son of Philip, king of Macedonia, delivered as an hostage to the Romans. His modesty delivered his father from a heavy accusation laid before the Roman senate. When he returned to Macedonia, he was falsely accused by his brother Pericus, who was jealous of his popularity, and his father too credulously consented to his death.

Demetrius I. surnamed Soter or Savior, was son of Seleucus Philopator the son of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria. His father gave him as a hostage to the Romans. After the death of Seleucus, Antiochus Epiphanes, the deceased monarch's brother, usurped the kingdom of Syria, and succeeded by his son Antiochus Eupator. This usurpation displeased Demetrius, who was detained at Rome. He procured his liberty on pretence of going to hunt, and fled to Syria, where the troops received him as their lawful sovereign. He put to death Eupator and Lyrias, and established himself on his throne by cruelty and oppression. Alexander Bala, the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, laid claims upon the crown of Syria, and defeated Demetrius in a battle, 250 years before Christ.

Demetrius II. surnamed Nicanor, or Conqueror, was son of Soter, to whom he succeeded by the assistance of Ptolemy Philometor. He married Cleopatra, the daughter of Ptolemy, who was before the wife of the expelled monarch Alexander Bala. Demetrius gave himself up to luxury and voluptuousness, and suffered his kingdom to be governed by his favourites. At that time a pretended son of Bala, called Diodorus Tryphon, seized a part of Syria; and Demetrius, to oppose his antagonist, made an alliance with the Jews, and marched into the east, where he was taken by the Parthians. Phraates king of Parthia gave him his daughter Rhodogyne in marriage; and Cleopatra was so incensed at this new connection, that she gave herself up to Antiochus Sidetes her brother-in-law, and married him. Sidetes was killed in a battle against the Parthians, and Demetrius regained the possession of his kingdom. His pride and oppression rendered him odious; and his subjects asked a king of the house of Seleucus from Ptolemy Physicon king of Egypt; and Demetrius, unable to resist the power of his enemies, fled to Ptolemais, which was then in the hands of his wife Cleopatra. The gates were shut up against his approach by Cleopatra; and he was killed by order of the governor of Tyre, whither he had fled for protection, A. U. C. 627. He was succeeded by Alexander Zebina, whom Ptolemy had raised to the throne.

Demetrius Phalereus, a celebrated orator and peripatetic philosopher, was the scholar of Theophrastus. He acquired so much authority at Athens, that he governed the city for ten years; and ruled with so much wisdom and virtue, that they set up 36 statues in honour of him. By the flanders of some malicious persons in his absence, he was, however, condemned to die; and his images were pulled down: which when Demetrius heard, he said, they could not pull down that virtue for which those images were set up. He escaped into Egypt, and was protected by Ptolemy Lagus. This Demetrius king, it is said, asked his advice concerning the succession of his children to the throne; viz. whether he ought to prefer those he had by Euridice to Ptolemy Philadelphus whom he had by Berenice? and Demetrius advised him to leave his crown to the former. This displeased Philadelphus so much, that, his father being dead, he banished Demetrius; who was afterwards killed by the bite of an asp. Demetrius composed more works in prose and verse than any other peripatetic of his time; and his writings consisted of poetry, history, politics, rhetoric, harangues, and embassies. None of them are extant except his rhetoric, which is usually printed among the Rhetores Selecti.

cynic philosopher, disciple of Apollonius Thyanicus, in the age of Caligula. The emperor wished to gain the philosopher to his interest by a large present; but Demetrius refused it with indignation, and said, If Caligula wishes to bribe me, let him feed me his crown. Vespasian was displeased with his insolence, and banished him to an island. The cynic derided the punishment, and bitterly inveighed against the emperor. He died in a great old age; and Seneca observes, that "nature had brought him forth to show mankind that an exalted genius can live securely without being corrupted by the vice of the surrounding world."