Battle of the Oenoparus

Battle of the Oenoparus river
Part of Syrian Wars
Alexander I Balas and Cleopatra Thea.
Date 145 BC Location Antioch, Seleucid Empire (modern-day Antakya, Hatay, Turkey) Result Victory of Demetrius and Ptolemy
Belligerents
Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid Empire (partisans of Demetrius)	Seleucid Empire (partisans of Alexander)
Commanders and leaders
Ptolemy VI (DOW) Demetrius II	Alexander Balas

The Battle of the Oenoparus took place in 145 BC on the Oenoparus river (the modern Afrin River, Syria) in the adjoining countryside of Antioch on the Orontes, the capital of the Seleucid Empire. It was fought between a coalition of Ptolemaic Egypt led by Ptolemy VI and Seleucids who favored the royal claim of Demetrius II Nicator against Seleucids who favored the claim of Alexander Balas. Both the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic kingdom were diadochi, Greek-ruled successor states established after the conquests of Alexander the Great.

The Ptolemaic force won the battle, and Balas's hopes of securing the throne were ended. However, King Ptolemy VI suffered a mortal wound in the battle. Despite the Egyptian forces winning the battle, they too would be driven out of Syria by the now unified Seleucid Empire under Demetrius II, which turned on the leaderless Egyptian force and drove them out of Seleucid territory.