Family and early life Laodice was a daughter of the Seleucid King
Seleucus IV Philopator and his wife,
Laodice IV. She had two brothers:
Antiochus and
Demetrius I Soter. She was born and raised in the Seleucid Empire.
Queen of Macedon The
Antigonid king of
Macedon,
Perseus had experienced considerable diplomatic successes in the
Seleucid Empire,
Greece and on the island of
Rhodes. As a result of his diplomatic actions, he married Laodice, either in 178 BC or 177 BC, making Laodice queen of Macedon. Not much is known about her time as queen or her relationship with Perseus. However, Laodice bore Perseus at least four children: Alexander, Philip, Andriscus (?) and a daughter. After a series of clashes with the
Roman Republic, Perseus was finally decisively defeated by the Romans under
Lucius Aemilius Paullus at the
Battle of Pydna in 168 BC. The final defeat and captivity of Perseus and their children was the end of the Antigonid rule over Macedonia and its territories.
Later life Unlike her husband, Laodice seems to have avoided captivity in Rome, and instead appears to have lived for much of the 160s in the court of her uncle,
Antiochus IV Epiphanes and her half-brother
Antiochus V Eupator. After their deaths, her brother
Demetrius I Soter became Seleucid King. Demetrius I ruled from 161 BC to 150 BC. There is a possibility that Demetrius I married Laodice, but this is not certain. However, what is certain is that Demetrius' wife was named Laodice, and was the mother of his three sons
Demetrius II Nicator,
Antiochus VII Sidetes and Antigonus. Around 160 BC, Demetrius I offered Laodice to their maternal first cousin
Ariarathes V of Cappadocia in marriage, which Ariarathes V declined. In 158 BC, there was civil war in
Cappadocia between Ariarathes V and his brother,
Orophernes of Cappadocia. Demetrius, still upset of Ariarathes’ refusal, supported the rebel. However, by 156 BC, Ariarathes V had emerged as the victor of the Cappadocian civil war. By the summer of 152 BC, a usurper by the name of
Alexander Balas, who claimed to be the son of
Antiochus IV, was gaining support and momentum in his bid for the Seleucid throne. In a military campaign against Alexander Balas near
Antioch, Demetrius I was defeated. In 150 BC, Laodice was killed along with Demetrius I. ==See also==