Battle of Cana

Battle of Cana

Minted Greek coins showing Antiochus XII
Date84 BC
Location
Cana, the Dead Sea
Result

Nabataean victory

  • Seleucid king slain
Belligerents
Seleucid Empire Nabataean Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Antiochus XII  † Obodas I

The Battle of Cana was fought between Greek Seleucid Empire under king Antiochus XII Dionysus, and the Arab Nabataean Kingdom. Cana is an unknown village; scholars place it somewhere south or southwest of the Dead Sea.[1]

After the Nabataeans ambushed the Judaean Hasmoneans in a steep valley, they gained new territories, and the Greek Seleucids stationed in Damascus felt threatened by the rising power of the Nabataeans to their south.[2]

Antiochus was slain during the combat and the battle became a decisive Nabataean victory.[3][4] Antiochus's demoralized army fled and perished from starvation in the desert afterwards.[2]

  1. ^ Atkinson, Kenneth (2016). A History of the Hasmonean State: Josephus and Beyond. T&T Clark Jewish and Christian Texts. Vol. 23. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-567-66903-2.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference lost kingdom was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference ttoe was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference hup was invoked but never defined (see the help page).