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Meanwhile, since his disastrous defeat at Raphia, Antiochus had been gradually strengthening his position in Upper Asia, where he had won his title of “the Great” by his successes against the Parthians and Bactrians, as also on the banks of the Indus. Having thus re-established the supremacy of the Seleucidæ he returned to Western Asia, to find his old rival dead, and the Egyptian throne in the possession of a child. He instantly embraced the opportunity of attacking the Egyptian dominions, and in concert with PhilipIII. of Macedon resolved to avenge the defeat at Raphia. In the campaigns that ensued the Jews suffered severely, and became in turn the prey of each of the contending parties15. In B.C.203, Antiochus succeeded in taking Jerusalem. In B.C.199 it was retaken by Scopas, the general of the Egyptian forces. Next year Antiochus reappeared in the field, and at the foot of Mount Panium16, near the sources of the Jordan, gained a decisive victory over Scopas, capturing that general himself and the remnant of his forces, which had fled for refuge to Sidon.