12,739-12,758: Reign of Seleucus II.
12,777: Antiochus III, (12,758-12,813), Seleucid emperor, known as Antiochus the Great. Succeeding his father, Seleucus II, he conquered Parthia, Bactria, Syria, and Palestine, entered into an alliance with Philip V of Macedonia, and invaded Thrace. He also gave refuge to Hannibal and aroused the enmity of Rome, which checked his western expansion in battles at Thermopylae and Magnesia.
12,825: Antiochus IV becomes king. He is remembered for his infamous attempt to impose Hellenic culture on Judea. He is also remembered in the Jewish tradition where he desecrates the Jewish Temple. The Maccabees (Judah and his brothers, the sons of Mattathias, a Levite) also called the Hasmonean or Asomonean dynasty rededicates the Temple giving rise to the history of Hanukkah.
