page_title: Demetrius III Eucaerus
section_title: Policy
hierarchical_section_title: Demetrius III Eucaerus / Reign / Policy
caption_attribution_description: English: copied from the website: "341, Lot: 2. Estimate $100. Sold for $110. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee. SYRIA, Coele-Syria. Damascus (as Demetrias?). Circa 95-85 BC. Æ (22.5mm, 10.74 g, 12h). Diademed male head right / Tyche seated left on rock, extending arm and holding cornucopia; [river-god] at feet. De Saulcy 2; BMC 1; SNG München –; HGC 9, 1458. Fine, dusty green patina. Rare."
context_page_description: Demetrius III Theos Philopator Soter Philometor Euergetes Callinicus was a Hellenistic Seleucid monarch who reigned as the King of Syria between 96 and 87 BC. He was a son of Antiochus VIII and, most likely, his Egyptian wife Tryphaena. Demetrius III's early life was spent in a period of civil war between his father and his uncle Antiochus IX, which ended with the assassination of Antiochus VIII in 96 BC. After the death of their father, Demetrius III took control of Damascus while his brother Seleucus VI prepared for war against Antiochus IX, who occupied the Syrian capital Antioch.
  The civil war dragged on; Seleucus VI eliminated his uncle, whose heir Antiochus X counterattacked and drove Seleucus VI to his death. Then the twins Antiochus XI and Philip I, brothers of Demetrius III, attempted to avenge Seleucus VI; it ended with the death of Antiochus XI and the interference of Demetrius III on the side of Philip I in a war against Antiochus X that probably lasted until 88 BC. In 89 BC, Demetrius III invaded Judaea and crushed the forces of its king, Alexander Jannaeus; his near victory was cut short by the death of Antiochus X.
context_section_description: Demetrius III seems to have been content with leaving the struggle against Antiochus IX and his heirs to his many brothers; he took advantage of the chaos in the north to consolidate his authority in Damascus. Drawing his legitimacy from his father, he appeared on his coinage with an exaggerated hawked nose in the likeness of Antiochus VIII. Coins from a city named Demetrias, bearing on their reverse a portrait of the Tyche of Damascus, are evidence that Demetrius III might have refounded Damascus and given it the dynastic name Demetrias. Damascene coins mention the city as "holy"; it must have been a privilege bestowed upon it by Demetrius III who possibly also conferred the right of asylum on his capital.
  Seleucid kings mostly depicted Greek gods on their coinage, but Demetrius III ruled a contracted realm, where the local cults gained more importance as the Seleucids no longer ruled a heterogeneous kingdom. Local cults came under royal patronage as Seleucid kings attempted to gain the support of their non-Greek subjects. On his royal silver coins from Damascus, the supreme Semitic goddess Atargatis appeared on the reverse, while municipal coins continued to use the portraits of traditional Greek deities. The radiate crown, a sign of divinity, was employed by Demetrius III on some of his coins; this can be an indication that he ritually married Atargatis. Marrying the supreme goddess indicated that the king considered himself the manifestation of Syria's supreme god and Atargatis' partner, Hadad. The practise was started at an unknown date by Antiochus IV (died 164 BC), the first king to employ the radiate crown, who chose Hierapolis-Bambyce, Atargatis's most important sanctuary, to ritually marry Diana, the manifestation of Atargatis in Syria.
  As was typical for a Seleucid king, Demetrius III aimed to acquire as much territory as possible and sought to expand his domains in Syria. The city of Gadara was conquered by Alexander Jannaeus in 100 BC, but the city freed itself and reverted to the Seleucids after the defeat of the Judaean king at the hands of the Nabataeans, an event that happened in 93 BC at the latest. Gadara was of great strategic importance for Demetrius III as a major military hub for operations in the south; controlling it was vital to the war effort against the Judaeans.
caption: Coin from Demetrias
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