Demetrius II (d. 125 BC), called Nicator
(Victor), ruler of the Greek Seleucid kingdom, was
the middle son of Demetrius I Soter. As a young boy,
he fled to Crete after the death of his father, his
mother and his older brother, when Alexander Balas
usurped the Seleucid throne. About 147 BC he
returned to Syria, and with the help of Ptolemy VI
Philometor, king of Egypt, regained his father's
throne. The Egyptian king also divorced his daughter
Cleopatra Thea from Balas and remarried her to
Demetrius. Alexander fled to Cilicia.
However, Demetrius was not a popular king. The
people of Syria had little respect for the young
boy, who had come to power with the help of Egypt
and Cretan mercenaries led by the ruthless
condottiere Lasthenes. The Antiochenians offered the
Seleucid throne to Ptolemy VI, who had already
conquered most of southern Syria for his own
interest. However, he insisted Demetrius would
become king, knowing that Rome would never tolerate
a unified Hellenistic state, and the year after
Ptolemy VI was killed when Alexander Balas made a
last desperate attempt to regain his throne. The
Egyptian troops marched home, leaderless and
disillusioned, and with Balas dead as well Demetrius
became sole master of the Seleucid kingdom.
But new troubles soon arose. The pillaging of the
Cretan soldiers caused the Antiochenians to rise in
rebellion, and only after terrible massacres could
order be restored. Soon after, the general Diodotus
conquered Antioch and had his protegé Antiochus VI
Dionysus, the infant son of Alexander Balas,
proclaimed king. Demetrius proved unable to retake
the capital,instead establishing himself in
Seleucia. Diodotus had Antiochus VI deposed a few
years later, and made himself King as Tryphon, but
the division of the kingdom between the legitimate
Seleucid heir and the usurper in Antioch persisted.
Defeat and captivity
In 139 BCE Parthian activity forced Demetrius to
take action. He marched against Mithradates I, king
of Parthia and was initially successful, but was
defeated in the Iranian mountains and taken prisoner
the following year. The Babylonian province of the
Seleucid empire became Parthian, but in Syria was
the dynasty's grip was reassured under Antiochus VII
Sidetes, the younger brother of Demetrius, who also
married Cleopatra Thea.
King Mithradates had kept Demetrius II alive and
even married him to a Parthian princess named
Rhodogune, with whom he had children. However,
Demetrius was restless and twice tried to escape
from his exile on the shores of the Caspian sea,
once with the help of his friend Kallimander, who
had gone to great lengths to rescue the king: he had
travelled incognito through Babylonia and Parthia.
When the two friends were captured, the Parthian
king did not punish Kallimander but rewarded him for
his fidelity to Demetrius. The second time Demetrius
was captured when he tried to escape, Mithradates
humiliated him by giving him a golden set of dice,
thus hinting that Demetrius II was a restless child
who needed toys. It was however for political
reasons that the Parthians treated Demetrius II
kindly.
In 130 BCE Antiochus Sidetes felt secure enough
to march against Parthia, and scored massive initial
successes. Now Mithradates released what he thought
was a powerful move: he released Demetrius, hoping
that the two brothers would start a civil war.
However, Sidetes was defeated soon after his
brother's release and never met him. Mithradates set
people to pursue Demetrius, but he could return
safely home to Syria to regain his throne and his
queen as well.
A failed second reign
However, the Seleucid kingdom was now but a
shadow of its former glory, and Demetrius had a hard
time to rule even in Syria. Recollections of his
cruelties and vices - along with his humiliating
defeat - caused him to be greatly detested. The
Egyptian queen Cleopatra II set up an army for
Demetrius, hoping to engage him in her civil wars
against her brother king Ptolemy VIII, but this only
added to his grief. The troops soon deserted, and
king Ptolemy VIII reacted by setting up yet another
usurper, a man named Alexander II Zabinas against
Demetrius.
In 126 BCE Demetrius was defeated in a battle at
Damascus, and killed on a ship near Tyre, after his
wife Cleopatra Thea had deserted him. His miserable
death - he was captured and possibly tortured - was
a fitting epitaph to the many shortcomings of his
reign. Demetrius II was certainly incapable of
handling the developing threats to the Seleucid
empire, but his reputation for cruelty was probably
undeserved. He was only around fourteen at his
coronation, and the real power was in the hands of
others.
He was succeeded by his queen Cleopatra Thea and
then by two of their sons, Seleucus V Philometor and
Antiochus VIII Grypus.
This article incorporates text from the
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
Preceded by
Alexander Balas
Succeeded by
Antiochus VII Sidetes
|