ALEXANDER BALAS [perhaps from t63.)2, lord], a personage who figures in the history of the Maccabees and in Josephus. His extraction is doubtful; but he professed to be the natural son of Antiochus Epiphanes, and in that capacity, out of opposition to Demetrius Soter, he was recognised as king of Syria by the king of Egypt, by the Romans, and eventually by Jonathan Maccabus on the part of the Jews. The degree of strength and influence which the Jewish chief possessed, was sufficient to render his adhesion valuable to either party in the contest for the throne. As he was obliged to take a side, and had reason to dis trust the sincerity of Demetrius, Jonathan yielded to the solicitations of Alexander, who, on arriving at Ptolemais, sent him a purple robe and a crown of gold, to induce him to espouse his cause (1 Mace. x. IS). Demetrius was not long after slain in battle, and Balas obtained possession of the kingdoin. He then sought to strengthen himself by a marriage with the king of Egypt's daughter. This marriage was celebrated at Ptolemais, and was attended by Jonathan, who received marks of high consideration from the Egyptian (Ptolemy Philometor) and Syrian kings (r Macc. x. Joseph. Antiq. xiii. 4). Prosperity ruined Alex ander; he soon abandoned himself to voluptuous ness and debauchery, leaving the government in the hands of ministers whose misrule rendered his reign odious. This encouraged Demetrius Nicator,
the eldest son of the late Demetrius Soter, to appear in arms, and claim his father's crown. Alexander took the field against him ; and in the brief war that followed, although his father-in-law Ptolemy (who had his own designs upon Syria) abandoned his cause, Jonathan remained faithful to him, and rendered him very important services, which the king rewarded by bestowing on him a golden chain, such as princes only wore, and by giving him possession of Ekron (' AKKapd,v). The defection of the Egyptian king, however, was fatal to the cause of Balas ; he was defeated in a pitched battle, and fled with Soo cavalry to Abm in Arabia, and sought refuge with the emir Zabdiel. The Arabian murdered his confiding guest in the fifth year of his reign over Syna, and sent his head to Ptolemy, who himself died the same year, B.C. 145 Balas left a young son, who was eventually made king of Syria by Tryphon, under the name of Antiochus Theos (1 Macc. xi. 13-18 ; Joseph. Ant i q. xiii. K.