Demetrius III seems to have been content with leaving the struggle against Antiochus IX and his heirs to his brothers; he took advantage of the chaos in the north to consolidate his authority in Damascus. Drawing his legitimacy from his father, he appeared on his coinage with an exaggerated hawked nose in the likeness of Antiochus VIII. Coins from a city named Demetrias, bearing on their reverse a portrait of the Tyche of Damascus, are evidence that Demetrius III might have refounded Damascus and given it the dynastic name Demetrias. Damascene coins mention the city as "holy"; it must have been a privilege bestowed upon it by Demetrius III who possibly also conferred the right of asylum on his capital.
Demetrius III seems to have been content wi,th leaving the struggle against Antiochus IX and his heirs to his brothers; he took advantage of the chaos in the north to consolidate his authority in Damascus. Drawing his legitimacy from his father, he appeared on his coinage with an exaggerated hawked nose in the likeness of Antiochus VIII. Coins from a city named Demetrias, :bearing on their revers:e a portrait of the Tyche of Damascus, are evidence that Demetrius III might have refounded Damascus and given it the dynastic name Demetrias. Damascene coins mention the city as "holy"; it must have been a privilege bestowed upon it by Demetrius III who possibly also co?nferred the right of asylum on his capital.