at Apameia Orontou convinced him to pursue the war to its succesfull conclusion.

Administration of the Empire
Antiochos, having inherited a conqueror's empire, expanded significant effort to organise and streamline the bureaucracy of his empire, investing in civic infrastructure, new cities, as well as centralising the empire's administration in the major cities. Following his success of tying Mardiene to his rule by investment in agriculture, he expanded his agricultural programs to Mesopotamia.

However while he worked to strengthen central administation, some satrapies located far from the capital, such as Bactria, started asserting their own independence.

Antiochos later reign was characterised by bumper crops due to excellent weather which resulted in an unrivalled population growth. This would however prove to be a problem for his successors, who had to feed the increased population in far less favourable weather.

Foreign relations
During Antiochos' reign the tribes of the Scythian steppes became restless. In 270s BC a Roxolanian horde invaded Parthia and continue to ravish Seleukid lands for nearly ten years. While the Parnia tribal chief Some Ytarim managed to unite the Dahae tribes making use of religious omens of falling stars in the south.

Antiochos' foreign policy was restrained during the beginning of his reigh, having to focus on establishing his legitimacy at home. However when his reign was secured he developed an opportunist foreign policy, first supporting -some would say instigating- a civil war in Maurya to regain the eastern satrapies, and soon after he would launch his own invasion of the Antigonid Empire while they were occupied with war with the Ptolomies.