Seleucus II Callinicus or
Pogon (the epithets meaning "beautiful victor" and "bearded", respectively), was a ruler of the
Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, who reigned from
246 to
225 BC. He was proclaimed king by his mother,
Laodice, while her partisans at
Antioch murdered
Berenice and her son.
This dynastic feud began the
Third Syrian War. Ptolemy III, who was Berenice's brother and the ruler of Egypt, invaded the Seleucid Empire and marched victoriously to the Tigris or beyond. He received the submission of the Seleucid Empire's eastern provinces, while Egyptian fleets swept the coast of
Asia Minor.
Seleucus managed to maintain himself in the interior of Asia Minor. When Ptolemy returned to Egypt, Seleucus recovered Northern Syria and the nearer provinces of
Iran. However,
Antiochus Hierax, a younger brother of Seleucus, was set up as a rival in Asia Minor against Seleucus by a party to which Laodice herself adhered.
At
Ancyra (about
235 BC) Seleucus sustained a crushing defeat and left the country beyond the
Taurus to his brother and the other powers of the peninsula. Seleucus then undertook an
anabasis to regain
Parthia, the results of which came to nothing. According to some sources, he was even taken prisoner for several years by the Parthian king. Other sources mention that he established a peace with
Arsaces I, who recognized his sovereignty.
In Asia Minor,
Pergamon now rose to greatness under
Attalus I. Antiochus Hierax, after a failed attempt to seize his brother's dominions when his own were vanishing, perished as a fugitive in
Thrace in
228 or
227 BC.
About a year later, Seleucus was killed by a fall from his horse. He was succeeded by his elder son,
Seleucus III Ceraunus, and later by his younger son
Antiochus III the Great. 
