Seleucus II Callinic

Seleucus II of the Seleucid dynasty, called Calinicus (Καλλινικoς), which literally means "the one who achieves a beautiful victory", was also called Pogon, the Bearded. He was king from 247 a. C. until 226 a. C. he was the son of Antiochus II Teos.

He fought a losing war against the Egyptian king Ptolemy III. To understand this war well, it is necessary to know some events that occurred in the time of Antiochus Teos, father of Seleucus:

Ptolemy III had a sister named Berenice Sira who had married the Seleucid king Antiochus II Teos, bringing a substantial dowry. Antiochus was first married to a woman named Laodice, and had two sons with her, the eldest named Seleucus. Laódice was repudiated and relegated to a second place, which engendered in her a great hatred and a desire for revenge. Some time later, Antiochus II summoned his first wife to his court again, who took advantage of the occasion to poison him. Then he had Berenice killed, her son (who was the pretender to the throne) and all the Egyptian members of the court who had arrived in the queen's retinue and now free of enemies, proclaimed her son as king and with his aid. Thus the facts, Ptolemy III organized an army to go to Syria and fight against the new Seleucid king Seleucus Calinicus and against his mother, to avenge in this way the murder of his sister and his nephew. He conquered Syria and reached Babylon and would have conquered much more if he had not had to return to Egypt to put down a sedition. Before starting his return, he sacked the kingdom of Seleucus, taking 40,000 talents of silver and 2,500 images of the gods, many of them belonging to Egypt, which had been stolen on another occasion.

Seleucus Callinicus married his cousin Laodice II and had two sons: Seleucus and Antiochus. Both came to reign, first one and then another. The former had a short reign and was poisoned by his own generals. Antiochus reigned under the name of Antiochus III Megas (the Great).