ordered Jonathan to come before him. Without raising the siege, Jonathan, accompanied by the elders and priests, went to the king, and pacified him with presents, so that the king not only confirmed him in his office of high priest, but gave to him the three Samaritan toparchies of Mount Ephraim, Lod, and Ramathaim-Zophim. In exchange for 300 talents of silver, the entire country was exempted from taxes, the exemption being confirmed in a letter which is preserved by I Maccabees and Josephus. Soon, however, a new claimant to the Seleucid throne appeared in the young Antiochus VI Dionysus, son of Alexander Balas and Cleopatra Thea. He was three years old at most, but general Diodotus Tryphon used him to advance his own designs for the throne. In face of this new enemy, Demetrius promised to withdraw the garrison from Jerusalem, if Jonathan, who he now called his ally, would send troops. 3,000 of Jonathan's men protected Demetrius in his capital, Antioch, against his own subjects. Support for Tryphon As Demetrius II did not keep his promise, Jonathan thought it better to support the new king when Diodotus Tryphon and Antiochus VI seized the capital. The latter confirmed all his rights and appointed his brother Simon strategos of the seacoast, from the "Ladder of Tyre" to the frontier of Egypt. Jonathan and Simon toured the region, removing Demetrius II's garrisons; Ashkelon submitted voluntarily, while Gaza was taken by force. Jonathan defeated a force of Demetrius II which invaded from the north, in the plain of Azor, and drove them back over the Eleutherius River. Meanwhile, Simon took the strong fortress of Beth Zur and replaced Demetrius II's garrison with his own. Sources report that Jonathan sought alliances with foreign peoples at this time. He renewed the treaty with the Roman Republic, and exchanged friendly messages with Sparta and other places. Capture by Diodotus Tryphon and death In 143 BCE, Diodotus Tryphon went with an army to Judea and invited Jonathan to Scythopolis for a friendly conference, and persuaded him to dismiss his army of 40,000 men, promising to give him Ptolemais and other fortresses. Jonathan fell into the trap; he took with him to Ptolemais 1,000 men, all of whom were slain; he himself was taken prisoner. When Tryphon was about to enter Judea at Hadid, he was confronted by a battle-ready Simon. Tryphon, avoiding an engagement, demanded one hundred