Nearly twenty years of exile from Egypt did little to improve the mood of Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II Physcon ("Potbelly" or "The Fatty"), and upon his return in 145 he unleashed a wave of violence and terror against his enemies. Family was not spared either, as he orchestrated the murder of his own flesh and blood on multiple occasions, and forcibly took his niece Cleopatra III as his second wife alongside her mother Cleopatra II. Through his machinations, a heated rivalry between mother and daughter led to a civil war starting in 132, driving Ptolemy and Cleopatra III out of Egypt while leaving Cleopatra II as sole queen.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2026/06/19/122-ptolemaic-egypt-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fatty/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/122-ptolemaic-egypt-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fatty-transcript.pdf)

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Demetrius' disastrous campaign against the Parthians meant that the Seleucid Empire was on its last legs. The only man capable of bringing the realm back together was his brother, Antiochus VII Sidetes, who managed to slay the pretender Diodotus Tryphon and subdue the new Hasmonean high priest John Hyrcanus. With the Parthian kingdom in the hands of the inexperienced Phraates II, Antiochus gambled everything on a final anabasis in 130 B.C. to recover Babylonia and restore the empire to its former glory.

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2026/05/26/122-the-seleucid-empire-the-man-they-called-sidetes/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/121-the-seleucid-empire-the-man-they-called-sidetes-transcript.pdf)

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The death of both Alexander Balas and Ptolemy VI in 145 meant that the throne belonged to Demetrius II Nicator. Yet another round of civil war would soon follow Demetrius' increasingly unpopular reign, as the official Diodotus Tryphon would endorse the infant Antiochus VI Dionysius as king, before proclaiming himself one too. The Hasmoneans in Judea hoped to leverage the situation to their advantage until the death of Jonathan Apphus, who was replaced by his brother Simon Thassi as High Priest. Such instability in Syria allowed the Parthian ruler Mithridates I to conquer Babylonia in 141, forcing Demetrius to make a desperate attempt to reclaim the Upper Satrapies before his empire crumbled around him.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2026/05/05/120-the-seleucid-empire-writing-on-the-wall/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/120-the-seleucid-empire-writing-on-the-wall-transcript-1.pdf)

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As Rome consolidated the Mediterranean under their hegemony, the Parthians were poised to overrun Iran and Mesopotamia. Leading a small tribe from the steppes during the mid-third century B.C., the Arsacid dynasty established themselves as vassal-rulers in the Seleucid Empire, but the turmoil in Syria during the second century allowed the Arsacids to challenge the Seleucids for mastery over the Hellenistic Middle East. In this episode, we chronicle the origins of the Parthian Empire from its foundation to the reign of Mithridates I, exploring how the Arsacids forged a realm that they would oversee for nearly five hundred years.

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2026/04/14/119-the-rise-of-the-parthian-empire-from-arsaces-to-mithridates-i/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/119-the-rise-of-the-parthian-empire-from-arsaces-to-mithridates-i-transcript.pdf)

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Andriscus' defeat in Macedonia was not enough to quell the troubles of Greece, as the Achaean League was also on the warpath. The relationship between Rome and the League since 167 had mostly been amicable, though not without controversy, and the more hawkish Achaeans looked to assert their autonomy by campaigning against the Spartans. This the Senate could not tolerate, and through the brief Achaean War and sack of Corinth in 146, the Romans made it clear that only they would be the ones to determine the destiny of Greece.

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2026/03/25/118-graecia-capta-the-roman-conquest-of-greece/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/118-graecia-capta-the-roman-conquest-of-greece-transcript.pdf)

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Fifteen years after the last Antigonid ruler was deposed and the Macedonian kingdom abolished, a man by the name of Philip VI Andriscus claimed to be the lost heir of King Perseus. Though perceived as a charlatan, Andriscus gathered enough support to invade Macedonia in 150 and re-establish the monarchy. The brief Fourth Macedonian War (150-148) demanded the Senate's intervention, in turn leading to the establishment of a permanent Roman presence in the homeland of Alexander the Great.

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2026/02/23/117-antigonid-macedon-the-vergina-sun-never-sets/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/117-antigonid-macedon-the-vergina-sun-never-sets-transcript.pdf)

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Though the Romans expected an easy fight, the Carthaginians put up a valiant defense of their city that dragged on for three years. With no progress being made, command is assigned to Scipio Aemilianus, the adopted grandson of the famed Scipio Africanus. Through his skilled generalship he finally achieves victory over Rome's Punic rivals, and the once-mighty nation that produced the likes of Hannibal Barca was destroyed nearly seven hundred years after its legendary foundation.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2026/02/08/116-the-third-punic-war-didos-lament/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/116-the-third-punic-war-didos-lament-transcript.pdf)

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“Carthage must be destroyed” – and with these words Cato the Elder doomed his North African rival by helping spark the Third Punic War, the last in a century of conflicts between Rome and Carthage. Deprived of its military in the aftermath of Zama and harassed by the Numidian king Massinissa, Carthage nevertheless managed to bounce back as an economic powerhouse during the first half of the second century B.C. Yet this recovery made the Senate suspicious of their Punic neighbor, which rapidly escalated into a war of annihilation as the Romans were determined to secure their position as sole master of the Mediterranean.

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2026/01/20/115-the-third-punic-war-delenda-est/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/115-the-third-punic-war-delenda-est-transcript.pdf)

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Starting from the early third century B.C., the Nabataean kingdom ruled over much of the Levant from the Sinai Peninsula to the Hejaz. Most known for their famous rose-colored capital city of Petra, the Nabataeans occupied a unique position within the eastern Mediterranean for nearly five hundred years, competing with the Hellenistic, Hasmonean, and Herodian kingdoms. Yet they also acted as a stabilizing force for the so-called "Incense Road", leaving behind brilliant rock-cut monuments like al-Khazneh ("The Treasury").

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/12/20/114-the-nabataean-kingdom/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/114-the-nabataean-kingdom-transcript.pdf)

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Civil war continues to grip the Seleucid Empire, as Alexander I Balas is challenged by the young Demetrius II for the throne of Syria. Things come to a head when Ptolemy VI, tied by marriage to Balas through his daughter Cleopatra Thea, launches an invasion of Coele Syria. In August 145 BC, the armies of Demetrius, Alexander, and Ptolemy meet at the Oenoparus River in a showdown whose outcome will surprise everyone involved.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/10/14/111-the-seleucid-empire-the-elephant-in-the-throne-room/)

Episode Transcript:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/113-the-war-of-the-three-kings-transcript.pdf)

Family Tree - Antiochus IV to Alexander I

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/reign-of-antiochus-iv-to-alexander-i.pdf)

Family Tree - Ptolemy VI

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/reign-of-ptolemy-vi.pdf)

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