TRYPHON . An officer of Alexander Balas, who, after the death of the latter, took advantage of the unpopularity of Demetrius to put forward Antiochus, the son of Balas, as a claimant to the throne ( 1Ma 11:39 ). His real aim, however, was to gain the crown for himself, and this he accomplished after he had murdered in succession Jonathan the Maccabee ( 1Ma 12:39-50 ) and Antiochus ( 1Ma 13:31 f.). His rapacity led Simon to appeal to Demetrius ( 1Ma 13:34 ). The latter was organizing an expedition against Tryphon when he was himself made prisoner by Arsaces ( 1Ma 14:1-3 ). In the end, Antiochus Sidetes, the brother of Demetrius, attacked Tryphon, besieged him in Dor, and pursued him when he escaped thence to Orthesia ( 1Ma 15:10-14; 1Ma 15:37-39 ). Tryphon was finally shut up in Apamea, where he committed suicide (Strabo, p. 668; Jos. [Note: Josephus.] Ant. XIII. vii. 2; App. Syr . 68).