Antiochus VIII Grypus

Antiochus VIII Epiphanes
Antiochus VIII Callinicus/Philometor
Coin of Antiochus VIII
(Co-regent) King of the Seleucid Empire
(Co-regent) King of Syria
Reign125–121/123 BC (as co-regent with his mother Cleopatra Thea in opposition to Alexander II)
121/123 BC–96 BC (in opposition to his half-brother/cousin Antiochus IX)
Coronation125 BC
PredecessorCleopatra Thea, Seleucus V, Alexander II Zabinas
SuccessorSeleucus VI
BornUnknown
Died96 BC
SpouseTryphaena
Cleopatra Selene
IssueSeleucus VI Epiphanes
Antiochus XI
Philip I
Demetrius III
Antiochus XII
Laodice, Queen of Commagene
DynastySeleucid
FatherDemetrius II Nicator
MotherCleopatra Thea

Antiochus VIII Epiphanes/Callinicus/Philometor, nicknamed Grypus (Greek: Γρυπός, "hook-nose"), was the ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire from 125 to 96 BC. He was the younger son of Demetrius II and Cleopatra Thea. He may have spent his early life in Athens and returned to Syria after the deaths of his father and brother Seleucus V. At first he was joint ruler with his mother. Fearing her influence, Antiochus VIII had Cleopatra Thea poisoned in 121 BC.

Political instability affected most of Antiochus VIII's reign. From 116 BC he fought a civil war against his half-brother Antiochus IX. Antiochus VIII's wife, the Ptolemaic Egyptian princess Tryphaena, had her sister and the wife of Antiochus IX, the former Cleopatra IV of Egypt, murdered in 112 BC; Antiochus IX killed Tryphaena in revenge. In 102 BC, Antiochus VIII's aunt Cleopatra III of Egypt, the mother of the two rival queens, gave him the hand of her daughter Cleopatra Selene in marriage. Antiochus VIII was assassinated in 96 BC.