Babylon, which reveres Antiochus as Soter (Liberator, or Savior) of Asia, is given a Greek colony that is granted freedom of the city.

Another Epiphania is founded in Armenia.

Ecbatana (in Persia) is also named Epiphania and becomes a Greek city.

Many of these Seleucid cities are granted the right to coin their own municipal currency.

Construction had begun on the colossal Temple of Olympian Zeus in the sixth century BCE during the rule of the Athenian tyrants, who had envisaged building the greatest temple in the ancient world.

The temple is located about five hundred meters (sixteen hundred and forty feet feet) southeast of the Acropolis, and about seven hundred meters (twenty-three hundred feet) south of the center of Athens, Syntagma Square.

Its foundations were laid on the site of an ancient outdoor sanctuary dedicated to Zeus.

An earlier temple had stood there, constructed around 550 BCE by the tyrant Pisistratus.

The building was demolished after the death of Peisistratos and the construction of a colossal new Temple of Olympian Zeus was begun around 520 BCE by his sons, Hippias and Hipparchos.

They sought to surpass two famous contemporary temples, the Heraion of Samos and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Designed by the architects Antistates, Callaeschrus, Antimachides and Porinus, the Temple of Olympian Zeus was intended to be built of local limestone in the Doric style on a colossal platform measuring forty-one meters (one hundred and thirty-four and a half feet) by one hundred and eight meters (three hundred and fifty three and a hapf feet).

It was to be flanked by a double colonnade of eight columns across the front and back and twenty-one on the flanks, surrounding the cella.

The work was abandoned when the tyranny was overthrown and Hippias expelled in 510 BCE, by which point only the platform and some elements of the columns had been completed.

The temple has remained in this state for the past three hundred and thirty-six years, left unfinished during the years of Athenian democracy, apparently because the Greeks thought it hubristic to build on such a scale.

In the treatise Politics, Aristotle cited the temple as an example of how tyrannies engaged the populace in great works for the state and left them no time, energy or means to rebel.

The Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who presents himself as the earthly embodiment of Zeus, revives the project in 174 BCE and places the Roman architect Decimus Cossutius in charge.

The design is changed to feature three rows of eight columns across the front and back of the temple and a double row of twenty on the flanks, for a total of one hundred and four columns.

The columns are to stand seventeen meters (fifty-five and a half feet) high and two meters (six and a half feet) in diameter.

The building material is changed to the expensive but high-quality Pentelic marble and the order is changed from Doric to Corinthian, marking the first use of this order on the exterior of a major temple.

Both the Syrian and Egyptian parties appeal to Rome for help, but the Senate refuses to take sides.

Jason, as High Priest, scorning the traditional Jewish monotheism of the Pharisaic party, promotes Greek culture and religion throughout Judaea.

In return for a considerable sum, Antiochus has permitted Jason to build a gymnasium in Jerusalem and to introduce the Greek mode of educating young people.

Jason has reestablished Jerusalem as a Greek-style polis named after the king, Antioch-at-Jerusalem.

With the creation of Antioch, Jason has abandoned the ordinances given under Antiochus III, which defined the polity of the Judeans according to the Torah.

Jason's time as High Priest is brought to an abrupt end in 172 BCE when he sends Menelaus, the brother of Simon the Benjamite, to deliver the annual tribute money to Antiochus.

Although during the three years of his pontificate Jason has given many proofs of his attachment to the Hellenistic party, the zealous Hellenists of the stamp of the Tobiads, a Jewish or Ammonite faction, plot his overthrow, suspecting him of partiality to traditional Judaism.

Menelaus takes the opportunity to "outbid" Jason for the priesthood, resulting in Antiochus confirming Menelaus as the High Priest.

Jason flees Jerusalem and finds refuge in the land of the Ammonites, by which is probably meant the Nabataeans.

An officer named Sostrates is sent by Antiochus with a troop of Cyprian soldiers to subdue any opposition that might be attempted by the followers of the deposed Jason and to collect at the same time the sum Menelaus had promised.

Menelaus' first act is to seize the sacred vessels in the Temple stores in order to meet the obligations he has incurred.

This act comes to the ears of the deposed high priest Onias III, who publicly accuses Menelaus of robbing the Temple.

The latter, afraid of the consequences of this accusation, induces the king's lieutenant Andronicus, who had had his share of the plunder, to get rid of Onias before a formal complaint had been lodged with the king.

Accordingly, Onias is decoyed from the sanctuary at Daphne, in which he has sought refuge, and murdered.

Menelaus continues to plunder the treasures of the Temple until violence ensues, in which his brother Lysimachus meets his death.

He then brings before the king an accusation against the people of Jerusalem, that they are partisans of the Egyptians and persecute him only because he is opposed to their party intrigues.

This accusation causes the execution of several Jews who, although they had proved beyond any doubt that Menelaus and Lysimachus had desecrated the Temple, were sentenced to death.

The withdrawal of Roman legions in 194 BCE had not entailed the withdrawal of a Roman presence from the Hellenistic East.

On the contrary, according to Polybius, the Romans now are “displeased if all matters were not referred to them and if everything was not done in accordance with their decision.” One of Perseus’ first acts on becoming king had been to renew the treaty with Rome.

Yet, Perseus' other actions trouble Rome.

His interference in the affairs of his neighbors, his ousting of Roman ally Abrupolis from his territories, his armed visit to Delphi, his avoidance of the Roman ambassadors to Macedonia, and his dynastic marriages all give Rome cause for concern.

The Roman leadership has begun to worry that Perseus will destroy Roman political control in Greece and restore former Macedonian sovereignty over Greek states.

Although the actions of Perseus could be viewed as the behavior expected of a Hellenistic monarch, the Senate listens to the unfavorable interpretations of Perseus' enemies, who claim that the king's actions reveal an intent to attack Rome.

King Eumenes II of Pergamon, who hates Macedon, visits Rome to denounce Perseus for allegedly plotting aggressions in the East, accusing Perseus of trying to violate laws of other states and conditions of peace between Macedon and Rome.

The Romans are afraid for the balance of power in Greece.

After the Senate declares a new war with Macedon, it sends Quintus Marcius Philippus to propose a truce and to give Perseus false hopes of negotiation in order to allow the consul of 171, Publius Licinius Crassus, to land his army on the Illyrian coast unhindered—a ploy decried by some older senators as “the new wisdom.”

The Romans had established their colony in Aquileia in 181 BCE and taken control of all Venetia in the north, thus expanding towards the Illyrian area from the northwest.

They had conquered Istria in the north of the eastern Adriatic coast, settled by tribe of Histri, in 177 BCE, while the Iapydes, the northern Liburnian neighbors, attacked Aquileia in 171 BCE, but these accidents have not involved the Liburnian territory.

The Liburnians probably keep away from direct conflicts with the Romans to safeguard their remaining naval activities.

Perseus wins the first struggle with Rome: the Battle of Callicinus, near Larissa, where he faces the army of the consul Publius Licinius Crassus.

The battle is notable for the prevalent role of cavalry and light infantry as a combined 'task force'.

Satisfied with the defeat of most of the deployed Roman forces, Perseus takes his general Euander's advice and has his forces retire before engaging the remaining heavy infantry.

His initial success against the Roman army in Thessaly in 171 does not alter the massive imbalance of power; the Romans again refuse the king's offer to negotiate.

Attalus of Pergamon, now around fifty, remains a loyal assistant to his brother Eumenes, commanding the Pergamene forces that are fighting beside the Romans in Greece.

The Seleucids and the Parthians vie for control of the independent Bactrian state.

In 170, Antiochus dispatches a force under Eucratides to conquer Bactria.

Parthia’s Mithridates I attacks Bactria’s frontiers while its ruler, Demetrius, is occupied with repelling the Seleucid invasion.