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Third Syrian War (246-241; Laodicean War)
Syrian Wars: series of conflicts between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires in the third and second centuries BCE; at stake was an area called Coele Syria, which is more or less identical to modern Israel, the Palestine territories, Lebanon, and southern Syria.
Course of events
Ptolemy III Euergetes
Early July 246: Antiochus II Theos dies, leaving a confused dynastic situation.
From his second marriage, with the Ptolemaic princess Berenice Phernephorus, he had a five-year old son Antiochus; they live in Antioch
Late summer 246: the child Antiochus is killed by partisans of Laodice
September 246: king Ptolemy III Euergetes decides to avenge his relative: outbreak of the Third Syrian War. He captures Seleucia and Antioch, but cannot prevent that Berenice is killed by the populace
245, Summer: Seleucus crosses the Taurus to the south, and forces Ptolemy to retreat; Seleucus reconquers Babylonia
Antigonus II Gonatas of Macedonia attacks the Egyptian possessions in the Aegean (battle of Andros: Egypt loses the Cyclades)
243: Aratus, leader of the Achaean League, supported by Ptolemy, seizes Corinth from its Macedonian garrison; the Ptolemaic possessions in the Aegean are now left alone
Seleucus proceeds to the south, but is defeated
241: End of the Third Syrian War; the Ptolemies have gained the Syrian coast and have lost some of their Aegean possessions
