Who was Antiochus Epiphanes? What does he have to do with future events?

Both Luke and Matthew recorded the “Beginning of sorrows” when referring to the Olivet Discourses. These included False Christs, Wars, Famines, Pestilence and earthquakes and were also mentioned in the Book of Revelation. All three Books refer to the Abomination of Desolation, however, in Luke it was the earlier desolation occurring in the time of Antiochus, king of Syria (175-164 BC). Antiochus was an evil tyrant who added “Epiphanes” to his name meaning “the god who appears or reveals himself.” Antiochus wanted to eradicate the Jewish religion and replace it with polytheism. He outlawed the practice of circumcision, under pain of death. Antiochus offered a swine sacrifice in every village and erected an idol to Zeus in the Holy of Holies. This lead to the Maccabean Revolt.
Matthew’s account concerns an event that occurs after the "beginning of sorrows"; that is, a future "abomination of desolation." Here Jesus is referencing an event that happened two centuries earlier but will be repeated in the future. “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains. (Matt. 24:15-16). Jesus is warning the Jews to flee to the mountains (Petra?) as the Great Tribulation is beginning.

Antiochus was prophetic of the Antichrist who will come to power in the 70^th Week of Daniel. This coming prince will hold his own Abomination of Desolation in the midst of the 70th Week. He, too, will set up an idol-an image of himself-to be worshipped in the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem. Just as Antiochus tried to wipe out everything Jewish, after the Abomination of Desolation the antichrist will have contaminated the Holy of Holies and will kill and torture them. Ths will also be known as the "Time of Jacob's Trouble."