Battle of the Oenoparus 145 BC
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 145 BC | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Ancient (before 500) | derived from year |
| Location | Turkey | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Seleucid Civil War of 147–137 BCE | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Ptolemaic Kingdom, Seleucid Empire | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 36.1989, 36.1606 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of the Oenoparus took place in 145 BC on the Oenoparus river (the modern Afrin River, Syria) in the adjoining countryside of Antioch on the Orontes, the capital of the Seleucid Empire. It was fought between a coalition of Ptolemaic Egypt led by Ptolemy VI and Seleucids who favored the royal claim of Demetrius II Nicator against Seleucids who favored the claim of Alexander Balas. Both the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic kingdom were diadochi, Greek-ruled successor states established after the conquests of Alexander the Great.
The Ptolemaic force won the battle, and Balas's hopes of securing the throne were ended. However, King Ptolemy VI suffered a mortal wound in the battle. Despite the Egyptian forces winning the battle, they too would be driven out of Syria by the now unified Seleucid Empire under Demetrius II, which turned on the leaderless Egyptian force and drove them out of Seleucid territory.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Oenoparus (revision 1379082389), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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