Josephus
φύσιν οὖσαν πονηράν· ἰδιώτης μὲν γὰρ ὢν ἐθεράπευε τὸ πλῆθος καὶ μετριότητα ὑπεκρίνετο, δελεάζων αὐτὸ τούτοις εἰς ἅπερ ἐβούλετο, τὴν δὲ1 βασιλείαν λαβὼν ἀπεδύσατο τὴν ὑπόκρισιν καὶ ὁ 221ἀληθὴς Τρύφων ἦν. τοὺς οὖν ἐχθροὺς διὰ ταῦτ᾿ ἐποίει κρείττονας· τὸ μὲν γὰρ στρατιωτικὸν αὐτὸν μισοῦν ἀφίστατο πρὸς Κλεοπάτραν τὴν Δημητρίου γυναῖκα, τότε ἐν Σελευκείᾳ μετὰ τῶν τέκνων 222ἐγκεκλεισμένην. ἀλωμένου δὲ καὶ Ἀντιόχου τοῦ Δημητρίου ἀδελφοῦ, ὃς ἐπεκαλεῖτο Σωτήρ, καὶ μηδεμιᾶς αὐτὸν πόλεως δεχομένης διὰ Τρύφωνα, πέμπει πρὸς αὐτὸν Κλεοπάτρα, καλοῦσα πρὸς αὑτὴν ἐπί τε γάμῳ καὶ βασιλείᾳ. ἐκάλει δὲ τὸν Ἀντίοχον ἐπὶ τούτοις ἅμα μὲν τῶν φίλων αὐτὴν ἀναπεισάντων, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐκδιδόντας τινὰς2 ἐκ τῆς Σελευκείας τῷ Τρύφωνι δείσασα.
223(2) Γενόμενος δ᾿ ἐν τῇ Σελευκείᾳ ὁ Ἀντίοχος καὶ τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτῷ καθ᾿ ἡμέραν αὐξανομένης ὥρμησε πολεμήσων τὸν Τρύφωνα, καὶ κρατήσας αὐτοῦ τῇ μάχῃ, τῆς ἄνω Συρίας ἐξέβαλεν εἰς τὴν Φοινίκην, διώξας ἄχρι ταύτης, εἴς τε Δώραν φρούριόν τι δυσάλωτον ἐπολιόρκει συμφυγόντα. πέμπει δὲ καὶ πρὸς Σίμωνα τὸν τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀρχιερέα 224περὶ φιλίας καὶ συμμαχίας πρέσβεις. ὁ δὲ προσδέχεται προθύμως αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀξίωσιν, καὶ χρήματά
Jewish Antiquities XIII
nature; for while he was a private person he had courted the multitude and assumed a character of mildness, thus leading them on to do as he wished, but once he had obtained the royal power, he threw off all pretence and became the Tryphon he really was. Now by this course he strengthened his foes, for the army, which hated him, revolted and went over to Cleopatra,a the wife of Demetrius, who with her children was at that time shut up in Seleucia. And as Demetrius’ brother Antiochus, surnamed Soter,b was wandering about, for at Tryphon’s instance no city admitted him, Cleopatra sent to him, inviting him to come and marry her and take the throne.c The reason why she invited Antiochus on these terms was partly that her friends persuaded her to do so, and partly that she feared that some of the people of Seleucia might deliver up the city to Tryphon.
(2) Antiochus, therefore, came to Seleucia, and asDemetrius II’s brother Antiochus Sidetes forms an alliance with Simon. his strength increased daily, he set out to make war on Tryphon; and having defeated him in battle, he drove him out of Upper Syria into Phoenicia, where he pursued him, and when he took refuge in Dora, a fortress difficult to take, besieged him there. He also sent envoys to Simon, the high priest of the Jews, to propose a friendly alliance.d And Simon gladly accepted his offer, and lavishly supplied the
- aDaughter of Ptolemy Philometor and former wife of Alexander Balas, cf. § 80.
- bCf. below, § 244 and Ant. vii. 393 where Josephus calls him Antiochus Eusebes. Neither Eusebes nor Soter (the latter was the surname of Demetrius I) appears elsewhere as a surname of Antiochus VII, whose official surname was Euergetes, and whose popular name was Sidetes (from the city of Side in Pamphylia, where he was brought up).
- cThus Antiochus VII became the third husband of Cleopatra, cf. above, § 221 note a.
- dAntiochus’s letter to Simon is quoted in 1 Macc. xv. 1–9. Tryphon’s flight to Dora is mentioned in vs. 11.