 The Seleucid king Seleucus IV, who had followed a generally peaceful policy, was murdered in 175 BC and after two months of conflict his brother Antiochus IV Epiphanes secured the throne.The unsettled situation empowered the warhawks in the Ptolemaic court, and Eulaeus and Lenaeus were unable or unwilling to resist them, with Cleopatra I no longer alive.By 172 BC, preparations for war were underway.