Alexander Balas

Alexander Balas claimed to be the son of Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Laodice IV and heir to the Seleucid throne. The ancient sources, Polybius and Diodorus say that this claim was false and that he and his sister Laodice VI were really natives of Smyrna of humble origin.Polybius 33.18.5-18; Diodorus Bibliotheca 31.32a. However, Polybius became friends with Balas's rival King Demetrius I when both were hostages in Rome, so Polybius is not an unbiased source on this matter.Bevan, Edwyn. [https://archive.org/details/houseseleucus00bevagoog/ The House of Seleucus] (1902). Modern scholars disagree about whether the story of Attalus finding a commoner who looked the part is true or was propaganda put about by Alexander's opponents.{{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=162 n. 139}}

According to Diodorus, Alexander was originally put forward as a candidate for the Seleucid throne by Attalus II of Pergamum. Attalus had been disturbed by the Seleucid king Demetrius I's interference in Cappadocia, where he had dethroned king Ariarathes V.Diodorus Bibliotheca 31.32a Boris Chrubasik is sceptical, noting that there is little subsequent evidence for Attalid involvement with Alexander.{{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=130 and 163}} However, Selene Psoma has proposed that a large set of coins minted in a number of cities under Attalid control in this period was produced by Attalus II in order to fund Alexander's bid for the kingship.{{cite book |last1=Psoma |first1=Selene E. |editor1-last=Thonemann |editor1-first=Peter |title=Attalid Asia Minor: Money, International Relations, and the State |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |pages=265–300 |chapter=War or Trade? Attic-Weight Tetradrachms from Second-Century BC Attalid Asia Minor in Seleukid Syria after the Peace of Apameia and Their Historical Context}}

Alexander and his sister were maintained in Cilicia by Heracleides, a former minister of Antiochus IV and brother of Timarchus, an usurper in Media who had been executed by the reigning king Demetrius I Soter.{{cite encyclopedia|last=Smith |first=Philip Peter |title=Alexander Balas |editor=William Smith |editor-link=William Smith (lexicographer) |encyclopedia=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |volume=1 |pages=114–115 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |location=Boston |year=1867 |url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0123.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606005906/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0123.html |archive-date=2011-06-06 }} In 153 BC, Heracleides brought Alexander and his sister to Rome, where he presented Alexander to the Roman Senate, which recognised him as the legitimate Seleucid king and agreed to support him in his bid to take the throne. Polybius mentions that Attalus II and Demetrius I also met with the Senate at this time but does not state how this was connected to the recognition of Alexander - if at all.Polybius 33.18; {{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=130}}

Image:Coin of Alexander I Balas, Antioch mint (2).jpg, corresponding to 149–148 BC.]]

After recruiting mercenaries, Alexander and Heracleides departed to Ephesus. From there, they invaded Phoenicia by sea, seizing Ptolemais Akko.Polybius 33.18.14; Josephus AJ 13.35 Numismatic evidence shows that Alexander had also gained control of Seleucia Pieria, Byblos, Beirut, Tyre by 151 BC.{{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=131}} On this coinage, Alexander heavily advertised his (claimed) connection to Antiochus IV, depicting Zeus Nicephorus on his coinage as Antiochus had done. He also assumed the title of Theopator ('Divinely Fathered'), which recalled Antiochus' epithet Theos Epiphanes ('God Manifest'). The coinage also presented Alexander Balas in the guise of Alexander the Great, with pronounced facial features and long flowing hair. This was intended to emphasise his military prowess to his soldiers.{{cite book |last1=Bohm |first1=Claudia |title=Imitatio Alexandri im Hellenismus; Untersuchungen zum politischen Nachwirken Alexanders des Grossen in hoch- und späthellenistischen Monarchien |date=1989 |location=Munich |pages=105–116}}{{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=163–5}}

Alexander and Demetrius I competed with another to win over Jonathan Apphus, the leader of the ascendant faction in Judaea. Jonathan was won over to Alexander's side by the grant of a high position in the Seleucid court and the high priesthood in Jerusalem.Josephus AJ 13.45; I Maccabees. 10.3-6, 10.20{{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=165–166}} Reinforced by Jonathan's hardened soldiers, Alexander fought a decisive battle with Demetrius in July 150 BC, in which Demetrius was killed. By autumn, Alexander's kingship was recognised throughout the Seleucid realm.Josephus Jewish Antiquities 13.59–61; I Maccabees 10.48–50; Justin Epitome of Pompeius Trogus 35.1.9–11. Astronomical Diaries III 149 A rev. 1–13 and B obv. 1{{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=130–1}}

Image:Rare marriage commemorative of Alexander I Balas and Cleopatra Thea.jpg.]]

Alexander gained control of Antioch at this time and his chancellor, Ammonius, murdered all the courtiers of Demetrius I, as well as his wife Laodice and his eldest son Antigonus.Livy, Periochae 50; {{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=132 n. 33}} Ptolemy VI Philometor of Egypt entered into an alliance with Alexander, which was sealed by Alexander's marriage to his daughter Cleopatra Thea. The wedding took place at Ptolemais, with Ptolemy VI and Jonathan Apphus in attendance. Alexander took the opportunity to shower honours on Jonathan, whom he treated as his main agent in Judaea.I Maccabees 10.61-65; Josephus AJ 13.80-85{{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=131–2}} The marriage was advertised by a special coinage issue, depicting the royal pair side by side - only the second depiction of a queen on Seleucid coinage. She is shown with divine attributes (a cornucopia and a calathus) and is depicted in front of the king. Some scholars have seen Alexander as little more than a Ptolemaic puppet, arguing that this coinage emphasises Cleopatra's dominance over him and that the chancellor Ammonius was a Ptolemaic agent.{{cite journal |last1=Volkmann |first1=Hans |title=Demetrios I. und Alexander I. von Syrien |journal=Klio |date=1925 |volume=19 |issue=19 |page=406|doi=10.1524/klio.1925.19.19.373 |s2cid=194387728 }}; {{cite book|title=Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der späten Seleukiden (164–63 v. Chr.): Vom Tode des Antiochs IV. bis zur Einrichtung der Provinz Syria unter Pompeius|last1=Ehling|first1=Kay|date=2008 |location=Stuttgart |pages=155–156}} Other scholars argue that the alliance was advertised as an important one, but that the arguments for Alexander's subservience have been overstated.{{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=167–169}}

Meanwhile, the Seleucid positions in the eastern Upper Satrapies, already weakened by the previous kings' failure to contain the Parthians and the Greco-Bactrians, suffered almost complete collapse. The Parthians under Mithridates I took advantage of the general instability to invade Media. The region had been lost to Seleucid control by the middle of 148 BC.Inscriptiones d;Iran et d'Asie centrale n. 70; Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus 41.6.6; {{cite book |last1=Le Rider |first1=Georges |title=Suse sous les Séleucides et les Parthes: Les trouvailles monétaires et l'histoire de la ville |date=1965 |location=Paris |pages=339–340}}{{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=132}} At around the same time the local nobles in Elymais and Persis asserted their own ephemeral independence, only to be soon also subdued by the Parthians.{{cite web|title=Elymais|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elymais|website=Encyclopædia Iranica|publisher=Columbia University|access-date=2 October 2021|language=en}}{{cite web|title=Frataraka|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/frataraka|website=Encyclopædia Iranica|publisher=Columbia University|access-date=2 October 2021|language=en}} By 148 BC at the latest the Parthians also secured their hold over Hyrcania at the coast of the Caspian Sea.Rawlinson (1873) By 147 BC the Parthians stood at the doorsteps of Babylonia, one of the Seleucid empire's hearthlands and location of one of its two capital cities, Seleucia-on-Tigris.

Alexander is not recorded to do anything of note to stem the steady erosion of Seleucid power in the East. Ancient historians hostile to him depict him as too distracted by a life of debauchery to take action to stop the Parthians, unlike earlier Seleucid Kings who would mount expeditions to the eastern satrapies to deter the Parthians. He was reputed to hand the administration over to two commanders, Hierax and Diodotus, neither of whom seemed to care for anything but their own interests.{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Alexander Balas|volume=1|pages=565-566}} This representation is at least partially a product of his opponents' propaganda, but it is true that under Alexander, the Seleucid Empire continued to see its reach and power slip away.

File:Coin of Demetrius II Nicator, Ptolemais in Phoenicia mint.jpg]]

In early 147 BC Demetrius' son Demetrius II returned to Syria with a force of Cretan mercenaries led by a man called Lasthenes. Much of Coele Syria was lost to him immediately, possibly as a result of the succession of the regional commander. Jonathan attacked Demetrius's position from the south, seizing Jaffa and Ashdod, while Alexander Balas was occupied with a revolt in Cilicia.I Maccabees 10.69–89; Josephus AJ 13.88–102 In 145 BC Ptolemy VI of Egypt invaded Syria, ostensibly in support of Alexander Balas. In practice, Ptolemy's intervention came at a heavy cost; with Alexander's permission, he took control of all the Seleucid cities along the coast, including Seleucia Pieria.I Maccabees 11.3-8 He may also have started minting his own coinage in the Syrian cities.{{cite journal |last1=Lorber |first1=Catharine C. |title=The Ptolemaic Era Coinage Revisited |journal=Numismatic Chronicle |date=2007 |volume=167 |pages=105–17}}

While he was at Ptolemais Akko, however, Ptolemy switched sides. According to Josephus, Ptolemy discovered that Alexander's chancellor, Ammonius, had been plotting to assassinate him, but when he demanded that Ammonius be punished, Alexander refused.Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 13.106-107; I Maccabees does not mention the episode and presents Ptolemy as planning to supported Demetrius II from the start. Josephus presents Ptolemy as genuinely supporting Alexander until this moment. Ptolemy remarried his Cleopatra Thea to Demetrius II and continued his march northward. Alexander's commanders of Antioch, Diodotus and Hierax, surrendered the city to Ptolemy.I Maccabees 11; Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 13.106-107, 115{{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=133–134}}

Alexander returned from Cilicia with his army, but Ptolemy VI and Demetrius II defeated his forces in a Battle of the Oenoparus River.Strabo 16.2.8. Earlier, Alexander had sent his infant son Antiochus to an Arabian dynast called Zabdiel Diocles. Alexander now fled to Arabia in order to join up with Zabdiel, but he was killed. Sources disagree about whether the killer was a pair of his own generals who had decided to switch sides or Zabdiel himself. Alexander's severed head was brought to Ptolemy, who also died shortly after from wounds sustained in the battle.Diodorus 32.9d & 10.1; Zabdiel: I Maccabees 11.17; Josephus AJ 13.118.{{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=134–5}}

Zabdiel continued to look after Alexander's infant son Antiochus, until 145 BC when the general Diodotus declared him king, in order to serve as the figurehead of a rebellion against Demetrius II. In 130 BC, another claimant to the throne, Alexander Zabinas, would also claim to be Alexander Balas' son; almost certainly spuriously.Porphyry FGrH 260 F 32.21; {{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=142}} Alexander is the title character of the oratorio Alexander Balus, written in 1747 by George Frideric Handel.

On some of his coins he is called "Epiphanes" (splendid, glorious) and "Nicephorus" (bringer of victory) after his pretended father and on others "Euergetes" (benefactor) and "Theopator" (of divine descent).[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D15%3Aentry%3Dalexander-balas-bio-1 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Alexander Balas] In Septuagint it was also called "Epiphanes".[https://sacred-texts.com/bib/sep/ma1010.htm Septuagint, 1 Maccabees, 10.1]

• List of Syrian monarchs
• Timeline of Syrian history
• Diophantus of Abae

{{Reflist|30em}}

;Primary

• 1 Maccabees 10 ff.
• Justin xxxv. 1 and 2
• {{cite Josephus|pace=1|text=aj|bookno=13|chap=2|sec=1|show-translator=no|show-source=no}}
• Appian, Syrian Wars (=Roman History book 11), 67
• Polybius, Histories xxxiii. 14.

;Secondary

• {{cite CE1913|wstitle=Alexander|volume=1|first=Anthony John|last= Maas}}
• {{cite journal|last=Mørkholm|first=Otto|year= 1981|title=Sculpture and Coins: the Portrait of Alexander Balas of Syria|journal=Numismatica e Antichità Classiche|publisher=Industria Grafica Gaggini-Bizzozero|volume=10|issn=1420-1739|oclc=715323965}}
• {{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924}}
• {{cite book | last = Rawlinson | first = George | author-link=George Rawlinson | title = The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 5: Persia | date =1867 | url = http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16165/16165-h/16165-h.htm}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://virtualreligion.net/iho/a_balas.html Alexander Balas], article in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
• [http://medaillesetantiques.bnf.fr/ws/catalogue/app/collection/record/344?vc=ePkH4LF7w6yegDEO9wZyIjQyN4XWg0SmGH3MQEOKGGj-CD68Mie1NDm_GFxfw8IHADVcNKk$ Intaglio representing Alexander I]
• [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1971-1208-5 Coin of Alexander Balas in British Museum]

{{s-start}}

{{s-hou|Seleucid dynasty||Unknown||146 BC}}

{{s-bef|before=Demetrius I Soter}}

{{s-ttl|title=Seleucid King
(King of Syria)|years=150–146 BC}}

{{s-aft|after=Demetrius II Nicator or Antiochus VI Dionysus}}

{{s-end}}

{{Hellenistic rulers}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:146 BC deaths

Category:2nd-century BC Seleucid monarchs

Category:Ptolemaic dynasty

Category:Year of birth unknown

Category:Children of Antiochus IV Epiphanes