Ptolemy's intervention came at a heavy cost; with Alexander's permission, he took control of all the Seleucid cities along the coast, including Seleucia Pieria. He may also have started minting his own coinage in the Syrian cities. While he was at Ptolemais Akko, however, Ptolemy switched sides. According to Josephus, Ptolemy discovered that Alexander's chancellor, Ammonius, had been plotting to assassinate him, but when he demanded that Ammonius be punished, Alexander refused. Ptolemy remarried his Cleopatra Thea to Demetrius II and continued his march northward. Alexander's commanders of Antioch, Diodotus and Hierax, surrendered the city to Ptolemy. Alexander returned from Cilicia with his army, but Ptolemy VI and Demetrius II defeated his forces in a Battle of the Oenoparus River. Earlier, Alexander had sent his infant son Antiochus to an Arabian dynast called Zabdiel Diocles. Alexander now fled to Arabia in order to join up with Zabdiel, but he was killed. Sources disagree about whether the killer was a pair of his own generals who had decided to switch sides or Zabdiel himself. Alexander's severed head was brought to Ptolemy, who also died shortly after from wounds sustained in the battle. Zabdiel continued to look after Alexander's infant son Antiochus, until 145 BC when the general Diodotus declared him king, in order to serve as the figurehead of a rebellion against Demetrius II. In 130 BC, another claimant to the throne, Alexander Zabinas, would also claim to be Alexander Balas' son; almost certainly spuriously. Alexander is the title character of the oratorio Alexander Balus, written in 1747 by George Frideric Handel. See also List of Syrian monarchs Timeline of Syrian history Diophantus of Abae References Bibliography Primary 1 Maccabees 10 ff. Justin xxxv. 1 and 2 Appian, Syrian Wars (=Roman History book 11), 67 Polybius, The Histories xxxiii. 14. Secondary External links Alexander Balas, article in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith Intaglio representing Alexander I 146 BC deaths 2nd-century BC Babylonian kings 2nd-century BC Seleucid rulers Seleucid rulers Ptolemaic dynasty 2nd-century BC rulers Year of birth unknown Alexander