[2] Eventually Demetrius was able to escape from Rome and return to Syria via Tripolis, where he quickly established himself and was made king with little fighting – the army and people flocked to support him.

Besides this, he attempted to reassert the Seleucid Empire once more as a major power and initiated several disastrous foreign adventures, which would ultimately lead his neighbouring rulers wishing to destabilise or even eliminate Demetrius.

Having been recognized by the conspiring kings as the rightful heir to the Seleucid throne, Alexander was sent to the hills of Cilicia under the watchful eye of the Cilician chieftain Zenophanes.

[5] Building up his reputation and gathering forces, Alexander was quickly sent with Heracleides to Rome, where they accepted him as the true king and gave their vocal support, albeit without any real material assistance.

[6] Returning to the east Alexander Balas, his ships, mercenaries and auxiliaries provided by Ptolemy VI Philometor and from Pergamon, began his insurrection against Demetrius Soter.

[7] With Alexander established in the south at Ptolemais, Demetrius attempted to persuade the Jews under Jonathan Apphus to serve the Seleucid throne and help defeat him.

However, in 151/0 Alexander began to extend his control up the Phoenician coast, taking Tyre, Sidon and Berytus – perhaps assisted by naval support provided from the Seleucid fleet based at Ptolemais and from Ptolemy.

Though young, both Demetrius II Nicator and Antiochus VII Sidetes were sent abroad by their father, as he feared that they would be put to death as rival claimants, and to hopefully be a rallying point for the loyalists to the legitimate branch of the royal family.

[12] Alexander, based primarily in Ptolemais, no doubt due to its close proximity to his benefactor and ally Ptolemy VI Philometor, moved north to Antioch to counter the Demetrian invasion, but found the population discontented and irate.

[13] As soon as Alexander turned his back to counter the invasion in the north, his governor in Coele-Syria, Apollonius Taos, defected immediately to Demetrius – the Hellenized Philistine cities giving their support.

Such forces would prove a liability for Alexander and so he kept Jonathan in the south, where he could counter the pro-Demetrius strongholds in Palestine – Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ptolemais.

In comparison Alexander had to gather troops from considerable distances away, but had to ensure that he left enough men in the peripheral provinces to deter foreign invasions from enemies such as the Parthians or other eastern kingdoms.

In fact a possible rebellion or Parthian excursion was defeated decisively by the viceroy of the Upper Satrapies, Kleomenes, in the summer of 148, his victory being commemorated by a triumphal statue of Herakles erected in the Bisitun Pass.

Ptolemy, seeing an opportunity to keep his influence in Syria and perhaps reclaim Coele-Syria as a reward, marched north occupying much of the Palestinian and Phoenician coastline, placing garrisons as he advanced.

[18] The governors of Antioch, Hierax and Diodotus Tryphon, despairing of Alexander and fearing Demetrius offered the Seleucid crown to Ptolemy VI Philometor and convinced the populace to push for this outcome too.

In turn he convinced them to accept Demetrius as their rightful king, stating that he would rule benevolently and not seek revenge against those who had overthrown his father in 150 BC.

[19] In the summer of 145 BC, with enough forces raised in the north of the kingdom, which Josephus called a ‘numerous and great army’, Alexander felt confident enough to march south to confront Demetrius and Ptolemy.

Alexander meanwhile had fled with five hundred picked men to Abae, in what Diodorus calls, Arabia to seek refuge with an allied Arab prince.

Lasthenes, with his new-found power, was made in effect minister of finance and given absolute rule of Antioch, which would have dire consequences for the young king Demetrius.

[22] The Ptolemaic garrisons disintegrated and chose to retreat back to Egypt, Demetrius having ordered them to leave and compelling the local populations to expel them with force should need be.

According to Diodorus, Alexander therefore sent his son Antiochus to an allied Arab chieftain, named Iamblichus, for safety and as a rallying point for forces loyal to him, should he fall.

It was the former Alexandrian commander and governor of Antioch, Diodotus, who would later convince the Arab leader to hand over custody of the child to him after having started a rebellion in Apamea.

The Cretan mercenaries, reinforced by Jewish troops sent by Jonathan Apphus, who was now allied to Demetrius at the death of Alexander Balas, put the rebellion down brutally.

At their highest point, in about 143/142 BC, Diodotus and Antiochus VI occupied most of inner Syria (including Antioch, Apamea, Chalcis and Larissa); Tarsus, Mallus and Coracesium in Cilicia; and the southern coastal cities of Aradus, Orthosia, Byblos, Berytus, Ptolemais and Dora.

In comparison, Demetrius controlled the rest of the Syrian and Phoenician coasts including Seleucia, Laodicea, Tyre and Sidon as well as the majority of Cilicia.

Simon Thassi, Jonathan’s brother, was made Strategos, or governor, of the territories from the Egyptian border up to Tyre, though most of the non-Jewish Palestinian cities remained loyal to Demetrius.

Gaza which had initially declared for Demetrius at some point defected, but ultimately joined neither side, attempting to exert a degree of neutrality in the civil war.

As Grypus and Cyzicenus were the sons of Cleopatra Thea their civil war renewed the Ptolemaic interest in the diminished Seleucid kingdom.

The brothers eventually agreed to partition the kingdom but this did not create a lasting peace but rather promoted competition between the Northern and Southern branches of the House of Seleucus.

The Civil War continued the next year when Antiochus XI sought out Queen Tryphaena and executed her as retribution for the murdered Cleopatra.