Alexander Balas

Alexander I Balas
Coin of Alexander I Balas, Antioch mint
Basileus of the Seleucid Empire
(King of Syria)
Reign150 BC – August 145 BC
PredecessorDemetrius I Soter
SuccessorsDemetrius II Nicator or Antiochus VI Dionysus
BornSmyrna
(now İzmir, Turkey)
DiedAugust 145 BC
SpouseCleopatra Thea
IssueAntiochus VI Dionysus (first son with Cleopatra Thea)
DynastySeleucid
FatherAntiochus IV Epiphanes (unconfirmed)
MotherLaodice IV (unconfirmed)

Alexander I Theopator Euergetes, surnamed Balas (Ancient Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος Βάλας, romanizedAlexandros Balas), was the ruler of the Seleucid Empire from 150 BC to August 145 BC.[1] Picked from obscurity and supported by the neighboring Roman-allied Kingdom of Pergamon, Alexander landed in Phoenicia in 152 BC and started a civil war against Seleucid King Demetrius I Soter. Backed by mercenaries and factions of the Seleucid Empire unhappy with the existing government, he defeated Demetrius and took the crown in 150 BC. He married the princess Cleopatra Thea to seal an alliance with the neighboring Ptolemaic kingdom. His reign saw the steady retreat of the Seleucid Empire's eastern border, with important eastern satrapies such as Media being lost to the nascent Parthian Empire. In 147 BC, Demetrius II Nicator, the young son of Demetrius I, began a campaign to overthrow Balas, and civil war resumed. Alexander's ally, Ptolemaic king Ptolemy VI Philometor, moved troops into Coele-Syria to support Alexander, but then switched sides and threw his support behind Demetrius II. At the Battle of the Oenoparus River in Syria, he was defeated by Ptolemy VI and he died shortly afterward.

  1. ^ "Alexander I Balas". Livius.org.