Timarchus or Timarch was a usurper

Usurper

Usurper is a derogatory term used to describe either an illegitimate or controversial claimant to the power; often, but not always in a monarchy, or a person who succeeds in establishing himself as a monarch without inheriting the throne, or any other person exercising authority unconstitutionally...

 in the Seleucid empire between 163-160 BCE.

A Greek nobleman, possibly from Miletus

Miletus

Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria...

 in Asia Minor, Timarchus was a friend of the Seleucid prince Antiochus IV Epiphanes during his time as hostage to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. He was appointed satrap

Satrap

Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....

 of Media

Medes

The MedesThe Medes...

 in western Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

 when Antiochus IV Epiphanes

Antiochus IV Epiphanes

Antiochus IV Epiphanes ruled the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC. He was a son of King Antiochus III the Great. His original name was Mithridates; he assumed the name Antiochus after he ascended the throne....

 became king in 175 BCE, and his brother Heracleides became minister of the royal finances. The Persian part of the empire was threatened by the Parthia

Parthia

Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....

n kingdom, and Timarchus probably spent much of his time reinforcing the defences. The Seleucid realms probably extended as far as the area of Teheran during this time.

Short reign and defeat

In the turmoil following the death of Antiochus IV during a Persian campaign in 163 BCE, Timarchus became the more or less independent ruler of Media, opposing the general Lysias who acted as steward for the infant king Antiochus V Eupator, son of Antiochus IV.

In 162 BCE Demetrius I, the proper heir to the Seleucid throne, became king, killing Lysias as well as the young Antiochus V. This may well have been the provocation that caused Timarchus to take the final step to independence and declare himself king.

Timarchus now managed to extend his realm into Babylonia

Babylonia

Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...

, where records of his reign were inscribed into the astronomical calendars. His forces were however not enough for the legal Seleucid king: Demetrius defeated and killed Timarchus in 160 BCE, and the Seleucid empire was temporarily united again.

Timarchus was one of the last Hellenistic kings in Iran but unfortunately little is known of his reign, except the short - and stereotypical - notion by Appian

Appian

Appian of Alexandria was a Roman historian of Greek ethnicity who flourished during the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius.He was born ca. 95 in Alexandria. He tells us that, after having filled the chief offices in the province of Egypt, he went to Rome ca. 120, where he practised as...

 that Timarchus was a tyrant. On his coins, he introduced the epithet "Great King" (Basileus Megas) which was the traditional Achaemenid title and may reflect an effort to gather support from the natives in a time when the Seleucid empire lost ground in Iran. He was inspired by the Bactria

Bactria

Bactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...

n king Eucratides the Great, who had taken the same assuming title a few years earlier.

Timarchus was survived and avenged by his brother Heracleides, who eventually became champion of Alexander Balas

Alexander Balas

Alexander Balas , ruler of the Greek Seleucid kingdom 150-146 BC, was a native of Smyrna of humble origin, but gave himself out to be the son of Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Laodice IV and heir to the Seleucid throne...

, a boy that he claimed was a natural son of Antiochus IV. Heracleides convinced the Roman Senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

to support the young pretender against Demetrius, who was defeated and killed in 150 BCE. Thus the family of Timarchus contributed in no little way to the disintegration of the Seleucid empire.

Sources

Appian, Syriaka (The Syrian Wars) 8:§§ 45,47

Biography of Parthian king Mithradates I (a contemporary of Timarchus)