Demetrius II of Syria

Demetrius II (d. 125 BC), surnamed Nicator, son of Demetrius I, fled to Crete after the death of his father, 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.

In 141 BC he marched against Mithradates I, king of Parthia, but was taken prisoner by treachery, and remained in captivity for ten years, regaining his throne in 129 BC on the death of his brother, Antiochus VII, who had usurped it.

During his absence, the throne was occupied in turn by Antiochus VI Dionysus, Diodotus Tryphon, and Antiochus VII Sidetes.

Demetrius' cruelties and vices, however, caused him to be greatly detested, and during another civil war he was defeated in a battle at Damascus, and killed near Tyre, possibly at the instigation of Cleopatra Thea, his wife, a daughter of Ptolemy VI, who was indignant at his subsequent marriage with a daughter of the Parthian king, Mithradates. His second successor was his son, Antiochus VIII Grypus.

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.