Ancient History PhD @ UChicago | Seleukid Empire | Epigraphy | Numismatics | Video Games | Classics in Latin America. Otter enthusiast 
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What does an enslaved fire-breathing magician from Syria that claimed to chat with gods & led one of the largest enslaved peoples’ rebellions in Roman history have to do with the Seleukids? A small
on Eunous and his rise from an enslaved person to a Seleukid king in Sicily. 1/?pic.twitter.com/EdHE9VaM2H
First, context. Picture it, Sicily, 135 BCE. Firmly in Roman control, Sicily was a fertile province and open to exploitation by elites who could purchase large tracts of land. The land was worked by an influx of enslaved peoples from the many wars of this period. 2/?pic.twitter.com/ARkoYscKUz
Our sources note the enslaved peoples of Sicily were especially mistreated with slave owners refusing to give them food or clothes; they resorted to stealing to survive. Among these enslaved peoples was Eunous who was born in the Seleukid city of Apameia in N. Syria. 3/?pic.twitter.com/MvLYWgVVbw
The disparity between enslaved peoples and owners grew and tension was high. Eunous was notable early on due to his charisma and showmanship; he spoke magical words and could breathe fire through a hidden device (Diodoros says a combustible hidden in a nutshell in his mouth). 4/?pic.twitter.com/kjjxnB53fz
He claimed he frequently conversed with gods, including Atargatis, a fertility mother goddess from N. Syria that sported a fish tail. She is even featured on coins from Seleukid Damascus (below) and finds a Greek counterpart in Demeter, featured on Eunous’ own coins later. 5/?pic.twitter.com/6GifTvgs1a
Eunous also claimed his fiery prophecies were due to Apollo. The god was the purported father of the founder of the Seleukid dynasty, Seleukos I, and was featured on coins (example below) as a means of legitimizing Seleukos and his descendants through this divine lineage. 6/?pic.twitter.com/U6L52ZJni8
Eunous was likely born a free citizen of Apameia along with his wife. They both ended up enslaved, likely as a result of conflict within the Seleukid Empire at some point (there were many) and were sent to Sicily as part of the greater Mediterranean trade of enslaved peoples. 7/?
Eunous could have been Greek due to his name or a native Syrian that was given the name after being enslaved. He was, however, unabashedly Syrian in his self-posturing and his followers, regardless of their actual birthplace, would all be called by our sources “Syrian." 8/?
At the height of the rebellion when the Sicilian city of Henna was captured, Eunous killed his owner and joined the rest of the enslaved peoples in arming themselves and taking revenge on their owners for their ill-treatment. They even managed to beat back local Roman forces. 9/?pic.twitter.com/mTG5p4OouC
Eunous was made a general & soon took up the kingly diadem, taking the royal Seleukid name of Antiokhos & proclaiming his wife queen. He soon developed a court & even minted coins with “King Eunous” and Demeter’s face and a stalk of grain, one of the main exports of Sicily. 10/?pic.twitter.com/C47AYdWIvi
An enslaved person from Apameia just managed to install himself as a Seleukid king in Sicily with all the court accoutrements. He even had generals under him, including several other Syrians, like a certain Sarapion and Kilikian Kleon, who made up a court of philoi ("friends").pic.twitter.com/aOylgPE4Yr
Ultimately, Eunous, called “King of Rebels” or “Charlatan King” by our sources, was defeated by the Romans and thrown into prison where he died shortly after, being eaten up by lice and likely contracting some disease. Why is he important? Well, for a lot reasons. 12/?
His adoption of Seleukid titles & court structure showed that Hellenistic notions of statehood were still seen as viable alternatives to Rome. It shows the ideological power of religion and, even if accounts are embellished, just how much of a legitimizing tool it could be. 13/?pic.twitter.com/c3YrJfvcP3
This is especially f*cking cool when you think about how deities can be interpreted by different peoples in a single region, the blending of Atargatis with Demeter being just one example of a huge trend that allowed for "state" and "local" religions to coexist and interact. 14/?
It also shows how Hellenistic kingship and queenship was shaped by the personality and dynamism of particular monarchs. They had to present themselves in certain ways to maintain power. These ranged from clothing (the diadem), military excellence, and reverence to the gods. 15/?pic.twitter.com/SYF3nuEKmb
The accounts also display the "othering" and orientalizing lens through which Graeco-Roman authors treat aspects of Hellenistic kingdoms and the Near East in general in addition their depiction of slaves as highly superstitious but also how magic was commonplace in antiquity 16/?
If we believe our sources that Eunous himself called his fellow enslaved peoples "Syrians" it is also a super fascinating instance of the transplantation of an ethnicity to create a new communal identity in Sicily. Religion and myths were crucial for this unifying process. 17/?
Eunous story of enslavement serves as a testament to how commonplace and vast the use and trade of enslaved peoples was in antiquity and how this contributed to the displacement of people and communities. I could go on, but this is a silly Twitter thread not an article. 18/?
Conclusion after these two posts featuring references. Pictures of coins from the always wonderful ANS Coin Database. Coin of Eunous from the Brit Mus (1868,0730.156) Pic of Eunous statue in modern Enna from Wikipedia. Main ancient sources: Diod.Sic, Athen., and Liv. Per.
If you want to know more, I recommend: Engels, D. 2017. "A Syrian Sicily? Seleukid Aspects of the First Sicilian Slave War and the Reign of Eunous-Antiochos." Also a wonderful (and free) blog post by James Currie of Warwick: https://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/numismatics/entry/two_sides_of/ … 19/?
Most importantly, this story shows that the Seleukid Empire was still seen as a viable polity even after 188 BCE. The "Roman Republic steamroll" narrative erases just how fascinating and socially, culturally, politically, and religiously complex this period really was! Study it!
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