Antigonus, son of Menophilus was a
Seleucid
The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...
official (nauarchos). He served under king Alexander (
I or
II), in the mid-2nd century BC. He is known from an inscription found in the city of
Miletus.
The inscription
The inscription of Antigonus was found in 1963 on a marble block which was part of the ''Gotenmauer'' wall in Miletus. In the view of
Peter Herrmann, the re-used block came from the necropolis of the city. The first two lines read:
Ἀντίγονος Μηνοφίλου ὁ γενόμενος ναύαρχος Ἀλε-
ξάνδρου τοῦ Συρίας βασιλέως·
Importance
The first lines translate as "Antigonus, son of Menophilus, Admiral of Alexander, king of Syria" (either
Alexander I Balas or
Alexander II Zabinas
Alexander II Theos Epiphanes Nikephoros ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος Θεός Ἐπιφανής Νικηφόρος ''Áléxandros Theós Épiphanḗs Nikēphóros'', surnamed Zabinas; 150 BC – 123 BC) was a Hellenistic Seleucid monarch who r ...
).
The inscription is important for understanding the Seleucid dynasty's self-representation. Ancient hostile historians designated the Seleucid kings as kings of Syria or "kings who reigned in Syria". Those designations were understood by traditional scholarship as mockery that emphasized the loss of Seleucid lands outside Syria; the inscription of Antigonus, a Seleucid official of the highest rank, proved that the geographical association of the Seleucids with the kingdom of Syria came from the dynasty's own self-representation.
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Seleucid generals
2nd-century BC Greek people