{{Short description|Battle of the Seleucid Civil War between Seleucus II and Antiochus Hierax}} {{about|the Seleucid civil war|the battle fought with Timur and Bayezid the Thunderbolt|Battle of Ankara}} {{Infobox military conflict | conflict=Battle of Ancyra | image= | caption= | partof= | date= 239 BC | place= Ancyra<br />(modern-day Ankara, Turkey) | result= Victory of Antiochus Hierax | combatant1 = Seleucid Empire| | combatant2 = Antiochus Hierax<br>Kingdom of Pontus<br>Galatians | commander1=Seleucus II Callinicus | commander2=Antiochus Hierax<br>Mithridates II of Pontus |strength1= Unknown |strength2= Unknown |casualties1= Heavy, possibly 20,000 |casualties2= Unknown, low |}} The '''Battle of Ancyra''' was fought in ca. 239 BC<ref>{{Cite web|title=Battle of Ancyra, 240 or 239 B.C.|url=http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_ancyra.html|access-date=2020-07-10|website=www.historyofwar.org}}</ref> between the Seleucid King Seleucus II Callinicus and his brother Prince Antiochus Hierax.<ref> Overtoom, "The Power-Transition Crisis of the 240s BCE and the Creation of the Parthian State," The International History Review Volume 38, 2016 - Issue 5. Pages 984-1013. [https://doi.org/10.1080/07075332.2016.1140669]</ref> Civil war had raged in the Seleucid Empire since 244 BC, when Queen Laodice I had supported her son Antiochus in a rebellion against Seleucus. Antiochus fought to establish his own kingdom in Anatolia. He was able to take advantage of his brother's distraction and defeat at the hands of Ptolemy III in the Third Syrian War. By 239 BC Seleucus had made peace with Ptolemy and having rebuilt his army, invaded Anatolia.
After the war had lasted two years or so, during which we have no information on its progress, Seleucus was defeated in a great battle against the united forces of Mithridates II of Pontus, Hierax and the Galatians near Ancyra, in around 239 BC. Seleucus was barely able to escape with his life, but lost around 20,000 of his soldiers. <ref> Grainger, "The rise of the Seleucid Empire," Page 195.</ref>
Antiochus' victory at Ancyra (modern Ankara, Turkey) forced Seleucus to relinquish his territories in Anatolia to him and content himself with the Seleucid lands east of the Taurus mountains.<ref name="Jaques50">Jaques 2007, p. 50</ref>
== Notes == {{Reflist}}
== References == *{{cite book |last1=Jaques |first1=Tony |year=2007 |title=Dictionary of Battles and Sieges |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3amnMPTPP5MC |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-33537-2}} *{{cite book |last1=Grainger |first1=John.D |year=2014 |title=The Rise of the Seleucid Empire, |publisher= Pen & Sword |isbn=978-1-78303-053-8}}
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Category:239 BC Ancyra -239 Ancyra -239 Ancyra Category:History of Ankara Province Ancyra