Alexander II Zabinas was a pretender whose entire reign existed because Ptolemy VIII needed a proxy to destabilize Seleucid Syria. Backed by Egyptian money and troops, Zabinas defeated and killed Demetrius II at Damascus in 126 BC, then ruled Antioch for roughly two years before Antiochus VIII Grypus — backed in turn by his own mother, Cleopatra Thea — drove him out. Zabinas was captured and executed in 123 BC, reportedly after looting temple treasuries to pay his troops, a move that cost him whatever popular support he had retained.
Alexander II Zabinas was a pretender whose entire reign existed because Ptolemy VIII needed a proxy to destabilize Seleucid Syria. Backed by Egyptian money and troops, Zabinas defeated and killed Demetrius II at Damascus in 126 BC, then ruled Antioch for roughly two years before Antiochus VIII Grypus — backed in turn by his own mother, Cleopatra Thea — drove him out. Zabinas was captured and executed in 123 BC, reportedly after looting temple treasuries to pay his troops, a move that cost him whatever popular support he had retained.