Seleucid Empire

The Seleucid Empire was a Hellenistic (or Ancient Greek) successor state of Alexander the Great's empire. At its greatest extent, the Empire covered central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, Turkmenistan, Pamir and the Indus Valley.

Seleucid Empire
312 BC–63 BC
The empire at its greatest extent and on the eve of the death of Seleucus I, 281 BC
Capital	Seleucia (305–240 BC) Antioch (240–63 BC)
Common languages	Greek(official) Persian Aramaic
Religion	Olympianism Babylonian religion Zoroastrianism
Government	Monarchy
Basileus
• 305–281 BC	Seleucus I (first)
• 65–63 BC	Philip II (last)
Historical era	Hellenistic period
•	312 BC
• Battle of Ipsus	301 BC
• Roman–Syrian War	192–188 BC
• Treaty of Apamea	188 BC
• Maccabean Revolt	167–160 BC
•	63 BC
Area
301 BC
240 BC
175 BC
100 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by Macedonian Empire Province of Syria Parthian Empire Greco-Bactrian Kingdom Hasmonean kingdom Magadha Osroene
Today part of	Various countries Abkhazia Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan Georgia India Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kazakhstan Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lebanon Pakistan Palestine Saudi Arabia Syria Tajikistan Turkey Turkmenistan Uzbekistan

Primarily, it was the successor to the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, and was followed there by the Islamic Caliphate (Rashidun Empire) conquest and rule, from 650s to 660s AD. Later on, much of this area became part of the Umayyad Empire and then the Abbasid Empire.

There were over 30 kings of the Seleucid dynasty from 323 to 63 BC.

The partition of Alexander's empire (323–281 BC)

Alexander the Great had conquered the Persian Empire but later died young, leaving his huge empire of partly Hellenized culture without an adult heir.

The empire was put under the management of a regent named Perdiccas in 323 BC, and the territories were divided between Alexander's generals, who thereby became satraps, at the Partition of Babylon. Leaders who thought they should have more, started wars to get it. Soon the various parts of the empire were fighting each other.

The early Seleucid Empire

Seleucus I Nicator was one of Alexander's generals who received a portion of the huge empire Alexander had carved out. He received huge expanses of land in Syria, Babylon, Anatolia, even as far out as India. When Perdiccas was killed in a political assassination by Ptolemy of Egypt, the empire that was barely held together then splintered apart. The Seleucid Empire quickly expanded, eventually taking parts of Thrace in the west and advancing past the Indus in the East.

Seleucus I clashed several times with his southern rival for power, the Ptolemaic Dynasty. The Ptolemaic Dynasty controlled most of Egypt and the lands around it, and would fight the Seleucid Empire on many occasions for control of Syria. Seleucus I conquered much of Anatolia, and was preparing to invade Macedonia, when he was assassinated. This momentarily put an end to the Seleucid Empire's ambitions in Greece. After Seleucus I died, his heirs spent much of their time and money trying to maintain the enormous empire they had inherited. In this, they were rather successful, but the vastness of the empire defied attempts by the successors of Seleucus to control it effectively.

Seleucid Empire Media

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  Coin of Seleucus I Nicator

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  In Bactria, the satrap Diodotus asserted independence to form the Greco-Bactrian kingdom c. 245 BC.

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  Drachm of the Frataraka ruler Vahbarz (Oborzos), thought to have initiated the independence of Persis from the Seleucid Empire. The coin shows on the reverse an Achaemenid king slaying an armoured, possibly Greek or Macedonian, soldier. This possibly refers to the events related by Polyainos (Strat. 7.40), in which Vahbarz (Oborzos) is said to have killed 3000 Seleucid settlers.

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  Silver coin of Antiochus III the Great.

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  The Seleucid Empire in 200 BC (before expansion into Anatolia and Greece).

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  The reduced empire (titled: Syria, Kingdom of the Seleucids) and the expanded states of Pergamum and Rhodes, after the defeat of Antiochus III by Rome. Circa 188 BC.

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  Coin of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

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  Seleucid Syria in early 124 BC under Alexander II Zabinas, who ruled the country with the exception of the city of Ptolemais