Demetrius III took the capital and besieged Philip I in Beroea (Aleppo), but the latter prevailed and took Antioch; their youngest brother Antiochus XII took Damascus.

The Seleucid dynasty which ruled Syria following the death of Alexander the Great was plagued by dynastic feuds during the 2nd century BC,[1] exacerbated by Ptolemaic and Roman interference.

[4] Syria gradually disintegrated due to constant civil wars,[5] as the Seleucid kings and their heirs fought for power, tearing the country apart.

[21] In 94 BC, shortly after their brother's death, Philip I and Antiochus XI minted jugate coins with their portraits on the obverse.

[23] All the jugate coins were minted in Cilicia; the series with the most numerous surviving specimens was probably issued in Tarsus, making it the likely base of operations.

[note 2][25] Deriving their legitimacy from Antiochus VIII, the brothers were depicted on the coins with exaggerated aquiline noses similar to their father.

[29] The brothers intended to avenge Seleucus VI;[note 3][11] according to the fourth century writer Eusebius, they sacked Mopsuestia and destroyed it.

[25] Following the defeat, Philip I is thought to have retreated to his capital, which was probably the same base from which he and his brother operated when they first prepared to avenge Seleucus VI.

[10] The account contradicts archaeological evidence, represented in a market weight belonging to Antiochus X from 92 BC, and contains factual mistakes.

[note 7] Taking advantage of Antiochus X's death, Demetrius III rushed to the capital and occupied it;[42] this led Philip I to break his alliance with his brother.

[12] To raise the siege, Philip I's ally Straton, the ruler of Beroea, called on the Arab phylarch Aziz and the Parthian governor Mithridates Sinaces for help.

[45] He was faced with the need to replenish the empty treasury to rebuild a country destroyed after years of civil war, and in case a new pretender to the throne arose.

[48] Profit was, however, not the main aim of Philip I; it is more probable that he wanted to pay his troops with coins bearing his own image instead of that of his rivals.

[52] Antiochus XII was shown beardless for the first two years of his reign; in 228 SE (85/84 BC), he appeared with a beard, possibly related to Philip I's attack on Damascus.

Without proof, 83 BC is commonly accepted as Philip I's year of death by most scholars;[54] he could have been buried in the Nikatoreion Mausoleum, Seleucia Pieria.

[note 10][57] Many theories were presented by different historians: Philip I's coins were still in circulation when the Romans annexed Syria in 64 BC.