Apollonius () was a man of the
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great ...
who lived in the 2nd century BCE.
Apollonius was a friend of the Seleucid ruler
Demetrius I Soter
Demetrius I Soter (, ''Dēmḗtrios ho Sōtḗr,'' "Demetrius the Saviour"; 185 – June 150 BC) reigned as king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire from November 162 to June 150 BC. Demetrius grew up in Rome as a hostage, but returned to Greek S ...
when the latter was a young man. When Demetrius, at the age of 10, was sent to Rome as a hostage in 175, Apollonius went with him, and supported him with his advice. Apollonius had been educated together with Demetrius, and their two families had been long connected by friendship.
Apollonius of Tarsus, the father of Apollonius, had possessed great influence with Demetrius's father, the ruler
Seleucus IV Philopator
Seleucus IV Philopator ( Greek: Σέλευκος Φιλοπάτωρ, ''Séleukos philopátо̄r'', meaning "Seleucus the father-loving"; 218 – 3 September 175 BC), ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, reigned from 187 BC to 175 BC over a ...
. He is mentioned in
2 Maccabees 3 as the person who informed Seleucus of the great wealth held at the
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
.
References
People from the Seleucid Empire
2nd-century BC people
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