Appendix 7 - Antiochus IV and the temple of Nanaia

Summary

Did Antiochus IV attack the temple of Artemis-Nanaia in Elymais and suffer a repulse, or is the story a doublet of the story of Antiochus III attacking the temple of Bel in Elymais and losing his life? The sources are Polybius xxxi, 9 (ii); I Maccabees vi, 1–4; II Maccabees i, 13 sqq. and ix, isqq.; Josephus, Ant. xii, 354–9; Appian, Syr. 66; Porphyry, frs. 53, 56 in F. Gr. Hist.; Eusebius 1, 253 (Schöne); Jerome on Daniel x, pp. 718, 722. Of these, the two early sources, Polybius and the author of I Maccabees (whose story is independent of Polybius and is reproduced by Josephus), know nothing of any attack on a temple.

What Polybius says is that Antiochus wanted money and proposed to attack the temple; it does not follow that he had information as to what Antiochus had in mind, and the statement might mean no more than that Antiochus had his army with him. Polybius does not say either that he then attacked the temple or that he was beaten off; he goes on to say that he was deceived of his expectation because the barbarians of the place would not agree to the proposed transgression of law (or custom). As Polybius could not possibly say that the natives did not agree to being attacked—a mere absurdity—the only thing which his rather obscure παρανομίᾳ can mean is that Antiochus made some proposal to the temple authorities which they rejected as unlawful or sacrilegious; and as he begins by saying that Antiochus wanted money, doubtless what it means is that the king demanded of the temple authorities money in some form, perhaps as (nominally) a loan which he may or may not have intended to repay.