1-626-198 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The meeting between the Roman Ambassador, Popillius, and King Antiochus, Egypt, c18th century. Gaius Popillius Laenas was sent as an envoy to prevent a war between Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire and Ptolemaic Egypt. On being confronted with the Roman demands that he abort his attack on Alexandria, Antiochus played for time; Popillius Laenas is supposed to have drawn a circle around the king in the sand with his cane, and ordered him not to move out of it until a firm answer had been given. The Syrians withdrew. Engraved for Middleton's Complete System of Geography.