Episode T14 – Zabinas

The Ancient World

Scott C.

History

4.6 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 February 2020

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Synopsis: Demetrius II returns to Syria, but his unpopularity – and support for the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra II – results in a usurper named Alexander Zabinas taking most of his kingdom. Fleeing a military defeat, Demetrius is denied entry to Ptolemais-Akko by Cleopatra Thea, an act that leads to his death. The elevation of their son Seleucus V results in a darker tragedy. “Released from confinement among the Parthians and restored to his throne, Antiochus’ brother Demetrius (II) decided to make war on Egypt…For his mother-in-law, Cleopatra (II), promised him the throne of Egypt as the reward for his assistance against her brother.” – Justin, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, Book 39. “Demetrius (II), for his part, was defeated by Alexander (Zabinas) and, with misfortune besetting him on all sides, he was finally abandoned even by his wife and children. Left with a few slaves, he made for Tyre, intending to use the sanctity of the temple to protect himself; but as he disembarked from this ship he was killed on the orders of the governor.” – Justin, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, Book 39. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Scott. If you're a fan of the ancient world, please help us get the word out.
0:07.0	Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and rate the series on iTunes.
0:13.0	Thanks again for listening. So let's try to picture the scene in Antioch in the spring of 129 BC.
0:37.3	Queen Cleopatra Thea, now 35, has been ruling Syria for over two decades, including several extended periods with
0:46.4	husbands off at war. For the last nine years, since Antiochus the seventh defeat of Deodontus Trifon, she'd been ruling a united
0:57.4	Syria, stretching from the tourist mountains of Anatolia to the Sinai desert of Egypt. She was certainly comfortable
1:06.7	wielding power and had likely developed a personal following within the
1:11.3	Seleucid court. She was also mother to several sons who
1:16.7	would secure the kingdom's future. The latest dispatch from her husband Antiochus reported a stunningly successful
1:25.3	eastern campaign with the Parthians poised to become saluted vassals.
1:31.5	All this framed Thea's mental picture in the spring of 129. Then one day a royal
1:41.2	attendant approached the Queen with an odd report.
1:45.0	Sorry to bother you majesty, but there's a bedraggled bearded foreign-looking fellow trying to gain entrance to the palace.
1:54.4	Noting the obvious yes and in her glare,
1:58.1	the attendant then likely blurted out,
2:00.9	oh, and he says his name is Demetrius the second, and that he is the solucid king, and, oh yeah, that he's also
2:08.1	your husband.
2:11.1	It may not have been quite that awkward, but who knows it could have been worse
2:17.1	Whatever homecoming Demetrius expected he was bound to be disappointed
2:26.3	In his mind he was bound to be disappointed. In his mind he was still the valiant young king who'd spent two long years fighting Mithradates and every minute since his
2:31.7	capture trying to get back home.
2:35.0	He knew that his brother, Antiochus the seventh, was still off fighting fraties in media.
	...

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