Diodotus was a king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. An official under King Alexander I Balas, he led a revolt against Alexander's successor Demetrius II Nicator in 144 BC, he gained control of most of Syria and the Levant. At first he acted as regent and tutor for Alexander's infant son Antiochus VI Dionysus, but after the death of his charge in 142/141 BC, Diodotus declared himself king, he distanced himself from the Seleucid dynasty. For a period between 139 and 138, he was the sole ruler of the Seleucid empire. However, in 138 BC Demetrius II's brother Antiochus VII Sidetes invaded Syria and brought his rule to an end. Diodotus Tryphon is unique in the history of the Seleucid empire, as the only rebel from outside the dynasty to gain control of the whole kingdom. Other rebels had claimed the throne, such as Molon and Timarchus, but they never succeeded in bringing the whole realm under their control and both were defeated within a year of declaring themselves kings. By contrast, Tryphon held power for over seven years from his rebellion in 144 BC until his death in 138 BC.

Diodotus was from Casiana, a dependent town of the city of Apamea. He served as a general for Alexander Balas, during the civil war which the latter fought with Demetrius II Nicator. In 145 BC, when Alexander's father-in-law Ptolemy VI of Egypt switched his support to Demetrius II and invaded Syria, Diodotus and a man called Hierax were in command of the city of Antioch, they declared him king of the Seleucid Empire. Ptolemy, unwilling to rule both the Egyptian and Seleucid realms directly, declined the title in favour of Demetrius II. Revolt against Demetrius II As Demetrius II secured himself on the throne, he began to eliminate former associates of Alexander Balas. Diodotus considered himself to be in danger, he fled to an Arab ruler called Zabdiel, entrusted with the care of Alexander Balas's young son. Diodotus with Arab support declared Alexander's son the new king; the new king was less than five years old and Diodotus held all actual power as his regent. Diodotus and Antiochus were ignored by Demetrius who had to consolidate his power and was faced with financial troubles.

Utilising the discontent against the ruling regime Diodotus gathered a large army at his headquarters in Chalcis ad Belum. Demetrius marched against them but he was defeated in battle, after which Diodotus gained control of Apamea and Antioch. Numismatic evidence indicates that Apamea was taken in early 144 and Antioch in late 144 or early 143. Diodotus, in the name of the boy-king Antiochus VI, controlled most of Inland Syria, including Antioch, Apamea and Chalcis. Demetrius on the other hand based himself in Seleucia Pieria and retained control of many of the Syrian and Phoenician coastal cities and Cilicia. Mesopotamia continued to recognise Demetrius as well and an invasion of the region by Diodotus in mid-144 seems to have been a failure. Territories further east, such as Susa and Elymais were conquered by the Parthians, who took control of Mesopotamia as well in mid-141 BC. Intervention in JudaeaAt the same time Diodotus made diplomatic overtures to the Jews under Jonathan Apphus in order to have them join with him against Demetrius, giving him honours and appointing his brother Simon Thassi as general.

Jonathan accepted these overtures. Josephus justifies this by claiming that Demetrius had persecuted the Jews and that the memory of Alexander Balas encouraged them to support his son Antiochus VI; the situation did not last, however. The Jewish sources claim that the boldness of the Jonathan's attacks on Demetrius' supporters led Diodotus to fear his power and begin to plot against him. In 142 BC, Diodotus dispatched troops who lured Jonathan to Ptolemais with a small guard and captured him. Although Simon Thassi paid the money that Diodotus had demanded as a ransom for his brother, Diodotus had him executed anyway and attempted to attack Jerusalem. Heavy snowfall forced him to return to Syria. Simon became a close ally of Demetrius II, who granted extensive freedoms to him - seen as the moment when the Hasmonean Jewish state achieved full independence. In the same year an army of Tryphon’s routed a pro-Demetrius force under Sarpedon between Ptolemais and Tyre, but as they were marching along the coast in pursuit, a great tidal wave wiped out the army, according to Athenaeus.

In late 142 or early 141 BC, Antiochus VI Dionysus died during a medical operation. Diodotus convinced the army to elect him king. Royal titles and representationAs king, Diodotus used the name Tryphon Autocrator.'Tryphon' referred to the Hellenistic royal virtue of tryphe. Tryphe was sometimes a negative attribute, implying softness, but could be a positive virtue, advertising the ruler's wealth and ability to reward his subjects; the epithet Autokrator is unique. Edwyn Bevan argued that this epithet was intended to recall the Macedonian kings Philip II and Alexander the Great, who had held the title of Strategos Autokrator as elected leaders of the Greek forces against Persia. In Bevan's view this reference indicated Tryphon's election as king by the'free Greco-Macedonian states of Syria'. Boris Chrubasik argues that Tryphon took the epithet in imitation of the Parthian rulers and to emphasise his independence from his predecessors; the marital overtones of it served to counter the implications of softness that sometimes were associated with tryp

Vakhtang VI known as Vakhtang the Scholar, Vakhtang the Lawgiver and Ḥosaynqolī Khan, was a Georgian monarch of the royal Bagrationi dynasty. He ruled the East Georgian Kingdom of Kartli as a vassal of Safavid Persia from 1716 to 1724. One of the most important and extraordinary statesman of early 18th-century Georgia, he is known as a notable legislator, critic and poet, his reign was terminated by the Ottoman invasion following the disintegration of Safavid Persia, which forced Vakhtang into exile in the Russian Empire. Vakhtang was unable to get the tsar's support for his kingdom and instead had to permanently stay with his northern neighbors for his own safety. On his way to a diplomatic mission sanctioned by Empress Anna, he fell ill and died in southern Russia in 1737, never reaching Georgia. Son of Prince Levan, he ruled as regent for his absent uncle, George XI, his brother, from 1703 to 1712. During these years, he launched a series of long-needed reforms, revived economy and culture, reorganised administration and attempted to fortify the central royal authority.

In 1707–1709, he revised the legal code which would operate as a basis for the Georgian feudal system up to the Russian annexation. He was summoned by the shah Husayn in 1712 to be confirmed as wali/king of Kartli; the shah would not grant the confirmation, except on condition of Vakhtang embracing Islam, which having refused to do, he was imprisoned, after a brief regency of Prince Simon, his brother Jesse, who complied with the condition, was put in his place in 1714. Jesse governed Kartli two years, during which he suffered from internal troubles and the inroads of the Dagestani tribes, otherwise known as Lekianoba. During the years of captivity, Vakhtang requested aid from the Christian monarchs of Europe he sent his uncle and tutor, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, on a mission to Louis XIV of France. In his last letters to the Pope Innocent XIII and Charles VI dated 29 November 1722 said Vakhtang that he was since years secretly Catholic, but he could not confess it in publicity "because of betraying people about me" and confirmed with it the reports of Capuchin missionaries from Persia.

They claimed that Vakhtang became Catholic before he converted outwards to Islam and went there to Catholic mass. Politically went his efforts, however, in vain, Vakhtang reluctantly converted in 1716, adopting the name of Husayn-Qoli Khan. Appointed sipah-salar of the Persian armies, he served as beglerbeg of Azerbaijan for some time, he sent his son. Vakhtang remained seven years in Persia before he was permitted to return to his kingdom in 1719, he was sent back with the task to put an end to the continual raids by north Caucasian mountain tribes the Lezgin tribes of Dagestan. Assisted by the ruler of neighboring Kakheti as well as the beglarbeg of Shirvan, Vakhtang made significant progress in putting a halt to the Lezgins. At the campaign's climax however, in the winter of 1721, the Persian government recalled him; the order, which came after grand vizier Fath-Ali Khan Daghestani's fall, was made by the instigation of the eunuch faction within the royal court, having persuaded the shah that a successful end of the campaign for Vakhtang would do the Safavid realm more harm than good.

This terminated Vakhtang's short-lived loyalty to the Shah. He made secret contacts with Tsar Peter the Great of Russia, expressed his support for Russia's future presence in the Caucasus. After several delays, Peter himself led an army of about 25,000 and a substantial fleet along the west coast of the Caspian Sea in July 1722, initiating the Russo-Persian War. At this time, Safavid Persia was internally in chaos and had been declining for years, with the capital Isfahan besieged by rebel Afghans; as a Persian vassal and commander, Vakhtang's brother, died during the siege and the Shah appointed Vakhtang's son Bakar as commander of the defense. However, Vakhtang refused to come to the relief of Isfahan. At the same time, the Ottomans offered him an alliance against Persia, but Vakhtang preferred to await the arrival of the Russians. Peter's promises to provide military support to the Caucasian Christians for final emancipation from the Persian yoke created a great euphoria among the Georgians and Armenians.

In September, Vakhtang VI encamped at Ganja with a combined Georgian-Armenian army of 40,000 to join the advancing Russian expedition. He hoped that Peter would not only seek gains for Russia, but would protect Georgia from both Persians and Turks. However, Peter returned to Russia, he directed his armies to seize territories along the Caspian, but chose not to confront the Ottomans who were preparing to claim succession to Safavid rule in the Caucasus. Vakhtang, abandoned by his Russian allies, returned to Tbilisi in November 1722; the Shah got revenge on him by giving a sanction to the Muslim king Constantine II of Kakheti to take the kingdom of Kartli. In May 1723, Constantine and his Persians marched into Vakhtang's possessions. Vakhtang, after having defended himself for some time at Tbilisi, was expelled. Vakhtang fled to Inner Kartli, From there he attempted to win support from the advancing Ottoman forces and submitted to the authority of the Sultan. In these i

George Herbert Tyson Smith, was an English sculptor born in Liverpool. He executed many works in particular war memorials, he was the brother-in-law of fellow Liverpool sculptor Edward Carter Preston. Carter Preston designed the "Next of Kin Memorial Plaque" He was the uncle of the potter Julia Carter Preston. Tyson Smith's father was an lithographic printer. Tyson Smith attended Liverpool College of Art where he studied plaster and stone carving and clay modeling, he was taught drawing by Augustus John at the "Art Sheds". Tyson Smith was interested in the early artistic works of Egypt and Greece. In the First World War, Tyson Smith served in the Royal Flying Corps. Tyson Smith set up his first studio in 1919 when he returned from war service and he moved into a larger studio at Bluecoat Studios in 1925. Associate member of Royal Society of British Sculptors from 6 December 1927 - 1945. Became a fellow in 1945. Fellow of Royal Society of British Sculptors. 8 March 1945 - 1972 Tyson Smith is buried in Allerton Cemetery in Liverpool