DEMETRIUS II

DEMETRIUS II Demetrius II, called Nicator (died c. 125 B.C.), was king of Syria (145-139 BC and 127-125 BC), and the son of Demetrius I. With the aid of Ptolemy VI, king of Egypt, he deposed and killed the usurper Alexander Balas (reigned 150-145 BC) and became king of Syria in 145 BC. Demetrius married his predecessor's widow, Cleopatra Thea (died c. 120 BC), who was the daughter of Ptolemy VI. In 140 BC, during a war with Parthia, Demetrius was taken prisoner. In captivity he married Rodogune, daughter of the Parthian king Mithridates I. Demetrius II returned to Syria in 129 BC. His brother, Antiochus VII, who had usurped the throne in 139 BC and married Cleopatra Thea, was killed in battle in 127 BC and so regained the crown. Following an abortive attack on Ptolemaic Egypt, he lost the northern part of his kingdom to the usurper Alexander Zebina and in 125 BC he was assasinated at Tyre. His son, Seleucus V, succeeded him but enjoyed a short reign; he was put to death by his mother, Cleopatra Thea, in the same year. He was succeeded by Demetrius's younger son Antiochos VIII