A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

(Ἀλέξανδρος Ζαβίνας), or ZABINAS, the son of a merchant named Protarchus, was set up by Ptolemy Physcon, king of Egypt, as a pretender to the crown of the Greek kingdom of Syria shortly after the death of Antiochus Sidetes and the return of Demetrius Nicator from his captivity among the Parthians. (B. C. 128.) Antioch, Apamea, and several other cities, disgusted with the tyranny of Demetrius, acknowledged the authority of Alexander, who pretended to have been adopted by Antiochus Sidetes; but he never succeeded in obtaining power over the whole of Syria. In the earlier part of the year 125 he defeated Demetrius, who fled to Tyre and was there killed; but in the middle of the same year Alexander's patron, the king of Egypt, set up against him Antiochus Grypus, a son of Demetrius, by whom he was defeated in battle. Alexander fled to Antioch, where he attempted to plunder the temple of Jupiter in order

to pay his troops; but the people rose against him and drove him out of the city. He soon fell into the hands of robbers, who delivered him up to Antiochus, by whom he was put to death,B. C. 122. He was weak and effeminate, but sometimes generous. His surname, Zebina, which means " a purchased slave," was applied to him as a term of reproach, from a report that he had been bought by Ptolemy as a slave. Several of his coins are extant. In the one figured below Jupiter is represented on the reverse, holding in the right hand a small image of victory.

(Just. 39.1, 2; J. AJ 13.9, 10; Clinton, Fasti, iii. p. 334.)

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