ProjectSeleukid - Seleukid captain: Antipatros, the 'son of the king's brother'

The second Seleukid captain is nominally Antipatros, referred to by Livy as the son of Antiochos III's brother. This is a little problematic as the only recorded brother of Antiochos was his older brother Seleukos III who died after a short reign in 223 BC. If Antipatros was the son of Seleukos III, he would (at this stage in the dynasty) be next in line to succeed him. Six years later, at the Battle of Raphia, Antipatros was old enough to command the Seleukid cavalry, (he was also present at Panion in 201 BC) so there is little reason to think he was passed over for the kinship because of his age.

Perhaps he was the son of an illegitimate brother of Antiochos III or he may have been, in reality, a 'royal nephew', a close associate honoured with a familial title in the same way that the contemporary senior courtier, Zeuxis, was described in official correspondance as the 'father' of Antiochos III.

After Magnesia, Antipatros was sent as one of Antiochos' ambassadors to Rome.

These are the second pair of sculpts from the 28mm Pyrrhic foot command pack from Aventine Miniatures. He is clearly a commanding figure, but I wanted him to have less purple than the king's family members, so stuck with a purple sash and purple border on the chlamys. The banner - which is perhaps not as finely done as I would like, is taken from the scorpion on later Kommagenian coinage of the 1st century AD.