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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).