DEMETRIUS I. (d. iso B.c.), surnamed Soter, was sent to Rome as a hostage during the reign of his father, Seleucus IV. Philopa tor, but after his father's death in 175 B.C. he escaped and seized the Syrian throne (162 B.c.) after murdering King Antiochus V. Eupator. He was called Soter, or Saviour, by the Babylonians, whom he delivered from the tyranny of the Median satrap, Timarchus, and is famous in Jewish history for his contests with the Maccabees. Demetrius fell in battle against the usurper, Alexander Balas, in so B.C.