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DEMETRIUS II

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 606 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DEMETRIUS II . NICATOR (first reign 145-140) was a See also:mere boy,' and the misgovernment of his Cretan supporters led to the See also:infant son of See also:Alexander Balas, See also:ANTIOCHUs VI. See also:Dionysus, being set up against him (145) by Tryphon, a See also:magnate of the 'See also:kingdom. Demetrius was driven from See also:Antioch and fixed his See also:court in the neighbouring See also:Seleucia. In 143 Tryphon murdered the See also:young Antiochus and assumed the diadem himself. Three years later Demetrius set off to reconquer the eastern provinces from the Parthians, leaving See also:Queen See also:Cleopatra to maintain his cause in See also:Syria. When Demetrius was taken prisoner by the Parthians, his younger See also:brother ANTIOCHUS VII. SIDETES (164–129) appeared in Syria, married Cleopatra and crushed Tryphon. Antiochus VII. was the last strong ruler of the See also:dynasty (138-129). He took See also:Jerusalem and once more brought the See also:Jews, who had won their See also:independence under the Hasmonaean See also:family, to subjection (see See also:MACCABEES). He led a new expedition against the Parthians in 430, but, after See also:signal successes, See also:fell fighting in 129 (see also See also:PERSIA, See also:History). Demetrius (second reign 129–126), who had been allowed by the Parthians to See also:escape, now returned to Syria, but was soon again driven from Antioch by a pretender, ALEXANDER ZABINAS, who had the support of the See also:king of See also:Egypt.

Demetrius was murdered at the instigation of his wife Cleopatra in 126. The remaining history of the dynasty is a wretched See also:

story of the struggle of different claimants, while the different factors of the kingdom, the cities and See also:barbarian races, more and more assert their independence. Both Demetrius II. and Antiochus VII. See also:left See also:children by Cleopatra, who See also:form See also:rival branches of the royal See also:house. To the See also:line of Demetrius belong his son SELEUCUS V. (126), assassinated by his See also:mother Cleopatra, ANTIOCHUS VIII. GRYPUS (141–96), who succeeded in 126 the younger brother of Seleucus V., the sons of Grypus, SELEUCUS VI. EPIPHANES NICATOR (reigned 96-95), ANTIOCHUS XI. EPIPHANES PHILADELPHUS (reigned during 95), See also:PHILIP I. (reigned 95-83), DEMETRIUS III. EUKAIROS (reigned 95-88), and ANTIOCHUS XII. DIONYSUS EPIPHANES (reigned 86?-85?), and lastly PHILIP II., the son of Philip I., who appears momentarily on the See also:stage in the last days of confusion. To the line of Antiochus VII. belong his son ANTIOCHUS IX.

See also:

CYZICENUS (reigned 116-95), the son of Cyzicenus, ANTIOCHUS X. EUSEBES (reigned 95-83?), and the son of Eusebes, ANTIOCHUS XIII. ASIATICUS (reigned 69-65). In 83 See also:Tigranes, the king of See also:Armenia, invaded Syria, and by 69 his See also:conquest had reached as far as Ptolemais, when he was obliged to evacuate Syria to defend his own kingdom from the See also:Romans. When See also:Pompey appeared in Syria in 64, Antiochus XIII. begged to be restored to his ancestral ' Some of the indications of our documents would make him older, and these are followed by Niese (iii. p. 276, See also:note 5). But in that See also:case Demetrius I. must have already had a wife and son when he escaped from See also:Rome, and it seems to me highly improbable that such a material See also:factor in the situation would have been left out of See also:account in See also:Polybius's full narrative. After all, it is only a question of probabilities, and the difficulties of fitting a wife and See also:child into the story seem to be very See also:great, whether we conceive them left behind by Demetrius in See also:Italy, or sent out of the See also:country before him. kingdom or what shred was left of it. Pompey refused and made Syria a See also:Roman See also:province. Antiochus Grypus had given his daughter in See also:marriage to See also:Mithradates (q.v.), a king of Commagene, and the subsequent See also:kings of Commagene (see under ANTIOCHUS) claimed in consequence still to represent the Seleucid house after it had become See also:extinct in the male line, and adopted Antiochus as the dynastic name. The kingdom was extinguished by Rome in 72.

The son of the last king, See also:

Gaius See also:Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappus, was Roman See also:consul for A.D. too.

End of Article: DEMETRIUS II

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