Podcasts about Seleucus

Polyxenides plays hide and seek with his Rhodian rival Pausistratus, and Antiochus III teams up with his son- now crown prince Seleucus- to attack the city of Pergamon.Sources for this episode:Bevan, E. R. (1966), The House of Seleucus (Vol. II). New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc.Livy (1983), Rome and the Mediterranean. Translated by H. Bettensen. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Smith; W. (ed.) (1867), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. In Three Volumes (Vol. 1-3.). Boston: Little, Brown, And Company.

I sat down with the wonderful Dustin and Meredith from the Alexander Standard to discuss Seleucus I, the Seleucid dynasty and diverse other topics from the Hellenistic world. Expect tales of Seleucus I handing his wife off strategically, Ptolemy VIII chopping up family members and Scipio humiliating a pharaoh. Oh, and the collective decision that Antiochus VIII may have needed rhinoplasty.

These twelve holy Martyrs suffered in the reign of Diocletian.   "The first of these, Pamphilius, was priest in the church at Caesarea in Palestine; a learned and devout man, he corrected the mistakes of various copiers in the text of the New Testament. He himself copied this saving Book and gave it to any who desired it. The second was a deacon, Valentine, old in years and white with wisdom. He was a great expert in the Holy Scriptures, knowing them by heart. The third was Paul, a respected and eminent man, who had on a previous occasion been cast into the fire for the sake of Christ. With them were five Egyptians, brothers both in blood and soul, who were returning to their native land from serving a sentence in the mines of Cilicia. As they reached the gate of the town of Caesarea they said that they were Christians, and were therefore brought to trial. When asked their names, they replied: 'We have cast away the pagan names given us by our mother, and are called Elias, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Samuel and Daniel.' when asked where they were from, they replied: 'From Jerusalem that is above.' They were all beheaded, and a young man called Porphyrius, who had searched for their bodies to give them burial, suffered soon afterwards. Him they burned. An officer, Seleucus, who had come up to the martyrs and embraced them before the sword descended on their heads, was also burned, and an old man, Theodulus, a servant of the Roman judge, who had embraced one of the martyrs while they were under escort. Lastly Julian, who had kissed the dead bodies of the martyrs and honoured them, followed them in death. So they exchanged the small for the greater, the tawdry for the precious and death for immortality, and went to the Lord in 308." (Prologue)   The Synaxarion concludes, "After the martyrdom of Pamphilius, the leader of the glorious cohort, the impious governor gave orders that his body and those of his companions should be left where they lay as food for carnivorous animals. However by God's Providence, no animal came near their holy relics, which the Christians were able to lay to rest with due honour." The account of these Martyrs was written by Eusebius of Caeserea, Pamphilius' disciple.

Back again after what feels like a confusingly short amount of time. Seleucus III has no son to succeed him, making him the first king since his great-great-grandfather without a direct heir. So, let's put Seleucus III behind us... This episode draws upon material from previous episodes.

Adieu to Seleucus II- but not quite just yet. Before we pass the torch on to the next generation, we will spend some time looking at how far we've come since 246 BCE and giving Seleucus his well-deserved epithet. In terms of sources, this episode is based on episodes 47 to 63 inclusive.

It's never easy coming up with your own origin story, and the ascendant Hellenistic dynasties tried their best to justify their legitimacy in an age of shifting alliances. PhD candidate Angus Jacobson joins the show to discuss the "Flight of Seleucus" story presented to us by Libanius of Antioch (314-392 A.D.), offering insights as to how the Successors used (or manipulated) events in their royal propaganda, and the challenges of separating fact from fiction. Episode Notes: (https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2024/07/30/interview-the-flight-of-seleucus-and-dynastic-propaganda-with-angus-jacobson/) Social Media: Twitter (https://twitter.com/HellenisticPod) Facebook (www.facebook.com/hellenisticagepodcast/) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/hellenistic_age_podcast/) Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/hellenisticagepodcast) Show Merchandise: Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/HellenisticAgePod) Redbubble (https://www.redbubble.com/people/HellenisticPod/shop?asc=u) Donations: Patreon (https://patreon.com/TheHellenisticAgePodcast) Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/hellenisticagepodcast) Amazon Book Wish List (https://tinyurl.com/vfw6ask)

Attalus of Pergamon seems to have become enough an issue that Seleucus is trying to stabilise Syria ahead of an incursion. It's time to mete out some Seleucid wrath to Anatolia- or is it...? Sources for this episode: Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus (Vol. I). London: Edward Arthur.  Grainger, J. D., (2014), The Rise of the Seleukid Empire (323- 223 BCE), Seleukos I to Seleukos III. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd. (eBook). Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Seleucus II Callinicus (online) (Accessed 28/03/2024).

Matthew 24:15 (ESV)Daniel 10:14 (ESV)Daniel 11:2 (ESV)1. Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, or Xerxes (Esther's Husband)Ezra 4:6 (ESV)AlexanderDaniel 11:3-4 (ESV)The 4 windsMacedon and Greece went to CassanderThrace and Asia Minor went to LysimachusSyria and Babylon went to SeleucusJudah and Egypt went to PtolemyThe City of TyreEzekiel 26:1-7 (ESV)Antiochus III the Great: takes the throne at 18Daniel 11:10-12 (ESV)Daniel 11:13-14 (ESV)Daniel 11:17 (ESV)Daniel 11:18-20 (ESV)4. Antiochus EphiphiniesDaniel 11:21-27 (ESV)Daniel 11:28-30 (ESV)5. Anti-ChristDaniel 11:35-45 (ESV)Daniel 12:1 (ESV)Holy SpiritPsalm 2:1-5 (ESV)GodPsalm 2:6 (ESV)JesusPsalm 2:7 (ESV)GodPsalm 2:8 (ESV)Holy SpiritPsalm 2:10-12 (ESV)

Seleucus may have been losing territory around the edges, but life in the centre of the empire is no bed of roses either. The moral of the story? If you're a Seleucid royal, rejecting a proposal by your aunt may have consequences... Sources for this episode:  Grainger, J. D., (2014), The Rise of the Seleukid Empire (323- 223 BCE), Seleukos I to Seleukos III. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd. (eBook). Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Demetrius II Aetolicus (online) (Accessed 28/03/2024). Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Nicomedes II of Bithynia (online) (Accessed 28/03/2024). Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Nicomedes III of Bithynia (online) (Accessed 28/03/2024). Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Nicomedes IV of Bithynia (online) (Accessed 28/03/2024). Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Prusias I of Bithynia (online) (Accessed 28/03/2024). Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Prusias II of Bithynia (online) (Accessed 28/03/2024).

Seleucus is beginning to head out eastwards again- somewhere we haven't been for a long time. Let's familiarise ourselves with Andragoras, governor of Parthia, and the Parsi who we last discussed in episode 42... Sources for this episode: Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus (Vol. I). London: Edward Arthur. Broderson, K. (1986), The Date of the Secession of Parthia from the Seleucid Kingdom. Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 35(3): 378-381. Dobbins, K. W. (1974), Mithridates II and his Successors: A Study of the Parthian Crisis 90-70 B.C. Antichthon 8: 63-79. The Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica (2024), Andragoras (online) (Accessed 04/03/2024). Grainger, J. D., (2014), The Rise of the Seleukid Empire (323- 223 BCE), Seleukos I to Seleukos III. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd. (eBook). Lendering, J., Livius (2018, last changed 2020), Arsaces II (online) (Accessed 04/03/2024). Lendering, J., Livius (2018, last changed 2020), Arsaces III Phriapatius (online) (Accessed 04/03/2024). Olbrycht, M. J. (2014), The genealogy of Artabanos II (AD 8/9- 39/40), King of Parthia. Miscellanea Antrhopologica et Sociologica 15(3): 92-97. Rawlinson, G. (1871), A Manual of Ancient History, From the Earliest Times to the Fall of the Western Empire. Comprising the History of Chaldea, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Lydia, Phoenicia, Syria, Judaea, Egypt, Carthage, Persia, Greece, Macedonia, Parthia, and Rome. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers. Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Andragoras (Seleucid satrap) (online) (Accessed 04/03/2024). Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Priapatius (online) (Accessed 04/03/2024).

After Hierax evicted Seleucus from Anatolia, the peninsula descended into chaos. But one of the monarchs of the Hellenistic period would not stand for that. It's time for Attalus I of Pergamon to step up to the plate... Sources for this episode: Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus (Vol. I). London: Edward Arthur. Grainger, J. D., (2014), The Rise of the Seleukid Empire (323- 223 BCE), Seleukos I to Seleukos III. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd. (eBook). Norwich, J. J. (2013), A Short History of Byzantium. London: The Penguin Group. Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Attalus I (online) (Accessed 29/02/2024). Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Kingdom of Pergamon (online) (Accessed 01/03/2024).

About the King's Business Daniel 8:1-27 by William Klock The books of 1 and 2 Maccabees in the Apocrypha detail the persecution of the Jews in the mid-160s BC, during the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.  2 Maccabees 6, for example, tells how “the king sent an Athenian senator to compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their ancestors and no longer to live by the laws of God; also to pollute the temple in Jerusalem and to call it the temple of Olympian Zeus” (6:1-2).  The gentiles used the temple of God for their orgies and drunken banquets.  Antiochus desecrated the alter with the sacrifice of a pig.  On holidays the king's men would round up Jews and force them to participate in his parades and sacrifices.  Those who refused to participate or who were caught living by torah were killed.  Two women, for example, were caught having circumcised their baby boys.  Their babies were tied around their necks as the women were paraded through the streets to the wall of the city and then thrown down it to their deaths.  Faithful Jews who were caught secretly observing the sabbath in a nearby network of caves were burned alive.  2 Maccabees 7 tells the story of seven brothers and their mother, who were threatened with torture to eat pork.  Despite being beaten, they refused. The king fell into a rage, and gave orders to have pans and caldrons heated. These were heated immediately, and he commanded that the tongue of their spokesman be cut out and that they scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of the brothers and the mother looked on. When he was utterly helpless, the king ordered them to take him to the fire, still breathing, and to fry him in a pan. The smoke from the pan spread widely, but the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die nobly, saying, “The Lord God is watching over us and in truth has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his song that bore witness against the people to their faces, when he said, ‘And he will have compassion on his servants.'” (2 Maccabees 7:3-6) The king went on to do the same to the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh brothers who all refused.  We read that: The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Although she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. She encouraged each of them in the language of their ancestors. Filled with a noble spirit, she reinforced her woman's reasoning with a man's courage, and said to them, “I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of humankind and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws.” (2 Maccabees s7:20-23) She stood firm—and so did her sons—because they hoped in the Lord.  They knew that he is the Lord of history.  They knew his goodness.  They knew his faithfulness.  They knew their story and how it was interwoven with the story of the faithfulness of the God of Israel, and so even as they were brutally murdered by a mad king, they trusted in him.  Daniel was written for these people.  The stories in the first half of the book show Daniel and his friends standing firm for the Lord during the Babylonian exile, but the dreams and visions in the second are situated right in the middle of those days of violent persecution four centuries later.  That's what we see now as we come to Chapter 8 and to Daniel's second vision.  Let's start with verse 1 and read through to the end. In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal. I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.   As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.   Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. It grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them. It became great, even as great as the Prince of the host. And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, “For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?” And he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.”   When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.”   And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand. The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.”   And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king's business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.   Another vision during the reign of the blasphemous king Belshazzar.  In his ways, he foreshadows the evils of Antiochus Epiphanes.  But as the first vision revealed, the days of Babylon were soon to be over, so this vision whisks Daniel hundreds of kilometres to the east, to Susa, which would become the capital of the Persian empire.  And there he sees another animal, this time a ram.  This is another clue as to when the book was written.  The ram as a sign of the zodiac was associated with Persia—not in Daniel's day, but in the time of the Greeks. The symbolism of Daniel 7 was difficult and there's a fair bit of disagreement about what it all means, but not so much with Daniel 8.  This vision is simpler and the explanation pretty straightforward.  Most everyone agrees on the major points.  So it begins with a ram representing the combined empire of the Medes and the Persians—those are the two horns, one bigger than the other.  Horns, in ancient imagery, represent strength.  The Medes were strong, but the Persians eventually become stronger and gobbled them up and so Daniel sees the ram, lowering its head, and charging from the east into the north and into the south and into the west—which is exactly what the Persian empire did, until it controlled the known world, even as far as Greece.  Daniel writes that the ram did as it pleased and became strong.  It's the way of human empires. But as the ram reaches the peak of its power, Daniel sees a goat appear in the west.  It helps to know that in the biblical mind, the goat was stronger and more powerful than the ram.  This goat had a single horn and it made its way across the land so fast it might have been flying for all it seemed to touch the earth.  It put its head down and charged the mighty ram and shattered both its powerful horns.  In case the symbolism wasn't already obvious, the angel explains that the goat is Greece.  The jutting horn is Alexander the Great. Alexander was the son of Philip II, King of Macedon.  He was tutored by Aristotle and assumed the throne when his father died in 336 BC.  He was only twenty years old.  By the age of thirty he had conquered the known world, from Greece in the west to India in the East, from Central Asia in the north to Egypt in the south.  And then, in 323 BC, still a young man, Alexander died of a fever in Babylon.  For twenty years his generals fought over his empire, eventually carving it up into four kingdoms, which Daniel sees as four horns.  The two relevant ones for the Jews were that of Seleucus who controlled Syria and the east, and Ptolemy, who controlled Egypt and Palestine. But this is all the background to the most important part of the vision.  Out of those Greek successor kingdoms arises another horn.  He isn't named, but as the details of the first horn obviously point to Alexander, the details of this new horn point very obviously to Antiochus IV Epiphanes.  In the great sweep of history, Antiochus was hardly the greatest of the Greek kings, but when he defeated the Egyptian Ptolemies and took control of Judah he became very important to the Jews.  The Ptolemies had treated the Jews well and allowed them to govern themselves as a sort of religous state as long as the high priest coughed up the annual taxes.  Antiochus, however, wanted to make good Greeks of the Jews and to get his hands on the temple treasury.  Under his rule the priesthood was bought and sold and eventually observance of torah was outlawed and torah scrolls burned.  God's worship in the temple was ended and it was turned into a temple to Olympian Zeus.  And Antiochus murdered faithful Jews by the tens of thousands. In Daniel's vision, Antiochus takes the form of this great horn that rises up against heaven itself.  These verses, especially 12-13, are difficult.  Just when I was glad to leave the Aramaic of chapters 2-7 behind, here come these verses that I can only describe as a Hebrew word salad.  The Hebrew of Daniel is something else that points to it having been written in the Second Century, because it's not written in the great literary Hebrew of Daniel's day, but in a sort of clunky Hebrew that looks a lot like it was written by someone who probably spoke Aramaic as a first language.  But that's okay.  The gist of Daniel's vision is that Antiochus, in going up against the temple and the priesthood, was really shaking his fist at the God of Israel.  This little earthly king who called himself “Epiphanies”—the manifestation of God—was pitting himself against the living God, the Lord of history, the one the Babylonian kings had had the good sense to acknowledge as God Most High.  That never ends well. And yet, for a time, the mad king seems to have won.  Israel's identity was centred on the temple.  That was the place where heaven and earth, where God and man met.  They were the holy people who lived with God in their midst.  And not only did Antiochus do his best to make sure they broke their end of the covenant with God by preventing them from keeping his law, but he suspended the very sacrifices that acknowledged God's presence in the temple.  He wanted the Jews to live like good Greeks and when they insisted on living like Jews, he banished their God from his temple and set up an altar to Zeus.  Judah was now his land.  Their God was gone, so they had no reason to obey his law.  Of course, the Jews knew better.  Like that mother and her seven sons in 2 Maccabees, they knew the faithfulness of the God of the Israel and they knew that no puny human king could blaspheme against him forever.  But, for a time, he would seem to have won the day.  According to Daniel's vision, for 2300 evenings and mornings the temple would be desolate.  That's a reference to the morning and evening sacrifices that were—or were supposed to be—made every day.  The sacrifices that Antiochus suspended.  Depending on how you parse this detail out, it's either about three years and three months or it's about six years and six months.  Most people tend to go with the three years, which corresponds closely to the time when Antiochus had suspended the worship of the Lord in the temple.  But the six-and-a-half years works too, if you count back to when the high priest was deposed.  Either way, we know what the vision represents.  And either way and for whatever reason, it's not an exact number, which means it may also be symbolic—we just can't be sure exactly how.  However we parse out the number, the important point is that the Lord has numbered these evil days. And that's the point I want to close on.  Too often we get fixated on numbers and on fixing dates and end up missing the point.  We do it with books like Daniel.  We do it with books like Revelation.  We do it with the prophets and with the apocalyptic discourses of Jesus.  It's nothing new.  Christians have been setting dates for over a thousand years and whenever we do, we seem to end up distracted from the gospel mission we've been given.  Often it ends with the creation of schismatic sects and cults.  William Miller, for example, worked out from these 2300 evening and mornings that Jesus would return in 1843.  His argument convinced a lot of people (and it helped that he threw in plenty of “God has told mes”).  Of course, it didn't happen so he adjusted his formula, admitted a small error, and corrected the date to 1844.  That didn't happen either.  But his followers had given up everything and then many of them walked away and became jaded.  They called it the “Great Disappointment”.  But, still, to this day Miller has his ardent followers.  They're the Seventh Day Adventists and believe that it really did happen in 1843, and that it wasn't about Jesus returning to the earth, but that Jesus on that date entered the heavenly temple to begin is work of judging souls in anticipation of his return. And many of us remember Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth that became a sensation in the 1970s.  Lindsey made a point of not setting an exact date, but he wasn't shy about saying things like the 1980's would probably be the earth's last decade.  It motivated some people to become missionaries, but it motivated lots of other people to abandon their jobs, their families, and to run up massive credit card debt because they were convinced that in a year or two none of it would matter.  In more recent years we've had similar predictions made about “blood moons” and the like.  Christian bookstores were filled books about the imminent return of Jesus and end of the world.  People were, once again, all worked up about the end of the world and, once again, nothing happened. Again, we too often forget the point of passages like this one in Daniel 8.  Even if we could estimate or even set a date by it, the point is that God is in control and, because of that, we have every reason to stand firm in the midst of trials and persecution, knowing that God will vindicate us in the same way that he has vindicated his people in the past and, especially for us as Christians, in the same way that he vindicated his son when he raised him from death.  Daniel 8—and so many other passages—remind us first and foremost that God is sovereign.  No matter how it seems, history is not random.  No matter how much they may shake their fists at the heavens, no king is outside the sovereign will of God.  No matter how much we may abuse our God-given liberty, every one of us will be held to account.  Sin and evil will not go on forever.  God is judge, one day he will deal with sin and death once and for all, and eventually all of creation will be to rights—including us.  And we know that this will happen, we believe, we have hope, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  At the cross God did the hard part needed to set the world to rights.  At the cross Jesus won the decisive battle and one day the war will be over when we, the church, his people, have accomplished the work he has given.  He has equipped us with his own Spirit and sends us out to proclaim the life giving and renewing good news of his death and resurrection.  And for two thousand years, that good news has driven away the false gods of the pagans and brought kings and their people to their knees before Jesus and to give glory to the God of Israel.  Brothers and Sisters, date-setting, goofy predictions, and eschatological paranoia do nothing to witness the sovereignty of the Lord of history.  They do just the opposite and they undermine our witness.  They make Christians look foolish and the scriptures untrustworthy.  Our mission is to proclaim the gospel, because in Jesus and in his death and resurrection, that is where the world meets the living God and knows his faithfulness. And that brings me to the final point.  Look again at verse 27 and Daniel's response.  The vision left him troubled.  He even lay sick in his bed for “some days”.  He was in some sense dismayed because he didn't fully understand it.  But what did he do?  He says that he arose and went about the king's business.  Brothers and Sisters, the prophecies and apocalypses that the Spirit has given us in the scripture were never meant to send us out in a panic or a frenzy, they weren't given to have us abandon our earthly responsibilities because the world is coming to an end.  They were given to us to remind us that God is sovereign, that he will judge the wicked, and that he will vindicate his people for their faithfulness.  So be faithful.  The Lord had placed Daniel in a position of authority in the court of the king of Babylon.  That pagan court was soon to fall.  That pagan king was soon to die.  But the Lord had put Daniel in that position for a reason and so he went faithfully back to his work.  The same goes for each of us.  The Lord has put us where we are for a reason.  Be a faithful husband and father or a faithful wife and mother knowing that the Lord is sovereign.  Be faithful in your vocation, whatever it may be, however mundane it may seem.  Be faithful to your earthly obligations: to your family, to your business, to your school, to your church, to your club, to your friends, to your debts, to your country knowing that the Lord has placed you where you are.  That is, after all, the King's business.  This witness to our trust in the sovereignty of God is the foundation that undergirds our greater witness to Jesus and the gospel.  It is what prepares us to stand firm should the day come when we find ourselves forced to choose between obedience to an earthly king and obedience to our heavenly King.  May we stand firm like the saints of old and declare with the mother of those seven martyred sons, “The Lord God is watching over us and in truth has compassion on us.” Let's pray: Almighty God, look with mercy on your people; that by your great goodness we may be always governed and preserved both in body and soul, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

These twelve holy Martyrs suffered in the reign of Diocletian.   "The first of these, Pamphilius, was priest in the church at Caesarea in Palestine; a learned and devout man, he corrected the mistakes of various copiers in the text of the New Testament. He himself copied this saving Book and gave it to any who desired it. The second was a deacon, Valentine, old in years and white with wisdom. He was a great expert in the Holy Scriptures, knowing them by heart. The third was Paul, a respected and eminent man, who had on a previous occasion been cast into the fire for the sake of Christ. With them were five Egyptians, brothers both in blood and soul, who were returning to their native land from serving a sentence in the mines of Cilicia. As they reached the gate of the town of Caesarea they said that they were Christians, and were therefore brought to trial. When asked their names, they replied: 'We have cast away the pagan names given us by our mother, and are called Elias, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Samuel and Daniel.' when asked where they were from, they replied: 'From Jerusalem that is above.' They were all beheaded, and a young man called Porphyrius, who had searched for their bodies to give them burial, suffered soon afterwards. Him they burned. An officer, Seleucus, who had come up to the martyrs and embraced them before the sword descended on their heads, was also burned, and an old man, Theodulus, a servant of the Roman judge, who had embraced one of the martyrs while they were under escort. Lastly Julian, who had kissed the dead bodies of the martyrs and honoured them, followed them in death. So they exchanged the small for the greater, the tawdry for the precious and death for immortality, and went to the Lord in 308." (Prologue)   The Synaxarion concludes, "After the martyrdom of Pamphilius, the leader of the glorious cohort, the impious governor gave orders that his body and those of his companions should be left where they lay as food for carnivorous animals. However by God's Providence, no animal came near their holy relics, which the Christians were able to lay to rest with due honour." The account of these Martyrs was written by Eusebius of Caeserea, Pamphilius' disciple.

These twelve holy Martyrs suffered in the reign of Diocletian.   "The first of these, Pamphilius, was priest in the church at Caesarea in Palestine; a learned and devout man, he corrected the mistakes of various copiers in the text of the New Testament. He himself copied this saving Book and gave it to any who desired it. The second was a deacon, Valentine, old in years and white with wisdom. He was a great expert in the Holy Scriptures, knowing them by heart. The third was Paul, a respected and eminent man, who had on a previous occasion been cast into the fire for the sake of Christ. With them were five Egyptians, brothers both in blood and soul, who were returning to their native land from serving a sentence in the mines of Cilicia. As they reached the gate of the town of Caesarea they said that they were Christians, and were therefore brought to trial. When asked their names, they replied: 'We have cast away the pagan names given us by our mother, and are called Elias, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Samuel and Daniel.' when asked where they were from, they replied: 'From Jerusalem that is above.' They were all beheaded, and a young man called Porphyrius, who had searched for their bodies to give them burial, suffered soon afterwards. Him they burned. An officer, Seleucus, who had come up to the martyrs and embraced them before the sword descended on their heads, was also burned, and an old man, Theodulus, a servant of the Roman judge, who had embraced one of the martyrs while they were under escort. Lastly Julian, who had kissed the dead bodies of the martyrs and honoured them, followed them in death. So they exchanged the small for the greater, the tawdry for the precious and death for immortality, and went to the Lord in 308." (Prologue)   The Synaxarion concludes, "After the martyrdom of Pamphilius, the leader of the glorious cohort, the impious governor gave orders that his body and those of his companions should be left where they lay as food for carnivorous animals. However by God's Providence, no animal came near their holy relics, which the Christians were able to lay to rest with due honour." The account of these Martyrs was written by Eusebius of Caeserea, Pamphilius' disciple.

Friday after Ash Wednesday Saint of the Day: St. Daniel; lived in the Third and Fourth Centuries; he and four companions, Elias, Isaias, Jeremy and Samuel were Egyptians who visited Christians condemned to work in the mines of Cilicia during Maximus' persecution; they were arrested at the gates of Caesaria, Palestine, accused of being Christians, and beheaded; Porphyry, a servant of St. Pamphilus demanded that the bodies be buried, and he was tortured and then burned to death when it was found he was a Christian; Seleucus witnessed his death and applauded his constancy in the face of his terrible death; whereupon he was arrested and beheaded; St. Daniel and his companions died in 309 A.D. Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 2/16/24 Gospel: Mark 9:14-15

The title of this episode says it all. Today, we're going to be dealing with the fate of Antioch once Ptolemy III comes strolling over. Plus, we'll finally get to move Seleucus around a bit and see some divine justice being doled out by the weather system... Sources for this episode: Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus (Vol. I). London: Edward Arthur (eBook). Grainger, J. D. (2014), The Rise of the Seleukid Empire (323- 223 BCE), Seleukos I to Seleukos III. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd. (eBook). Rosenberg, A. M., Rausser, S., Ren, J., Mosharov, E. V., Sturm, G., Odgon, R. T., Patel, P., Soni, R. K., Lacefield, C., Tobin, D. J., Paus, R. and Picard, M. (2021), Quantitative mapping of human hair greying and reversal in relation to life stress. eLife 10: e67437. Watson, J. S. (1853), on Attalus (date unknown), Justinus: Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories (online) (Accessed 23/10/2023). Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Xanthippus (Spartan commander) (online) (Accessed 21/11/2023).

Here is a bonus, sneak peak of Western Civ 2.0. In my Patreon feed, we hit the proverbial reset button and start from scratch. The episodes are more detailed but the storytelling is the same. This is the principal way I support the show. Patreon offers a variety of options for support running as low as $1 per month. There is also a free trial wherein you check it out for a week free of charge.In this episode, I wrap up the Wars of the Successors. Alexander the Great's death in 323 BCE shattered his empire before it had the chance to get up and going. Ptolemy, Seleucus, and a slew of others fought over the remains until Rome gobbled it all up. Patreon FeedWebsiteThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5553835/advertisement

The Seleucids // After Alexander's death, Ptolemy and Seleucus emerged as successors. The Ptolemies Hellenized conquered lands, including Palestine, leading to tensions with orthodox Jews. Antiochus Epiphanes later tried to force Greek culture on Judea, sparking conflict.

We discuss how Seleucus managed to win the "funeral games" after the death of Alexander the Great, and found the biggest empire of his time: the Seleucid dynasty.

The empire is reeling from the death of Antiochus the Great and his son Seleucus now in charge. He will have to stabilize the empire from within and find foreign allies, that and deal with the Romans. You can find all the images on our website! https://soyouthinkyoucanrulepersia.wordpress.com/2023/02/19/27-seleucus-iv-philopator/ For tickets to our live event with History of Persia go to moment.co/historyofpersia

These twelve holy Martyrs suffered in the reign of Diocletian.   "The first of these, Pamphilius, was priest in the church at Caesarea in Palestine; a learned and devout man, he corrected the mistakes of various copiers in the text of the New Testament. He himself copied this saving Book and gave it to any who desired it. The second was a deacon, Valentine, old in years and white with wisdom. He was a great expert in the Holy Scriptures, knowing them by heart. The third was Paul, a respected and eminent man, who had on a previous occasion been cast into the fire for the sake of Christ. With them were five Egyptians, brothers both in blood and soul, who were returning to their native land from serving a sentence in the mines of Cilicia. As they reached the gate of the town of Caesarea they said that they were Christians, and were therefore brought to trial. When asked their names, they replied: 'We have cast away the pagan names given us by our mother, and are called Elias, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Samuel and Daniel.' when asked where they were from, they replied: 'From Jerusalem that is above.' They were all beheaded, and a young man called Porphyrius, who had searched for their bodies to give them burial, suffered soon afterwards. Him they burned. An officer, Seleucus, who had come up to the martyrs and embraced them before the sword descended on their heads, was also burned, and an old man, Theodulus, a servant of the Roman judge, who had embraced one of the martyrs while they were under escort. Lastly Julian, who had kissed the dead bodies of the martyrs and honoured them, followed them in death. So they exchanged the small for the greater, the tawdry for the precious and death for immortality, and went to the Lord in 308." (Prologue)   The Synaxarion concludes, "After the martyrdom of Pamphilius, the leader of the glorious cohort, the impious governor gave orders that his body and those of his companions should be left where they lay as food for carnivorous animals. However by God's Providence, no animal came near their holy relics, which the Christians were able to lay to rest with due honour." The account of these Martyrs was written by Eusebius of Caeserea, Pamphilius' disciple.

These twelve holy Martyrs suffered in the reign of Diocletian.   "The first of these, Pamphilius, was priest in the church at Caesarea in Palestine; a learned and devout man, he corrected the mistakes of various copiers in the text of the New Testament. He himself copied this saving Book and gave it to any who desired it. The second was a deacon, Valentine, old in years and white with wisdom. He was a great expert in the Holy Scriptures, knowing them by heart. The third was Paul, a respected and eminent man, who had on a previous occasion been cast into the fire for the sake of Christ. With them were five Egyptians, brothers both in blood and soul, who were returning to their native land from serving a sentence in the mines of Cilicia. As they reached the gate of the town of Caesarea they said that they were Christians, and were therefore brought to trial. When asked their names, they replied: 'We have cast away the pagan names given us by our mother, and are called Elias, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Samuel and Daniel.' when asked where they were from, they replied: 'From Jerusalem that is above.' They were all beheaded, and a young man called Porphyrius, who had searched for their bodies to give them burial, suffered soon afterwards. Him they burned. An officer, Seleucus, who had come up to the martyrs and embraced them before the sword descended on their heads, was also burned, and an old man, Theodulus, a servant of the Roman judge, who had embraced one of the martyrs while they were under escort. Lastly Julian, who had kissed the dead bodies of the martyrs and honoured them, followed them in death. So they exchanged the small for the greater, the tawdry for the precious and death for immortality, and went to the Lord in 308." (Prologue)   The Synaxarion concludes, "After the martyrdom of Pamphilius, the leader of the glorious cohort, the impious governor gave orders that his body and those of his companions should be left where they lay as food for carnivorous animals. However by God's Providence, no animal came near their holy relics, which the Christians were able to lay to rest with due honour." The account of these Martyrs was written by Eusebius of Caeserea, Pamphilius' disciple.

From the smoldering ashes of the empire rises a new young dynamic king. Seleucus III has one task in mind and that is retaking Anatolia once and for all. You can find all the images on our website! https://soyouthinkyoucanrulepersia.wordpress.com/2023/02/05/25-seleucus-iii-ceraunus/

So Antiochus II left a right mess and now his three sons are going to have to figure out who gets to succeed. Follow Seleucus II as he balances the concerns of his own family with the Ptolemies while the thundering of hoofs makes itself heard in the east. You can find all the images on our website! https://soyouthinkyoucanrulepersia.wordpress.com/2023/01/29/24-seleucus-ii-callinicus/

Roman Parallel - Marius (157-86 BC)Important PeopleDemetrius (337-283) - Neighbor and even, for a time, brother-in-law. Son of Antigonus I and father of Antigonus II, Demetrius rules in Greece, Macedon (for seven years), Asia Minor but was ultimately conquered by Seleucus and imprisoned until he died of his own drinking habit.Cassander (355-297) - Son of Antipater, who had served as regent of Macedon during Alexander's campaigns and later served as regent after the death of Perdiccas, he did not inherit the Macedonian throne from his father but had to fight Polyperchon for it. He conquers Greece as well and, most infamously, ends the charade of the successors serving as satraps to a regent by killing the young Alexander IV and his mother and grandmother, Olympias.Ptolemy I Soter (367-282) - The stable successor to Alexander who carves out Egypt (305 BC) for himself and founds a dynasty that rules Egypt from the prosperous port of Alexandria until Julius Caesar's arrival. Ptolemy also strategic in his dynastic alliances to stave off further wars.Cineas - Philosopher and orator, Cineas acts as a foil to Pyrrhus's reckless moving from hope to hope. In the midpoint of this life, he attempts to help Pyrrhus think through why he should be driven from conquest to conquest and provides reflection on Pyrrhus's accomplishments. Nevertheless, the philosopher accompanies him on all Pyrrhus's expeditions.Fabricius - Our first direct encounters with Roman virtue. While not given his own biography, Fabricius looms large in contrast to Pyrrhus's vices. Fabricius is stable, cautious, and dependable where Pyrrhus is reckless, overly optimistic, and flighty.Important PlacesEpirus - Pyrrhus's birthplace and kingdom by right, inheritance, and conquest.Macedon - Neighboring kingdom to Epirus. Pyrrhus manages to win it and lose it without a fight. Rome - The new power in the Western Mediterranean, having risen even more recently than Carthage, now threatens the entire Italian peninsula, including the Greek-speaking colonies in the south. Tarentum - The colony that asks Pyrrhus for help, and then quickly comes to regret asking. Beneventum - The battle in which the Romans manage, not exactly to beat Pyrrhus, but to convince him that Italy won't be worth the fight. Key Vices and VirtuesExcessive Appetite for Conquest (πλεονεξία) - Not a vice in the Aristotelian canon, but one important to historians like Thucydides, who saw it as the root of the Athenian downfall. This Life becomes a meditation on knowign one's political limits and serving in the capacity one has been placed. The philosopher Cineas provides some of this perspective for us without being too heavy-handed.Justice - Once again ignored by most of Alexander's successors, we do se key aspects of it lived up to by the Romans. It is called the virtue of kings in this life and one philosopher observes that the Roman Senate strikes him as “An Assembly of Kings.” When Justice and Power are joined, Plutarch sees not only a properous state nor even just a stable situation, but a good government promoting virtue in its people. This life sets us up so well to enter into the Roman story, because Plutarch wants to remind even the Romans of their past virtues and encourage them to live up to those old virtues in the height of their power.Support the show

Sunday, 25 December 2022   But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. Acts 13:14   The previous verse spoke of Paul and those with him going to Perga. At that time John departed from them. Now, it continues, saying, “But when they departed from Perga.”   More literally, it reads, “And they, having passed through from Perga.” In other words, it is speaking of the area that is traversed between Perga and the next location. They left Perga, traveled through the land and “they came to Antioch in Pisidia.” Rather, it should read Antioch of Pisidia. Albert Barnes explains the place and the reason, saying –   “Pisidia was a province of Asia Minor, and was situated north of Pamphylia. Antioch was not in Pisidia, but within the limits of Phrygia; but it belonged to Pisidia, and was called Antioch of Pisidia to distinguish it from Antioch in Syria - Pliny, Nat. Hist., 5, 27; Strabo, 12, p. 577 (Kuinoel; Robinson's Calmet). The city was built by Seleucus, the founder of the Antioch in Syria, and was called after the name of his father, Antiochus. He is said to have built 16 cities of that name ("Life and Epistles of Paul," vol. 1, p. 122).”   This area was inland to the north of Pamphylia and Antioch lay at the very northern end of it. Of this area, Cambridge makes an interesting comment –   “Dean Howson (Life and Epistles of St Paul, i. 175) suggests that it was perhaps in this journey that St Paul and his companion were exposed to those ‘perils of robbers' of which he speaks 2 Corinthians 11:26. Pisidia was a mountainous district rising gradually towards the north, and the quotations given by Dr Howson from Xenophon and Strabo shew that there was a great deal of brigand-like life there even in these times, from which Paul and his company may have been in danger.”   Once they arrived in Antioch, it next notes, “and went into the synagogue.” Again, an aorist participle is used, “and having gone into the synagogue.” Each step is detailed methodically by Luke to give the sense of the journey's motion for the reader to join in. Once in Antioch and having gone into the synagogue, it next records that it was “on the Sabbath day.”   The words in Greek more precisely state, “on the day of the Sabbaths.” This is what Paul refers to in Colossians 2 when arguing against observing Sabbath days and other things fulfilled through the work of Christ –   “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” Colossians 2:16, 17   It is a way of designating the day as the Sabbath as a recurring Feast of the Lord (see Leviticus 23:2). Now, having arrived at the synagogue and entered it on this feast day, it says they “sat down.” Like going into a church, the people would go in, sit and await the word from the leader of the synagogue or whoever was designated to begin conducting the Sabbath affairs.   Life application: As noted above, Paul clearly argues against the observance of sabbaths in Colossians 2. The entire passage there refers to the work of Christ ending the Law of Moses. The words hinge especially on verse 2:14 when speaking of the abolishment of the law –   “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13, 14   The words “having wiped out the requirements” is speaking of the Law of Moses. To wipe out something indicates its removal, like chalk on a chalkboard. To take something out of the way means it was an obstruction that has now been removed. And the metaphor “having nailed it to the cross” specifically speaks of the death of Jesus Christ, the embodiment of the law. In His death, the law is abolished (see also Ephesians 2:15).   The reason for this detail is that people will argue that the word “sabbaths” in Colossians 2:16 is not referring to the weekly Sabbath. This is entirely incorrect. It is, as noted in the commentary above, the plural term used to speak of the fifty-two weekly Sabbaths. The same plural terminology is found in the Old Testament concerning the weekly Sabbath over 100 times.   Exodus 31:31 for example, while speaking of the weekly Sabbaths, refers to them in the plural. The Sabbath is fulfilled in Christ. Hebrews 4:3 says that we rest in Him now. Therefore, a Christian is to not let anyone judge him for not observing a Sabbath Day.   As a point of doctrine: There is no such thing as a Sunday Sabbath. The Sabbath is a Saturday, and only a Saturday. Christian tradition eventually started to claim that worshiping on the Lord's Day (Sunday) had replaced the Saturday Sabbath. The claim is that this day of worship was now the “Sunday Sabbath.” This is incorrect. There is one Sabbath, and it is a Saturday. It is fulfilled in Christ. He is our Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:3). As such, don't allow anyone to pull a fast one on you and steal the prize from you. Rest in Christ, trust in Christ, and stay away from law observance, including the Sabbath day observance.   Lord God, help us to accept Your word as it teaches us its progressively revealed truths. We are free from the law, we are free from the bondage it imposes on us, and we are at liberty in Christ who has accomplished all things for us. Now, help us to be obedient to faithfully follow You through the New Covenant that came at such a high cost. To Your glory, we pray. Amen.

Everything has been collapsing since Alexander came through and there is no true heir left, now what? In comes Seleucus, last of the successors to make a name for himself. Will we have peace at last? Tune in to find out. You can find all the images on our website! https://soyouthinkyoucanrulepersia.wordpress.com/2022/12/19/21-seleucus-i-nikator/

Saturday, 5 November 2022   Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. Acts 11:19   With the matter of Gentile inclusion clearly established and settled based on Peter's words to those in Jerusalem, the narrative now takes on a new and significant direction. The direction and focus of Acts will now begin to head out into the world beyond the borders of Israel and, eventually, the gospel will predominantly be seen to go forth to the Gentiles. In order to reveal this, the account will also go back to events that occurred in previous chapters so that the narrative catches up with events that occurred there, such as in Acts 7, 8, and 9.   With that understood, the words begin with, “Now those who were scattered.” This takes the reader back to Acts 8:1 –   “Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”   This was referring to the events that took place among the Jews and it occurred “after the persecution that arose over Stephen.”   This goes back even further, to Acts 7 and the account of Stephen's stoning. The persecution that is recorded in Acts 8:1 is based upon that. Also, rather than “persecution,” the Greek word here signifies “tribulation.” It is a wholly different word than that used in Acts 8:1. The persecution led to tribulation. Because of this, these Jews were not only scattered within the borders of Israel, but they continued on and “traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch.”   The first location, Phoenicia, is introduced here. The name is believed to come from the Greek word phoinix, meaning a palm tree, most especially the date palm. Albert Barnes describes the location, saying, “Phoenice, or Phoenicia, was a province of Syria, which in its largest sense comprehended a narrow strip of country lying on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, and extending from Antioch to the borders of Egypt. But Phenice Proper extended only from the cities of Laodicea to Tyre, and included only the territories of Tyre and Sidon. This country was called sometimes simply ‘Canaan.'”   The next location, Cyprus, is also introduced here, although the name of the inhabitants was mentioned in Acts 4:36. The origin of the name is uncertain. Again, Barnes describes it, saying, “An island off the coast of Asia Minor, in the Mediterranean Sea.”   Finally, this is also the introduction of Antioch. Albert Barnes again describes the place, saying, “There were two cities of this name, one situated in Pisidia in Asia Minor (see Acts 13:14); the other, referred to here, was situated on the Orontes River, and was long, the capital of Syria. It was built by Seleucus Nicanor, and was called Antioch in honor of his father Antiochus. It was founded in 301 b.c. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament, but is several times mentioned in the Apocrypha and in the New Testament. It was long the most powerful city of the East, and was inferior only to Seleucia and Alexandria. It was famous for the fact that the right of citizenship was conferred by Seleucus on the Jews as well as the Greeks and Macedonians, so that here they had the privilege of worship in their own way without molestation. It is probable that the Christians would be regarded merely as a sect of Jews, and would be here suffered to celebrate their worship without interruption.”   With these locations noted, the verse finishes with the thought that those scattered were “preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.” Although true to some extent, this is not so much because they “had the common prejudices of the Jews, that the offers of salvation were made only to the Jews” (Barnes), but that they probably had no idea that Gentiles would even be included in God's offer of Christ Jesus.   In other words, it is true that the Jews had these prejudices, but without even knowing something is available to others, those prejudices would not even arise. Peter found out that Gentiles could be included, and he set aside any such prejudices. These Jews were as of yet uninformed as to what God was going to do for the Gentiles. Therefore, they simply went about telling their own fellow Jews that the Messiah had come.   Life application: The narrative in Acts is marvelously structured to show how events unfolded, but the events are placed in a manner that allows us to go forward with certain events and then go back to older events to see how other things occurred while those first set of recorded events were happening.   In this, we can get a marvelous sense of how the narrative is simultaneously unfolding in several directions. As you read Acts, consider such things and think about why each section is placed where it is. Like all of Scripture, God is slowly and methodically revealing to us what His plans are for the people of the world. At the same time, He is showing us why trouble has come upon Israel during this dispensation and where He would lead things during their time of exile.   Everything is carefully and meticulously placed to help us see how the great story of man's redemption through the Person and work of Jesus Christ has come about, is coming about, and will continue to come about. Luke's record of Acts is a wonderful part of this. If we pay heed to how he has laid things out, we can get a marvelous sense of the structure of this beautiful plan.   Lord God, thank You for the careful detail You have placed in Your word to help us know and understand why things are the way they are. You have set a plan for man's redemption, and it is so beautifully and methodically detailed for us to see. Give us insight into Your word so that we can more fully grasp every nuance that You have placed there for us to understand what is going on. Thank You, O God. Amen.

We continue to study Daniel's final vision including more of the Angel's Explanation to Daniel. This includes Prophecies about Persia and Greece and detail information about the Greek kings of the South and North.  Amazing Prophetic detail!

In this episode we will look at the obstacles faced by Copernicus, Galileo and others in trying to convince humanity we are not the centre of the universe.Having brought you right up to the present with Flat Earth theory and its pundits in the previous 2 episodes, ‘New Flat World Order 1 Flimflammers Charlatans and Snake Oil and New Flat World Order 2  Liars Deniers and INCELs', we will now take a detour back in time. The denial of a heliocentric solar system is crucial to any flat earth theory.As discussed in the first episode of this trilogy the spherical nature of the earth was pretty much accepted fact by most educated thinkers since the early Greeks. But even people who believed the evidence we live on a round planet found the idea of it spinning on its own axis and orbiting the sun a bridge too far. This idea of the Earth orbiting the sun goes back to at least the 5th century BCE. Greek philosopher Philolaos was the first to put forward the idea that the Earth was not the centre of the universe. He even went one step further and proposed the sun and all the stars and planets we see orbited a central fire. Philolaos may have been the first to allude to the super massive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.Aristarchus of Samos in the 3rd century BCE and Seleucus of Seleucia in the 2nd century BCE would also famously argue for this heliocentric theory.As discussed in the first episode many of the church's thinkers and writers were not flat earthers, but the idea that the sun went around the Earth would take more than a millennia and a half to knock out of them. This geocentric view of the universe would actually cause them nothing but trouble for that whole time.The church had a vested interest in accurate astronomy dating back to at least the 4th century CE and the first ecumenical council of Nicaea. The Catholic Church would become a major mover and shaker in astronomy.Theologians Thomas Aquinas, Giovanni Tolosani, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Francesco Ingoli, Tommaso Caccini, writer Alexander Ross and demonologist Jean Bodin couldn't imagine an Earth not at the centre of the universe.It was up to Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilee and other enlightenment thinkers to finally convince the church it was clutching a dogma brick in an ocean of scientific observation.Eerily reminiscent of the recent Hollywood film Don't Look Up, Galileo even had trouble convincing the powers that be to simply look through his telescope and see for themselves!So troubled by Galileo's revelations Pope Urban VIII had him arrested and refused him a burial befitting his stature when he died.A pre Paradise Lost, John Milton even gets involved in our story. Ironically it was at The Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna that the theories of Copernicus, Galileo and Johannes Kepler were finally proven true by Catholic astronomer Giovanni  Cassini late in the 17th century. Eventually the ban on Galileo and Copernicus's books was lifted by the Vatican, another century after that all opposition to Heliocentric Theory had disappeared from the church.Despite the fact that modern flerfers have not caught up, the Catholic church at least has completely dropped any claim to a geocentric universe and in 1992 Pope John Paul II formally acquitted Galileo of heresy.In this episode we also ask the question, ‘where else is dogma and doctrine holding science back today'? Will CRSPR CAS9 and Artificial Intelligence be delayed  by superstitious mumbo jumbo written on goatskins by a bunch nomads thousands of years ago? 

Episode 1808: Our article of the day is Seleucus VI Epiphanes.

These twelve holy Martyrs suffered in the reign of Diocletian.   "The first of these, Pamphilius, was priest in the church at Caesarea in Palestine; a learned and devout man, he corrected the mistakes of various copiers in the text of the New Testament. He himself copied this saving Book and gave it to any who desired it. The second was a deacon, Valentine, old in years and white with wisdom. He was a great expert in the Holy Scriptures, knowing them by heart. The third was Paul, a respected and eminent man, who had on a previous occasion been cast into the fire for the sake of Christ. With them were five Egyptians, brothers both in blood and soul, who were returning to their native land from serving a sentence in the mines of Cilicia. As they reached the gate of the town of Caesarea they said that they were Christians, and were therefore brought to trial. When asked their names, they replied: 'We have cast away the pagan names given us by our mother, and are called Elias, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Samuel and Daniel.' when asked where they were from, they replied: 'From Jerusalem that is above.' They were all beheaded, and a young man called Porphyrius, who had searched for their bodies to give them burial, suffered soon afterwards. Him they burned. An officer, Seleucus, who had come up to the martyrs and embraced them before the sword descended on their heads, was also burned, and an old man, Theodulus, a servant of the Roman judge, who had embraced one of the martyrs while they were under escort. Lastly Julian, who had kissed the dead bodies of the martyrs and honoured them, followed them in death. So they exchanged the small for the greater, the tawdry for the precious and death for immortality, and went to the Lord in 308." (Prologue)   The Synaxarion concludes, "After the martyrdom of Pamphilius, the leader of the glorious cohort, the impious governor gave orders that his body and those of his companions should be left where they lay as food for carnivorous animals. However by God's Providence, no animal came near their holy relics, which the Christians were able to lay to rest with due honour." The account of these Martyrs was written by Eusebius of Caeserea, Pamphilius' disciple.

Round two of the scrap for Syria! Although my sources seem to be slightly uncertain about some of the details, the broad strokes of the conflict are agreed upon. So, today, let's discuss a conflict that will rage from the early to late 250s BCE- and which will also have implications for Antiochus II's rule in the east... Sources for this episode: 1) Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus, London: Edward Arthur. 2) Bevan, E. R., Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911, edited by Hugh Chisholm), Seleucid dynasty. Available at: Wikisource [Accessed 18/06/2021]. 3) Bevan, E. R. (1927), The House of Ptolemy, London: Methuen Publishing. Available at: LascusCurtis [Accessed 08/02/2021]. 4) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (check date), Antiochus II Theos (online) [Accessed 21/04/2021]. 5) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (check date), Syrian Wars (online) [Accessed 30/07/2021]. 6) Grainger, J. D., (2014), The Rise of the Seleukid Empire (323- 223 BCE), Seleukos I to Seleukos III. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd. (eBook) [Accessed 04/01/2021]. 7) Heinen, H., Encyclopaedia Britannica (check date), Ptolemy II Philadelphus (online) [Accessed 21/04/2021]. 8) Rawlinson, G. (1869) A manual of ancient history from the earliest times to the fall of the Western Empire, comprising the history of Chaldea, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Lydia, Phoenicia, Syria, Judea, Egypt, Carthage, Persia, Greece, Macedonia, Rome, and Parthia. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (eBook) [Accessed 02/03/2021]. 9) Tunny, J. A. (2000), Ptolemy 'The Son' Reconsidered: Are there too Many Ptolemies? Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 131: 83-92. 10) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Antiochus II Theos [Accessed 25/05/2021]. 11) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Nicomedes I of Bithynia (online) [Accessed 01/08/2021]. 12) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Ptolemy II Philadelphus [Accessed 28/03/2021].

Around 258 BCE, a Ptolemaic prince rebelled against Ptolemy II in Ephesus. His rebellion, in conjunction with a self-made dynasty called Timarchus, would ultimately fail, although the details of the prince involved, events themselves and. However, if we sweep aside the murky veil of time, we can see that the events after the rebellion lead directly to the Second Syrian War... Sources for this episode: 1) Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus, London: Edward Arthur. Quote: p.175. 2) Bevan, E. R. (1927), The House of Ptolemy, London: Methuen Publishing. Available at: LascusCurtis [Accessed 08/02/2021]. 3) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019), Antiochus II Theos (online) [Accessed 21/04/2021]. 4) Grainger, J. D., (2014), The Rise of the Seleukid Empire (323- 223 BCE), Seleukos I to Seleukos III. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd. (eBook) [Accessed 04/01/2021]. 5) Heinen, H., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019), Ptolemy II Philadelphus (online) [Accessed 21/04/2021]. 6) Tunny, J. A. (2000), Ptolemy 'The Son' Reconsidered: Are there too Many Ptolemies? Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 131: 83-92. 7) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Antiochus II Theos (online) [Accessed 11/06/2021]. 8) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Condotierro (online) [Accessed 11/06/2021]. 9) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Ephesus (online) [Accessed 11/06/2021]. 10) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Miletus (online) [Accessed 11/06/2021]. 11) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Ptolemy II Philadelphus (online) [Accessed 11/06/2021]. 12) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Timarchus of Miletus (online) [Accessed 11/06/2021].

Antiochus I's eldest son is a bit of a mystery to research; every source I've accessed so far seems to say something different... This week, we delve into the life and times of Seleucus, co-king from 275 to 266 BCE (approximate dates) who disappears from the story towards the end of his father's reign. As we'll see, he and his father probably didn't have the easiest relationship... Sources for this episode: 1) Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus (Vol. I). London: Edward Arthur. Quote: p.169. 2) Bevan, E. R., Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911, edited by Hugh Chisholm), Seleucid dynasty. Available at: Wikisource [Accessed 11/04/2021]. 3) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020), Antiochus I Soter (online) [Accessed 11/04/2021]. 4) Grainger, J. D., (2014), The Rise of the Seleukid Empire (323- 223 BCE), Seleukos I to Seleukos III. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd. (eBook) [Accessed 04/01/2021]. 5) Jérémy, C. (2020), The Mysterious Fall of the Coregent Seleucus: Triarchic Experiment and Dynastic Strife under the Reign of Antiochus I Soter. Historia 69(4): 408- 440. Please note: I've only been able to access the abstract for this. 6) Kosmin, J. (2014), The Land of the Elephant Kings. London: Harvard University Press. (eBook) [Accessed 03/04/2021]. 7) Lendering, J., Livius (2006, modified 2020), Antiochus I Soter (online) [Accessed 11/04/2021]. 9) Strootman, R. (2014), The Encyclopaedia of Ancient History (1st edition), p.473- 475. London: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 10) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Antiochus I Soter (online) [Accessed 11/04/2021].

The Antigonids are back! This time, we'll witness Antigonus II re-establish his control over Macedon and marry the daughter of Seleucus and Stratonice- reaffirming the alliance between the Seleucids and the Antigonids. Just in time, too- as happens pretty much constantly during the Hellenistic period, war is about to break out again with Egypt... Sources for this episode: 1) Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus (Vol. I). London: Edward Arthur. Quote: p.145. 2) Grainger, J. D., (2014), The Rise of the Seleukid Empire (323- 223 BCE), Seleukos I to Seleukos III. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd. (eBook) [Accessed 04/01/2021]. 3) Rawlinson, G. (1869) A manual of ancient history from the earliest times to the fall of the Western Empire, comprising the history of Chaldea, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Lydia, Phoenicia, Syria, Judea, Egypt, Carthage, Persia, Greece, Macedonia, Rome, and Parthia. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (eBook) [Accessed 02/03/2021]. 4) Volkmann, H., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019) Antigonus II Gonatas (online) [Accessed 27/03/2021]. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Antigonus II Gonatas (online) [Accessed 27/03/2021]. 6) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Apama II (online) [Accessed 27/03/2021]. 7) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Berenice I of Egypt (online) [Accessed 27/03/2021]. 8) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Demetrius II Aetolicus (online) [Accessed 27/03/2021]. 9) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Magas of Cyrene (online) [Accessed 27/03/2021]. 10) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Stratonice of Syria (online) [Accessed 14/07/2021].

Antiochus I faced a difficult situation when his father died, as indicated by today's episode title- an extract from Rudyard Kipling's poem 'If'. The great distance messengers had to travel to notify Antiochus of the western situation following his father's death meant that others had already begun carving out their own piece of the pie again. Yes, Seleucus has an obvious heir where Alexander did not, but that doesn't mean that the Hellenistic world isn't going to descend from unity into anarchy once again... Sources for this episode: 1) Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus (Vol. I). London: Edward Arthur. Quote: p. 75- 76. 2) Bevan, E. R. (1927), The House of Ptolemy, London: Methuen Publishing. Available at: LascusCurtis (online) [Accessed 08/02/2021]. 3) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020), Antiochus I Soter (online) [Accessed 11/03/2021]. 4) Kipling, R. (1949) The Definitive Edition of Rudyard Kipling verse. Edinburgh: R. & R. Clark Ltd. (Printed for Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. in London). Quote: p. 576 5) Rawlinson, G. (1869) A manual of ancient history from the earliest times to the fall of the Western Empire, comprising the history of Chaldea, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Lydia, Phoenicia, Syria, Judea, Egypt, Carthage, Persia, Greece, Macedonia, Rome, and Parthia. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (eBook) [Accessed 02/03/2021]. 6) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Antiochus I Soter (online) [Accessed 10/03/2021]. 7) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Antigonus II Gonatas (online) [Accessed 10/03/2021]. 8) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Arsinoe II (online) [Accessed 10/03/2021]. 9) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Attalid dynasty (online) [Accessed 10/03/2021]. 10) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Bithynia (online) [Accessed 10/03/2021]. 11) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Cappadocia (online) [Accessed 10/03/2021]. 12) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Kingdom of Pontus (online) [Accessed 10/03/2021]. 13) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Pergamon (online) [Accessed 10/03/2021]. 14) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Philetaerus (online) [Accessed 10/03/2021]. 15) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Zipoetes I of Bithynia (online) [Accessed 10/03/2021].

A brief overview of what the Hellenistic would have looked like in 281 when we left our narrative in episode 16. Despite the near reunification Seleucus had achieved, his son Antiochus is going to inherit a difficult position... This episode builds on information in previous episodes. Additional sources for this episode: 1) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), List of ancient Macedonians (online) [Accessed 04/03/2021]. 2) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Seleucus I Nicator (online) [Accessed 10/01/2021].

Before we ease ourselves back into the main narrative again, I thought it would be a good idea to catch up with the life and times of Antiochus I until he acceded to the throne in 281 BCE. Then next week, we'll look around the world in 281 before plunging back into the hectic fight to keep Seleucus' ambition alive. Sources for this episode: 1) Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus (Vol. I). London: Edward Arthur. 2) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020), Antiochus I Soter (online) [Accessed 10/01/2021]. 3) Grainger, J. D., (2014), The Rise of the Seleukid Empire (323- 223 BCE), Seleukos I to Seleukos III. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd. (eBook) [Accessed 04/01/2021].4) Kosmin, J. (2014), The Land of the Elephant Kings. London: Harvard University Press. (eBook) [Accessed 03/04/2021]. 5) Lendering. J., Livius (2006, modified 2020), Antiochus I Soter (online) [Accessed 18/03/2021]. 6) Strootman, R. (2014), The Encyclopaedia of Ancient History (1st edition), p.473- 475. London: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 7) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Antiochus I Soter (online) [Accessed 28/02/2021]. 8) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Stratonice (online) [Accessed 28/02/2021].

As I've mentioned in previous episodes, the moment when Seleucus re-entered Babylon marked the start of the Seleucid era- otherwise known as the 'Anno Graecorum' or 'Year of the Greeks'. But when exactly did this start getting used? Why were there two different ways of measuring it? And how long did its use last for? Sources for this episode: 1) Anson, E. M. (2006), The Chronology of the Third Diadoch War. Phoenix 60(3/4): 226, 235. 2) Strootman, R. (2013), The Encyclopaedia of Ancient History (1st edition), p.473- 475. Hobokon, New Jersey: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 3) Strootman, R., Encyclopaedia Iranica (2015), Seleucid Era (online) [Accessed 20/01/2021]. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra (online) [Accessed 19/02/2021]. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Seleucid era (online) [Accessed 03/02/2021]. 6) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Seleucus I Nicator (online) [Accessed 10/01/2021].

Even among the successors, Seleucus has a reputation as a prolific city-builder; in all, he founded approximately 31 cities, including sites such as modern day Antioch and Laodicea, both situated in the Levant. While some of these places started out as attempts to swell the ranks of his armies, they would end up becoming heartlands of his empire... Sources for this episode: 1) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019), Antioch (online) [Accessed 11/02/2021]. 2) The Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019) Seleucid empire (online) [Accessed 11/02/2021]. 3) Siebert, J., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019), Seleucus I Nicator (online) [Accessed 11/02/2021]. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Antioch (online) [Accessed 11/02/2021]. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown) Apamea, Syria (online) [Accessed 11/02/2021]. 6) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Greeks in Syria (online) [Accessed 11/02/2021]. 7) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Laodicea in Syria (online) [Accessed 11/02/2021]. 8) Author unknown, Wikipedia(date unknown), Seleucia Pieria (online) [Accessed 11/02/2021]. 9) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Seleucid army (online) [Accessed 11/02/2021]. 10) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Seleucid empire (online) [Accessed 11/02/2021]. 11) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Seleucis of Syria (online) [Accessed 31/01/2021]. 12) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Seleucus I Nicator (online) [Accessed 10/01/2021].

As promised, this episode is going to be a recap of our narrative so far, stretching from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 until the death of Seleucus in 281. Along the way, I give you my two cents on the man, as well as the new, shiny, 21st-century epithet. It's time to review the life of the man known to contemporaries as Seleucus Nicator- Seleucus the Victor. Then, as promised, we'll be into special episode territory for a while to allow you all some time to breathe before we jump back in with Antiochus I on May 8th. Sources for new material this episode: 1) Lendering, J., Livius (2002, modified 2020), Diadochi 1: The Babylon Settlement (online) [Accessed 06/01/2021]. 2) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Eumenes (online) [Accessed 07/02/2021]. 3) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown, Philip III of Macedon (online) [Accessed 07/02/2021]. Quick aside- I've recently found out that the conference of Triparadeisus is placed at either 321 or 320 BCE depending on the source. Grainger, Kosmin and Lendering seem to agree on 320, while Bevan and the Wikipedia article on the matter say 321. I've left it in because the date is disputed, but just know that there is another option.

With the assassination of Agathocles in 282 came the perfect opportunity for Seleucus to strike Lysimachus' territories in Thrace and Macedon. The number of Hellenistic kingdoms is now rapidly dwindling- aside from the behemoth of the Seleucid realms, there's only Lysimachus' domains, Epirus and Egypt left. With Ptolemy now dead and a potential rival heir in Seleucid hands, the stage is set for a showdown between Lysimachus and Seleucus to see who will be the last successor standing... Sources for this episode: 1) Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus (Vol. I). London: Edward Arthur. 2) Lendering, J., Livius (2002, modified 2020) Diadochi 10: Lysimachus and Seleucus (online) [Accessed 24/01/2021]. 3) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Diadochi (online) [Accessed 03/02/2021]. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Lysandra (online) [Accessed 03/02/2021].

With Demetrius dead, the Antigonid threat is out of the picture again for a bit- although rest assured, it's not the last time we've heard of names such as Antigonus II, so don't forget about them completely. Instead, the struggle begins for the throne of Macedon, with the principal contenders at the time Demetrius is taken off the chessboard being Lysimachus and Pyrrhus of Epirus. However, it wouldn't take much for Ptolemaic and Seleucid interests to be peaked as well. On the podcast today, the match is going to be struck and chaos will break out in the old heartland of Macedon... Sources for this episode: 1) Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus (Vol. I). London: Edward Arthur. 2) Heinen, H., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019), Ptolemy II Philadelphus (online) [Accessed 28/01/2021]. 3) Komnene, A., translated originally by Sewter, E. R. A. (c.1147, my edition 2009), The Alexiad (Penguin Classics) London: Penguin Books Ltd. 4) Lendering J., Livius (2002, modified 2020), Diadochi 10: Lysimachus and Seleucus (online) [Accessed 23/01/2021]. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown) Ptolemy I Soter (online) [Accessed 24/01/2021]. 6) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Ptolemy Ceraunus (online) [Accessed 24/01/2021]. EDIT: I've discovered that the Antigonid story naturally moves back into our main narrative at the beginning of the next reign, so I'm going to discuss what's been happening to Antigonus II in a separate at that point instead of during our interlude episodes.

As with the stereotypical image of Wild West pioneers in the late 19th century, Seleucus' political ambitions are going to head west. With himself and Demetrius on the one hand and an alliance of Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Cassander on the other, a falling out was pretty much inevitable. This week, we're going to see the final act of Demetrius' story, which will include the beginnings of a succession crisis in Macedon... Sources for this episode: 1) Bevan, E. R. (1902), The House of Seleucus (Vol. I). London: Edward Arthur. 2) Lendering, J., Livius (2002, modified 2020), Diadochi 9: Demetrius (online) [Accessed 21/01/2021]. 3) Lendering, J., Livius (2002, modified 2020), Diadochi 10: Lysimachus and Seleucus (online) [Accessed 23/01/2021]. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Seleucus I Nicator (online) [Accessed 10/01/2021].

Key points: -Once we get past Seleucus' life, there's going to be a recap episode and some tangent topics, before we introduce Antiochus I properly -I might experiment with making episodes a bit shorter in future, probably about the length of episode 12 -I'm going to be creating a modern epithet for each ruler in their recap episode (details in the episode) That's it for now, see you all next episode! There'll be another announcement next week and then regular content resumes the week after.

The Battle of Ipsus in 301 BCE, which saw the death of Antigonus I, was a gamechanger. Demetrius was still alive, but the power of their dynasty was momentarily in tatters. In Part 2 of our discussion of Ipsus, we're going to analyse what it meant for both the victors and the losers. A brief spoiler here- it's not going to mean the dawning of a new age of peace and mutual trust. Far from it, in fact... Sources for this episode: 1) Grainger, J. D., 2014, The Rise of the Seleukid Empire (323- 223 BCE), Seleukos I to Seleukos III. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd. (eBook) [Accessed 04/01/2021]. 2) Lendering, J., Livius (2002, modified 2020), Diadochi 9: Demetrius (online) [Accessed 18/01/2021]. 3) Siebert, J., Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019), Seleucus I Nicator (online) [Accessed 10/01/2021]. 4) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Apama (online) [Accessed 18/01/2021]. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Nahr al-Kabir (online, used to find the location of the Eleutheros river) [Accessed 19/01/2021].6-7) The Wikipedia pages for Stratornice and Seleucus can be accessed for their ages in 298 used in this episode. Quick notice from me: there's going to be a few updates coming up soon, so regular content will resume in two weeks time on the 13th of March.

These twelve holy Martyrs suffered in the reign of Diocletian.   "The first of these, Pamphilius, was priest in the church at Caesarea in Palestine; a learned and devout man, he corrected the mistakes of various copiers in the text of the New Testament. He himself copied this saving Book and gave it to any who desired it. The second was a deacon, Valentine, old in years and white with wisdom. He was a great expert in the Holy Scriptures, knowing them by heart. The third was Paul, a respected and eminent man, who had on a previous occasion been cast into the fire for the sake of Christ. With them were five Egyptians, brothers both in blood and soul, who were returning to their native land from serving a sentence in the mines of Cilicia. As they reached the gate of the town of Caesarea they said that they were Christians, and were therefore brought to trial. When asked their names, they replied: 'We have cast away the pagan names given us by our mother, and are called Elias, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Samuel and Daniel.' when asked where they were from, they replied: 'From Jerusalem that is above.' They were all beheaded, and a young man called Porphyrius, who had searched for their bodies to give them burial, suffered soon afterwards. Him they burned. An officer, Seleucus, who had come up to the martyrs and embraced them before the sword descended on their heads, was also burned, and an old man, Theodulus, a servant of the Roman judge, who had embraced one of the martyrs while they were under escort. Lastly Julian, who had kissed the dead bodies of the martyrs and honoured them, followed them in death. So they exchanged the small for the greater, the tawdry for the precious and death for immortality, and went to the Lord in 308." (Prologue)   The Synaxarion concludes, "After the martyrdom of Pamphilius, the leader of the glorious cohort, the impious governor gave orders that his body and those of his companions should be left where they lay as food for carnivorous animals. However by God's Providence, no animal came near their holy relics, which the Christians were able to lay to rest with due honour." The account of these Martyrs was written by Eusebius of Caeserea, Pamphilius' disciple.

These twelve holy Martyrs suffered in the reign of Diocletian.   "The first of these, Pamphilius, was priest in the church at Caesarea in Palestine; a learned and devout man, he corrected the mistakes of various copiers in the text of the New Testament. He himself copied this saving Book and gave it to any who desired it. The second was a deacon, Valentine, old in years and white with wisdom. He was a great expert in the Holy Scriptures, knowing them by heart. The third was Paul, a respected and eminent man, who had on a previous occasion been cast into the fire for the sake of Christ. With them were five Egyptians, brothers both in blood and soul, who were returning to their native land from serving a sentence in the mines of Cilicia. As they reached the gate of the town of Caesarea they said that they were Christians, and were therefore brought to trial. When asked their names, they replied: 'We have cast away the pagan names given us by our mother, and are called Elias, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Samuel and Daniel.' when asked where they were from, they replied: 'From Jerusalem that is above.' They were all beheaded, and a young man called Porphyrius, who had searched for their bodies to give them burial, suffered soon afterwards. Him they burned. An officer, Seleucus, who had come up to the martyrs and embraced them before the sword descended on their heads, was also burned, and an old man, Theodulus, a servant of the Roman judge, who had embraced one of the martyrs while they were under escort. Lastly Julian, who had kissed the dead bodies of the martyrs and honoured them, followed them in death. So they exchanged the small for the greater, the tawdry for the precious and death for immortality, and went to the Lord in 308." (Prologue)   The Synaxarion concludes, "After the martyrdom of Pamphilius, the leader of the glorious cohort, the impious governor gave orders that his body and those of his companions should be left where they lay as food for carnivorous animals. However by God's Providence, no animal came near their holy relics, which the Christians were able to lay to rest with due honour." The account of these Martyrs was written by Eusebius of Caeserea, Pamphilius' disciple.

These twelve holy Martyrs suffered in the reign of Diocletian.   "The first of these, Pamphilius, was priest in the church at Caesarea in Palestine; a learned and devout man, he corrected the mistakes of various copiers in the text of the New Testament. He himself copied this saving Book and gave it to any who desired it. The second was a deacon, Valentine, old in years and white with wisdom. He was a great expert in the Holy Scriptures, knowing them by heart. The third was Paul, a respected and eminent man, who had on a previous occasion been cast into the fire for the sake of Christ. With them were five Egyptians, brothers both in blood and soul, who were returning to their native land from serving a sentence in the mines of Cilicia. As they reached the gate of the town of Caesarea they said that they were Christians, and were therefore brought to trial. When asked their names, they replied: 'We have cast away the pagan names given us by our mother, and are called Elias, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Samuel and Daniel.' when asked where they were from, they replied: 'From Jerusalem that is above.' They were all beheaded, and a young man called Porphyrius, who had searched for their bodies to give them burial, suffered soon afterwards. Him they burned. An officer, Seleucus, who had come up to the martyrs and embraced them before the sword descended on their heads, was also burned, and an old man, Theodulus, a servant of the Roman judge, who had embraced one of the martyrs while they were under escort. Lastly Julian, who had kissed the dead bodies of the martyrs and honoured them, followed them in death. So they exchanged the small for the greater, the tawdry for the precious and death for immortality, and went to the Lord in 308." (Prologue)   The Synaxarion concludes, "After the martyrdom of Pamphilius, the leader of the glorious cohort, the impious governor gave orders that his body and those of his companions should be left where they lay as food for carnivorous animals. However by God's Providence, no animal came near their holy relics, which the Christians were able to lay to rest with due honour." The account of these Martyrs was written by Eusebius of Caeserea, Pamphilius' disciple.