Antiochus IV Epiphanes was the eighth ruler of the Seleucid Empire from 175 to 164 BC. He is most infamous for his severe persecution of the Jews which led to the Maccabean Revolt. Antiochus IV sought to impose Greek culture and polytheistic religion throughout his domain. His attempts to suppress Judaism sparked the revolt of the Maccabees, who eventually drove out the Seleucids from Judea and established the Hasmonean dynasty. Antiochus IV’s actions were predicted in Daniel’s visions centuries earlier and he became a type of the coming antichrist who would persecute God’s people before Christ’s return.
Antiochus IV Epiphanes was the son of Antiochus III the Great and Laodice I. He was originally named Mithridates but took the throne name Epiphanes which means “God Manifest.” Antiochus IV spent his youth as a hostage in Rome after his father’s defeat in the Roman-Syrian War. After Antiochus III’s death, Demetrius I Soter should have succeeded him but was still held in Rome. Antiochus IV seized the opportunity to make a bid for the throne with the help of King Eumenes II of Pergamum. With Eumenes’ help, Antiochus IV gained the throne and had his nephew Demetrius assassinated when Demetrius later threatened his power.
Antiochus IV sought to unite his culturally diverse empire by promoting Greek culture and religion. He required Greek architecture, theater, art, literature, philosophy, and religion everywhere he ruled. He built new Greek cities, temples and gymnasiums throughout his realm. Antiochus IV was fanatically devoted to the Greek gods, taking the name Epiphanes meaning “God Manifest.” He believed he was the earthly incarnation of Zeus and deserving of worship. Antiochus IV’s efforts to impose Greek religion brought him into direct conflict with observant Jews who refused to abandon the worship of Yahweh for Greek polytheism.
The Jewish historian Josephus recorded Antiochus IV’s horrific persecutions designed to eradicate Judaism from Judea:
Now Antiochus was not satisfied either with his unexpected taking the city, or with its pillage, or with the great slaughter he had made there; but being overcome with his violent passions, and remembering what he had suffered during the siege, he compelled the Jews to dissolve the laws of their country, and to keep their infants uncircumcised, and to sacrifice swine’s flesh upon the altar; against which they all opposed themselves, and the most approved among them were put to death. (Antiquities 12.5.4)
Antiochus IV outlawed central components of Jewish worship – circumcision, sacrifices, Sabbath observance, and Torah reading. His forces desecrated the Jerusalem Temple in 169 BC, sacrificing a pig on the altar to Zeus and spreading its broth over the Holy of Holies. Many Jews were martyred for resisting the king’s religious decrees, including a woman and her seven sons who refused to eat pork (2 Maccabees 7).
The king’s actions fulfill prophecies in the book of Daniel predicting a ruler who would come from the Greek Empire and viciously persecute the Jews:
And out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. It grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them. It became great, even as great as the Prince of the host. And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. (Daniel 8:9-12 ESV)
Antiochus IV fulfilled this prophecy precisely by banning temple sacrifices, desecrating the sanctuary, destroying copies of Scripture (“throwing truth to the ground”) and slaughtering those Jews who remained faithful to God’s laws. The “little horn” in Daniel’s vision represents Antiochus as a forerunner of the ultimate persecutor – the Antichrist who will come in the end times before Christ’s return (cf. Daniel 7:8, 7:20; Revelation 13:5-8).
After banning Jewish religion, Antiochus IV tried to unify his empire under the worship of Zeus. He erected a statue of Zeus in the Jerusalem Temple in 167 BC and required everyone in his kingdom to worship it:
Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege upon the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding cities of Judah (1 Maccabees 1:54 ESV)
This “desolating sacrilege” or “abomination of desolation” provoked outrage from observant Jews and led to the Maccabean Revolt. Mattathias and his five sons, known as the Maccabees, raised an army that defeated Antiochus IV’s forces and reconsecrated the Temple in 164 BC. This victory is still commemorated by Jews today in the festival of Hanukkah.
Antiochus IV’s persecution was foreseen by the prophet Daniel centuries earlier:
His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. (Daniel 11:31 NIV)
Jesus affirmed this prophecy was fulfilled by Antiochus IV and indicated another end-times fulfillment when the Antichrist will set up an abomination of desolation in the rebuilt Jewish temple (Matthew 24:15). Antiochus IV’s actions foreshadowed the persecution God’s people will face before Christ’s return.
Antiochus IV’s reign ended abruptly as he was stricken with an unknown disease. The apocryphal account describes him rotting away:
But the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him an incurable and unseen blow…a dreadful pain in his bowels, with bitter torments of the inner organs. And that most justly, for he had tortured the inner organs of others….his flesh rotted away, and worms swarmed all over him as he lay in anguish and pains, his flesh rotting away because of the unbearable stench. (2 Maccabees 9:5, 7, 9)
Josephus records that Antiochus IV regretted his persecution of the Jews as he was dying (Antiquities 12.9.1). But his atrocities provoked the Maccabean revolt and permanently marked him as a despised tyrant in Jewish memory.
In conclusion, Antiochus IV Epiphanes was the Greco-Syrian king whose brutal persecution of the Jews sparked the Maccabean revolt. He sought to eradicate Judaism and impose Greek polytheism throughout his realm. Antiochus desecrated the Jerusalem Temple in 169 BC, slaughtered Jews who kept God’s laws, and erected an altar to Zeus in the Temple, fulfilling Daniel’s prophecy about the “abomination of desolation.” His actions prefigured the coming Antichrist who will also persecute God’s people before Christ’s return. Though infamous as a tyrant, Antiochus IV’s role in salvation history ultimately paved the way for Judean independence under the Hasmonean dynasty.