List_of_Seleucid_rulers

Seleucid dynasty

Seleucid dynasty

Royal family of the Seleucid Empire

The Seleucid dynasty or the Seleucidae (/sɪˈluːsɪˌdiː/; Greek: Σελευκίδαι, Seleukídai, "descendants of Seleucus") was a Macedonian Greek royal family, which ruled the Seleucid Empire based in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded by Seleucus I Nicator, a general and successor of Alexander the Great, after the division of the Macedonian Empire as a result of the Wars of the Successors (Diadochi).

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Through its history, the Seleucid dominion included large parts of the Near East, as well as of the Asian territory of the earlier Achaemenid Persian Empire. A major center of Hellenistic culture, it attracted a large number of immigrants from Greece who, encouraged by the Seleucids, formed a dominant political elite under the ruling dynasty.[1] After the death of Seleucus I, his successors maintained the empire's strength establishing it as a Greek power in West Asia;[2] the empire reached its height under emperor Antiochus III.[3] From the mid-second century BC, after its defeat at the hands of the resurgent Parthian Empire, the polity entered a state of instability with slow territorial losses and internecine civil wars. The Seleucids, now reduced to a rump state occupying a small part of Syria succumbed to the Rome's annexation of their territory in 64 BC under Pompey the Great.

History

Background

Seleucus (c. 358 – 281 BC) served as an officer of Alexander the Great, commanding the elite infantry corps in the Macedonian army: the "Shield-bearers" (Greek: Ὑπασπισταί, Hypaspistai), later known as the "Silvershields" (Ἀργυράσπιδες, Argyraspides).[4] After the death of Alexander in 323 BC, the Partition of Triparadisus assigned Seleucus as satrap of Babylon in 321 BC.[5] Antigonus, the satrap of much of Asia Minor, forced Seleucus to flee from Babylon, but, supported by Ptolemy, the Satrap of Egypt, Seleucus returned in 312 BC.[6] Seleucus' later conquests included Persia and Media. He agreed to a peace treaty with the Indian King Chandragupta Maurya (reigned 324-297 BC).[7] Seleucus defeated Antigonus in the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC and Lysimachus (King of Thrace, Macedon and Asia Minor) in the battle of Corupedium (near Sardis) in 281 BC.[8][6] Ptolemy Ceraunus assassinated Seleucus later in the same year. Seleucus' eldest son Antiochus I succeeded him as ruler of the Seleucid territories in 281 BC.

Seleucid rulers

Main article: Seleucid Empire
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Family tree

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See also

Footnotes

References

  1. [1]
    Glubb 1967, p. 34.
  2. [2]
    Eckstein 2006, p. 106.
  3. [3]
    "Seleucid dynasty | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  4. [4]
    Esposito 2019, Chapter 8: The Seleucid Army.
  5. [5]
    Kosmin 2014, p. 16.
  6. [6]
    "Seleucid empire | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  7. [7]
    Kosmin 2014, p. 24.
  8. [8]
    Kosmin 2014, p. 80.

Sources

  • Bevan, Edwyn Robert (2015). The House of Seleucus. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108082754.
  • Eckstein, Arthur M. (2006). Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome. University of California Press. ISBN 0520246187.
  • Esposito, Gabriele (2019). Armies of the Hellenistic States, 323 BC–AD 30, History, Organization & Equipment. Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526730305.
  • Glanville Downey (8 December 2015). History of Antioch. Princeton University Press. pp. 735–736. ISBN 978-1-4008-7773-7.
  • Glubb, John Bagot (1967). Syria, Lebanon, Jordan. Walker.
  • Kosmin, Paul J. (2014). The Land of the Elephant Kings, Space, Territory, and Ideology in the Seleucid Empire. Harvard University Press.
  • Mehrdad Kia (27 June 2016). The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 287–311. ISBN 978-1-61069-391-2.
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