Seleucid Empire
Seleucid Empire | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 312–63 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Inscribed tetradrachm of Seleucus I with symbols of the Seleucid monarchy[b]
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 Seleucid territory in 281 BC, on the eve of the murder of Seleucus I Nicator | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Common languages |
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| Religion | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Basileus | |||||||||||||||||||||
• 305–281 BC | Seleucus I (first) | ||||||||||||||||||||
• 65–63 BC | Philip II (last) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Hellenistic period | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 312 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 301 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||
• Start of the Seleucid-Parthian wars | 238 BC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 192-188 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 167–160 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 141-129 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 129 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 63 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 303 BC[7] | 3,000,000 km2 (1,200,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 301 BC[7] | 3,900,000 km2 (1,500,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 240 BC[7] | 2,600,000 km2 (1,000,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 175 BC[7] | 800,000 km2 (310,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 100 BC[7] | 100,000 km2 (39,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||||||||
• 301 BC[8] | 30,000,000+ | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The Seleucid Empire (/sɪˈljuːsɪd/ sih-LEW-sid[9]) was a Hellenistic Greek[10][11][12][13][14][15] state based in West Asia, founded by Seleucus I Nicator. Starting in 312 BC, following the division of Alexander the Great's empire, it was ruled by the Seleucid dynasty, with its capital at Seleucia and then Antioch, until its annexation by the Roman Republic under Pompey in 63 BC.
After receiving the Mesopotamian regions of Babylonia and Assyria in 321 BC, Seleucus I began expanding his dominions to include the Near Eastern territories that include modern-day Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, and Lebanon, all of which had been under Macedonian control after the fall of the former Achaemenid Empire. At the Seleucid Empire's height, it had consisted of territory that covered Anatolia, Persia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and what are now modern Kuwait, Afghanistan, and parts of Turkmenistan in Central Asia.
The Seleucid Empire was a major center of Hellenistic culture. Greek customs and language were privileged; the wide variety of local traditions had been generally tolerated, while an urban Greek elite had formed the dominant political class and was reinforced by steady immigration from Greece.[15][16][17] The empire's western territories were repeatedly contested with Ptolemaic Egypt—a rival Hellenistic state. To the east, conflict with the Indian ruler Chandragupta of the Maurya Empire in 305 BC led to a political alliance and the cession of territories conquered by Alexander along the Indus river, east of Bactria.
In the early second century BC, Antiochus III the Great attempted to project Seleucid power and authority into Hellenistic Greece, but his attempts were thwarted by the Roman Republic and its Greek allies. The Seleucids were forced to pay costly war reparations and had to relinquish territorial claims west of the Taurus Mountains in southern Anatolia, marking the gradual decline of their empire. Mithridates I of Parthia conquered much of the remaining eastern lands of the Seleucid Empire in the mid-second century BC, including Assyria and what had been Babylonia, while the independent Greco-Bactrian Kingdom continued to flourish in the northeast. The Seleucid kings were thereafter reduced to a rump state in Syria after a civil war, until their conquest by Tigranes the Great of Armenia in 83 BC, and ultimate overthrow by the Roman general Pompey in 63 BC.
Name
[edit]Contemporary sources, such as a loyalist decree honoring Antiochus I from Ilium, in Greek language define the Seleucid state both as an empire (ἀρχή, archḗ) and as a kingdom (βασιλεία, basileía). Similarly, Seleucid rulers were described as kings in Babylonia.[18]
The rulers did not describe themselves as being of any particular territory or people, but starting from the 2nd century BC, ancient writers referred to them as the Syrian kings, the kings of Syria or of the Syrians, the kings descended from Seleucus Nicator, the kings of Asia, and other designations.[19]
History
[edit]Partition of Alexander's empire
[edit]Alexander, who quickly conquered the Persian Empire under its last Achaemenid dynast, Darius III, died young in 323 BC, leaving an expansive empire of partly Hellenised culture without an adult heir. The empire was put under the authority of a regent, Perdiccas, and the vast territories were divided among Alexander's generals, who thereby became satraps at the Partition of Babylon, all in that same year.
Rise of Seleucus
[edit]
Alexander's generals, known as diadochi, jostled for supremacy over parts of his empire following his death. Ptolemy I Soter, a former general and then current satrap of Egypt, was the first to challenge the new system, which eventually led to the demise of Perdiccas. Ptolemy's revolt created a new subdivision of the empire with the Partition of Triparadisus in 320 BC. Seleucus, who had been "Commander-in-Chief of the Companion cavalry" (hetairoi) and appointed first or court chiliarch (which made him the senior officer in the Royal Army after the regent and commander-in-chief Perdiccas since 323 BC, though he helped to assassinate him later) received Babylonia. Antigonus eventually forced Seleucus out of Babylon around 315 BC and he fled to Egypt.
At the battle of Gaza in 312 BC, Ptolemy I Soter and Seleucus defeated Demetrius. After this battle Seleucus spent the winter in Syria, and with his army travelled across Syria and advanced back toward Babylon, arriving in there in April 311 BC.
Babylonian War and initial conquests (311–309 BC)
[edit]Seleucus declared himself "general" and "strategos autokrater of Asia" around May-June 311 BC shortly after arriving in Babylon. His goal was to usurp Antigonos' power. Antigonos reoccupied Syria shortly thereafter. When Seleucus arrived in Babylon he faced resistance from the Antigonid military governer Diphilus, who commanded a citadel in the city. Seleucus and his army captured the citadel and took control of Babylon in August 311 BC, implying months of resistance.[20]
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Nicanor, a prominent Antigonid loyalist and military commander, raised a substantial force that aimed to retake Babylon from Seleucus. He and his army marched from Ecbatana (most likely utilizing the Royal Road that passed along the Diyala River valley) and eventually reached Opis near the Tigris around September 331 BC.[20]
Seleucus responded immediately with a far smaller army and hid his men in the marshes along the Tigris. Nicanor was unaware of Seleucus' presence in the area and set up a camp. Nicanor's guards were attacked stealthily during the night and his army quickly surrendered. Nicanor escaped to Ecbatana and Seleucus proceeded to capture Susiana, where he remained for winter quarters.[21]
Seleucus continued his campaigning the following year in the spring/summer of 310 BC, subsequently launching a full-scale invasion of Media and killing and deposing Nicanor. With Nicanor removed from power, Seleucus was easily able to establish control and conquer the Upper Satrapies.[21]
Antigonos sent his son Demetrius to Babylon with a very large army to recover the city around the summer of 310 BC. Seleucus was absent from Babylon during this time and his general Patrocles conducted the defense. Patrocles ordered all civilians to vacate the city and requested aid from Seleucus, who was in Media. When Demetrius arrived he found the city empty and immediately captured the twin citadels.[21] Demetrius left the city around March 309 BC after facing resistance from the second citadel, and left his general Archelaeus in charge. Around August 310 BC Antigonos' army invaded the city, and a large-scale war broke out between Antigonos and Seleucid in Babylon, which continued up to August 309 BC[22]. The fighting is likely encapsulated by Polyaenus[23]:
Seleucus met Antigonus in battle; the issue of the battle was evenly poised. When night approached both armies decided to adjourn until the next day. The troops of Antigonus, taking off their arms, made camp, but Seleucus instructed his soldiers to eat and sleep in their arms while maintaining battle order. Just before dawn Seleucus’ army advanced, ready armed and drawn up in order of battle, and the Antigonid men, caught unarmed and in disarray, soon yielded the victory to their foes
— Polyaenus, Stratagems, 4.9.1
This was the final war between Seleucus and Antigonos over Babylon. All Antigonid forces were removed from Babylon by 308 BC.
Seleucid–Mauryan War (305–303 BC)
[edit]Chandragupta Maurya (Sandrokottos) founded the Maurya Empire in 321 BC after the conquest of the Nanda Empire and their capital Pataliputra in Magadha. Chandragupta then redirected his attention to the Indus River region, and by 317 BC, he conquered the remaining Greek satraps left by Alexander. Expecting a confrontation, Seleucus gathered his army and marched to the Indus. It is said that Chandragupta could have fielded a conscript army of 600,000 men and 9,000 war elephants.[24] According to Appian,
He [Seleucus] crossed the Indus and waged war with Sandrocottus [Maurya], king of the Indians, who dwelt on the banks of that stream, until they came to an understanding with each other and contracted a marriage relationship.[25]
While the Greek sources have been interpreted by some as a Mauryan victory,[26][27][28][c] the details of the conflict,[28] and if there was in fact a pitched battle,[33] are unknown, and Jansani warns that "there are very little details about the battle or skirmish they fought, and that none of the ancient authors depicted either Seleucus or Chandragupta as the clear victor of this battle. This lack of information about the encounter and the ensuing treaty means that it is impossible to reconstruct them."[34] Wheatley and Heckel suggest that the degree of friendly Maurya-Seleucid relations established after the war implies that the hostilities were probably "neither prolonged nor grievous".[35]
Chandragupta received, formalized through a treaty, territory west of the Indus, including the Hindu Kush, modern day Afghanistan, and the eastern part of Balochistan province of Pakistan, bordering on the Indus.[36][37] Archaeologically, concrete indications of Mauryan rule, such as the inscriptions of the Edicts of Ashoka, are known as far as Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.
It is generally thought that Chandragupta married Seleucus's daughter, or a Macedonian princess, a gift from Seleucus to formalize an alliance. In a return gesture, Chandragupta sent 500 war elephants,[38][39][40][41]