34, 35. (a) To what “coastlands” did the king of the north turn his face? (b) How did Rome bring an end to “the reproach” from the king of the north? (c) How did Antiochus III die, and who came to be the next king of the north?

³⁴ Referring to the reverses of the king of the north, the angel added: “And he [Antiochus III] will turn his face back to the coastlands and will actually capture many. And a commander [Rome] will have to make the reproach from him cease for himself [Rome], so that his reproach [that from Antiochus III] will not be. He [Rome] will make it turn back upon that one.

³⁵ The “coastlands” were those of Macedonia, Greece, and Asia Minor. A war broke out in Greece in 192 B.C.E., and Antiochus III was induced to come to Greece. Displeased because of the Syrian king’s efforts to capture additional territories there, Rome formally declared war on him. At Thermopylae he suffered a defeat at Roman hands. About a year after losing the battle of Magnesia in 190 B.C.E., he had to give up everything in Greece, Asia Minor, and in areas west of the Taurus Mountains. Rome exacted a heavy fine and established its domination over the Syrian king of the north. Driven from Greece and Asia Minor and having lost nearly all his fleet, Antiochus III ‘turned his face back to the fortresses of his own land,’ Syria. The Romans had ‘turned back upon him his reproach against them.’