Seleucus II Callinicus Pogon (; Kallinikos means "beautifully triumphant"; Pogon means "the Beard"; July/August 265 BC – December 225 BC), was a ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, who reigned from 246 BC to 225 BC. Faced with multiple enemies on various fronts, and not always successful militarily, his reign was a time of great turmoil and fragmentation for the Seleucid empire, before its eventual restoration under his second son and eventual successor, Antiochus III.

Overview

Seleucus II Callinicus Pogon (; Kallinikos means "beautifully triumphant"; Pogon means "the Beard"; July/August 265 BC – December 225 BC), was a ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, who reigned from 246 BC to 225 BC. Faced with multiple enemies on various fronts, and not always successful militarily, his reign was a time of great turmoil and fragmentation for the Seleucid empire, before its eventual restoration under his second son and eventual successor, Antiochus III. Accession and invasion After the death of his father, Antiochus II in July 246 BC, Seleucus was proclaimed king by his mother, Laodice in Ephesos, while his father's second wife, Queen Bernice, declared her son Antiochus king in Antioch. Berenice acted decisively at first, seizing control of most of Syria and Cilicia. However, before her brother Ptolemy III, the king of Egypt, was able to land and support her son's claims, she was murdered by partisans of Seleucus II and Queen Laodice. This dynastic feud began the Third Syrian War. Ptolemy III invaded the Seleucid Empire and landing at Seleucia Pieria, accepted the surrender of Syria and Cilicia and marched victoriously to the Tigris or beyond (although he did not reach as far as Babylon). Ptolemy remained in Syria during the winter of 246-245 BC, while Seleucus sent an expedition by sea to retake the area, only to have it wrecked by storms; not the last time he was to be defeated by bad luck.

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