Demetrian Kingdom

Flag of the Demetrian Kingdom of Egypt

The  **Demetrian Kingdom** (158-38 BCE), frequently called **Demetrian Egypt**, was an ancient Helleno-Egyptian state based in Egypt. It was founded in 158 BCE by Demetrius I, the younger son of Philip V of Macedon, who crowned himself as "Ahmoses III". The dynasty llasted until the death of \*Nexeu I in 38 BCE. The Demetrians were the final Egyptian dynasty of ancient origin.

Philip V of Macedon died in 158 BCE. His oldest son, Perseus I, ascended the throne. However, his younger son Demetrius rebelled against him in Egypt. He was the only son by his legitimate wife, while Perseus was the son of a concubine. Demetrius defeated the Macedonian forces in Egypt and Cyrenaica, crowning himself Pharaoh. Cyrenaica itself was made a vassal kingdom. Demetrius made himself popular among the Egyptian natives as he adopted many aspects of Egyptian culture to stabilize his reign. Demetrius thus founded the Demetrian Kingdom of Egypt, crowning himself as \*Ahmoses III.

In 40 BCE Egypt became involved in a war with the Parthian prince Pacorus I. which defeated the last king, \*Nexeu I, during the Siege of Alexandria two years later. Egypt became one of Parthia's richest client states and a center of Helleno-Egyptian culture, *(until the Muslim conquest in 641 CE)*. Alexandria would remain one of the leading cities of the Mediterranean and also a hotspot for early Christianity.

Similar to the Ptolemaic Kingdom, the Demetrian Kingdom adopted many aspects of Egyptian culture to justify their reign. In contrast to the Ptolemies, however, the Demetrians adopted Egyptian as their official language, and names for pharaohs were always of local origin. Also, unlike the Ptolemies, the Demetrians married native women to keep Egyptian blood in their line. During the next centuries, numerous cities were renamed to their original Egyptian name.

## History

### Establishment (158 BCE)

Philip V of Macedon died in 158 BCE. His oldest son, Perseus I, ascended the throne. However, his younger son Demetrius rebelled against him in Egypt. He was the only son by his legitimate wife, while Perseus was the son of a concubine. Perseus was busy fighting an Illyrian invasion into the Macedonian heartland, causing Demetrius to defeat the local Macedonian forces, crowning himself Pharaoh. He made himself popular among the natives as he adopted an Egyptian name and many other aspects of their culture to stabilize his reign. Demetrius thus founded the Demetrian Kingdom of Egypt, crowning himself as \*Ahmoses III (r. 158-130 BCE).

### Expansion and Consolidation (157-44 BCE)

After the death of Antiochus III, the Seleucid Empire was heavily in decline. \*Ahmoses III used this opportunity and invaded Cyprus in 157 BCE.

Throughout the 150s BCE, Demetrius has also reasserted Demetrian control over the northern part of Nubia. This achievement is heavily advertised at the Temple of Isis at Philae, which was granted the tax revenues of the Dodecaschoenus region in 157 BCE. Decorations on the first pylon of the Temple of Isis at Philae emphasize the Demetrian claim to rule the whole of Nubia. The aforementioned inscription regarding the priests of Mandulis shows that some Nubian leaders at least were paying tribute to the Demetrian treasury in this period. In order to secure the region, the *strategos* of Upper Egypt, Boethus, founded two new cities, named Ahmosis and (?) in honour of the royal couple.

In 155 BCE, \*Ahmoses III, seeing how the Seleucids were declining even further, started the Sixth Syrian War (155-154 BCE), with the goal of recapturing the lost Ptolemaic lands during the Fifth Syrian War (202-195 BCE). The Demetrians defeated the Seleucids and conquered the Levant by 154 BCE.

By 153 BCE, \*Ahmoses III silenced constant rebellions by the Maccabees and established the Hasmonean client Kingdom under Demetrian authority. In 134 BCE, John Hyrcanus I ascended the Hasmonean throne and expanded outside the client kingdom. In response, Demetrius defeated John Hyrcanus and reestablished the old boundaries. However, during the following 90 years multiple revolts broke out, only to be silenced again. This lasted until 40 BCE, when the Parthians invaded the unstable Levant.

In 130 BCE, \*Ahmoses III died and was succeeded by his son, \*Necho II (r. 130-112 BCE).

### First Egyptian War (52-50 BCE)

In 52 BCE, the Carthaginians, under the command of suffete \*Carthalo, had invaded the **Demetrian** controlled island of Cyprus. First, landing near the city of Soloi, the Phoenicians had quickly overrun the entire island. The Egyptians were completely taken by suprise and the Demetrian king, \*Hakor II (r. 73-51 BCE) was outraged. When the Carthaginians landed near the city of Sidun, the Egyptian army was marching to Tyre, leaving a garrison at Jerusalem. However, due to huge Phoenician naval support, the Egyptians were completely defeated at the battle of Tyre (52 BCE) and were forced to retreat to Jerusalem, to link up with the rest of their army. When the Carthaginians were at the gates of Jerusalem, the Egyptians were suprise attacked and sabotaged by a Jewish rebellion, leaving the Demetrians, commanded by general \*Weneg, completely unorganized. As the Carthaginians entered the city, many Jews were welcoming them as brothers, and together they massacred the Demetrians from all sides, who suffered around 23,000 casualties and lost their general.

When in 51 BCE, \*Hakor II, died from a heart attack, his more ambitous son, \*Nexeu I (r. 51-38 BCE) ascended the throne. Meanwhile, the Carthaginians were sailing towards Egypt, capturing the city of Gaza on their way. The pharaoh was anticipating that the Carthaginians would sail into the Nile or directly to Alexandria. Most of the Egyptian fleet was sent to guard every entrance of the Nile and Alexandria. When the Demetrians met the Phoenicians at the mouth of the Rosetta Nile branch, they attacked the Carthaginian ships, specifically those loaded with siege engines and support equipment, implying an attack on the city of Sais. As the infantry noticed the missing ships, the Phoenicians ignored this loss, and, likely light-headed by their high morale, the Carthaginians continued sailing down, not knowing they just lost one the most important things for the siege, the siege engines.

\*Nexeu caught the Carthaginians in a profitable situation and ordered his fleet to chase the Phoenicians, while preparing the city garrisons for an invasion of Sais. As the Carthaginians tried to disembark near the city, they noticed the missing siege engines, and simultaneously, the Demetrians attacked them, from both the ships behind them, and the garrisons from the other side. The Phoenicians were completely annihilated and destroyed from every side, loosing their entire army of 40,000 soldiers. The Carthaginian general, \*Carthalo, was taken a prisoner.

Stationated in Phoenicia, another Carthaginian suffete named \*Bostar was completely shocked and ordered 50,000 reinforcements, which arrived at Sidun in 50 BCE. In the meantime, \*Nexeu, captured the cities of Gaza and Jerusalem (50 BCE) with an army of 40,000 men, while the Phoenicians were preparing for a battle in the city of Akko.

As the Demetrians met the Carthaginians near Akko, the former was building up their formation. However, the Phoenicians had a decisive advantage: Their famous Numidian cavalry. \*Nexeu was stationated at the head of the army. However, as the Carthaginians charged, together, with the Numidian cavalry, both launched a hail of arrows at their enemy, targeted to hit the opposing leader. As the now wounded elite bodyguards attempted to protect their pharaoh, one lucky arrow had hit \*Nexeu directly in his right eye, who was then knocked from his horse. As the now unconscious king was the only leading force in the army, the morale of the Egyptians gradually sunk. As the Demetrians were engaged with securing the king to a safe place, the cavalry slaughtered the Egyptians, who were, at the same time, desperatly trying to pull the king away, in a great bloodshed. The Numidian horsemen now had enough time to encircle the entire army, and with support from the rest of army, including war elephants, the Demetrians were completely crushed, and lost 20,000 men, while the rest managed to retreat. The Phoenicians believed this arrow was a message from their god, Baal.

As the Carthaginians clashed with the Demetrians in Jerusalem, the latter was again, completely annihilated, with once again, support from the Jews. However, this time, the entire army of 20,000 men was killed. When the king woke up during the end of the battle, \*Nexeu I, being the only survivor, got on his horse and rode during the heat of the days and the cold, dead nights alone towards Gaza, with a shortage of food and water. When the king, completely traumatized, was received at the city, he immediately asked the Carthaginians, desperately for peace.

A peace treaty was signed in 50 BCE, between the two powers. Carthage would assert control over Cyprus and the Phoenician coastal cities, from Oyat to Akko, while the Demetrian Kingdom of Egypt, would retain control over the remains of their holdings.

### The Volcanic Eruption of 44 BCE and aftermath (44-40 BCE)

In 44 BCE, written sources describe a period of unusually cold climate, crop failures, famine, disease, and unrest in the Mediterranean Region. These factors caused food scarcity in Egypt. The reason for this is a volcanic eruption in Okmok, Alaska.

Climate models suggest that seasonally averaged temperatures may have been as much as 7 °C (13 °F) below normal during the summer and autumn that followed the eruption of Okmok in 44 BCE.

The cooling effects lasted more than two years, resulting in the second and eighth coldest summertime temperatures of the past 2,500 years in 43 and 42 BCE, respectively, based on the European tree-ring climate proxy records. This short "dark age" lasted until its conquest by the Parthians in 38 BCE.

Severe flooding of the Nile river in Egypt, and records of famine and disease, devastated the African country during its final years. This decisively contributed to the downfall of the Demetrian Kingdom of Egypt, following the death of \*Akhenaten II in 38 BCE.

### Second Egyptian War and Downfall (40-38 BCE)

In 40 BCE, the Parthian prince Pacorus I subdued all Egyptian settlements along the Levantine coast as far south as the city of Shechem, initiating the Second Egyptian War (40-38 BCE). In reaction to this, \*Nexeu I sent an army to meet the Parthians at Jerusalem. However, the Carthaginians, took this oppurtunity and invaded Syria as far as Damascus. After Pacorus I, defeated the Demetrians at Jerusalem, he immediately sent his army to Damascus, only to be defeated by the Phoenicians. Pacorus, was forced to sign an armstice, and thus, the Carthaginian territory in Phoenicia now reached from the cities of Arwad, to Damascus and all the way south to Dor, marking the end of the First Levantine War (40-39 BCE).

The **Egyptians**, however, are in decline and had just experienced a great flood and a famine, causing shortages of soldiers and supplies. Pacorus I, decisively outflanked the low-moraled Demetrians with their Parthian cavalry at the Battle of Gaza in 39 BCE, killing their entire army of 20,000 men, including the Egyptian general. The Parthians, now with reinforcements from their king Orodes II, swept into Egypt and quickly overran the almost non-protected cities of Paramoun (Pelusium), and Memphis. In 38 BCE, Pacorus clashed with another 20,000 Egyptian soldiers at Sais, however, \*Nexeu, was again defeated and began fortifying in Alexandria.

In 39 BCE, the Carthaginian Empire invaded the Egyptian vassal kingdom of Cyrenaica, during the Cyrenaican War (39-38 BCE). The Phoenicians captured as far as the city of Amunia (Paraitonion), annexing the region from the declining Demetrian Kingdom, which was now attacked from both sides. Meanwhile, Pacorus I destroyed the remaining Egyptian army and had stormed their capital, during the Siege of Alexandria in 38 BCE. Knowing that he would be taken to Orodes' II court in Parthia, (and likely executed thereafter), \*Nexeu and his son \*Akhem both committed suicide in 38 BCE. Cyrenaica became a client state of the Carthaginian Empire.

With the death of \*Nexeu and his only son, \*Akhem, the dynasty of the Demetrians and the entirety of Pharaonic Egypt came to an end. Alexandria remained the capital of the country, but Egypt itself became a Parthian vassal kingdom. Egypt became one of Parthia's richest client states and a center of Helleno-Egyptian culture. Alexandria would remain one of the leading cities of the Mediterranean and also a hotspot for early Christianity.

## List of Demetrian Pharaohs

**Antigonid Dynasty**

\*Ahmoses III (born as Demetrius I) (158-130 BCE) - Died with 77 years.

\*Necho II (130-112 BCE) - Died with 75 years.

\*Bakennifi I (112-92 BCE) - Died with 75 years.

\*Amenmer I (92-73 BCE) - Died with 74 years.

\*Hakor II (73-51 BCE) - Died with 76 years, likely from a heart attack.

\*Nexeu I (51-38 BCE) - Committed suicide with 69 years.

## Source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrius\_(son\_of\_Philip\_V)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic\_Kingdom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maccabees

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8447745/Massive-volcanic-eruption-Alaska-43-BC-triggered-global-climate-shock.html

## Flag credits

This flag was made by me using:

https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/comments/9ry074/ptolemaic\_kingdom/

https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/comments/az3oij/ancient\_egypt\_flag\_fictional/