ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES, or the Illustrious, usurped the throne of Syria from his nephew Demetrius, 175 years before Christ, and attempted to take Egypt from his nephew Ptolemy Philometer; but was repulsed. He deposed Onias, the high-priest of the Jews; and besieged and took Jerusalem, 170 years before Christ, when he prophaned the temple of God, offered sacrifices in it to Jupiter Olympius, carried away the sacred vessels, and committed the most horrid acts of cruelty. At his return to Antioch, 167 years before Christ, he put to death the seven brothers, the Maccabees, with old Eleazar. However, Matthias and Judas Maccabeus defeated his armies; and he himself was routed by the Elymeans, and obliged to return to Babylon, where he was seized with a dreadful disease, and died in the greatest inward agonies, 164 years before the Christian æra. He was succeeded by his son,—