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People: Stratonice of Syria

Stratonice of Syria

queen of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire
Years: 317BCE - 250BCE

Stratonice of Syria is the daughter of king Demetrius Poliorcetes and Phila, the daughter of Antipater.

In 300 BCE, at which time she could not have been more than seventeen years of age, her hand is solicited by Seleucus, king of Syria, and she is conducted by her father Demetrius to Rhosus, on the Pierian coast (in Macedonia), where her nuptials are celebrated with the utmost magnificence.

Notwithstanding the disparity of their ages, she appears to have lived in perfect harmony with the old king for some years, and had already borne him one child, a daughter called Phila, when it is discovered that her stepson Antiochus is deeply enamored of her, and Seleucus, in order to save the life of his son, which is endangered by the violence of his passion, in 294 BCE gives up Stratonice in marriage to the young prince, whom he at the same time constitutes king of the eastern provinces The union seems to have been a prosperous one, but we find little subsequent mention of Stratonice.

She bears five children to Antiochus: Seleucus (he is executed for rebellion), Laodice, Apama II, Stratonice of Macedon and Antiochus II Theos, who succeeds his father as king.

The city of Stratonikeia in Caria is named after her by Antiochus.

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