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After Antiochus VII died, the throne basically passed to Cleopatra Thea, who killed her husband of the moment, Demetrius II, in order to place their son, Antiochus VIII (ruled 125-96 BC), on the throne. By then the Seleucid Empire descended into full-scale civil war and was a shadow of its former self, being reduced in area to Syria. <ref> Price, p. 367</ref> The Parthians were in firm control of Mesopotamia by the beginning of the first century BC, but the final blow came when Rome claimed the Levant in 64 BC, thereby extinguishing the Seleucid royal line. <ref> Bryce, p. 221</ref>