The Seleucid dynasty was a Hellenistic empire. The Seleucid dynasty was located in the Middle East, and at its height it had central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, the Pamirs, and parts of Pakistan.
The Seleucid kings
The Seleucid dynasty is the one that reigned in most of the Asian Empire of Alexander the Great from the year 312 BC. Its founder was Seleucus I Nicator (305/4-281), officer of Philip of Macedon. married to the Persian noblewoman Apamea.
On the death of Alexander, Seleucus followed Perdiccas to Egypt, but having turned against him, along with the other governors of Asia, he received in 321 the rule of the satrapy of Babylon. After the death of Eumenes, the last defender of the Macedonian dynasty, two great powers of Macedonian origin were formed in Asia:Antigonus and Seleucus.
Seleucus ended up conquering the great satrapies of the ancient Persian empire from the year 312. His dominions, to the south, bordered those of the Ptolemies, disputing both monarchies, especially the region of southern Syria. In Asia Minor there were then some regions such as Pisidia and Bithynia, which had not been subjected and by the time of the battle of Ipsos (year 30l), Cappadocia separated from the monarchy and also Pontus.
The beginning of Seleucid power begins in the year 312, when, after Ptolemy's victory in the battle of Gaza, Seleucus settled in Babylon, a fact with which the Seleucid Era begins. . This time is the one of greater extension of the Seleucid Empire, extension that will undergo great fluctuations throughout its history. Antigonus sent two armies to reduce it in vain, one commanded by Demetrius Poliorcetes and the other by Nicanor.
This war continued and after the year 311, the advantage was Seleucus, so Antigonus renounced the dominion of the East and established the capital of his new monarchy in Syria. The kingdom of Seleucus, was formed in central Asia. He conquered in battle against Nicanor, Media, Susiana, Persia and Bactria and according to Appian, he also reigned over Mesopotamia. Armenia, the Arabs. Parthia, Arachosia and other peoples, up to India.
The state capital was Seleucia del Tigris, which began to be built in the year 305, south of Babylon, on the site occupied by Opis, and in a few years it became the largest Greek city in Asia. It was built near Babylon, a junction of roads that, radiating from it, carried the Babylonian and now the Hellenic civilization to the entire known world. When Seleucus became the owner of northern Syria, after the battle of Ipsos , he founded on it the city of Antioch on the Orantes.
Thus, Seleucia on the Tigris and Antioch on the Orantes were like the extremes of an East-West royal road, a vital artery for the Seleucid Empire which, at the same time, made it a great rival of the Ptolemaic kingdom, especially in relation to trade with India. As long as it was able to maintain these possessions, the Seleucid Empire maintained its greatness. Deprived of Mesopotamia by the invasion of the Arsacid Parthians, it would geographically become a Syrian state.
Seleucus I Nicator (4/305-281 b.C.)
Seleucus officially took the title of king in the year 306 and around the year 293 he associated his son Antiochus, born from his marriage with Apamea, to the throne. In 286, he captured Demetrius Poliorcetes and five years later, after his Curupedion victory over Lysimachus, saw the height of his power. In that same year of 281, he was assassinated by Ptolemy Kerauno, son of Ptolemy I, whom he had taken under his protection.
After him, the Dynasty declined, being its best representative Antiochus III . The reasons for this decline were several:the Gallic invasion, the rivalry of Egypt and the incompetence of the kings and the fratricidal fights.
Antiochus I Soter (281-261 BC)
Antiochus I was a mediocre man more famous for his love for his mother-in-law, Stratonice, than for her deeds of arms, although she held with Ptolemy Ill Ia Syrian War . This king died fighting against the Celts, who ended up settling in Great Phrygia, forming the state of Galatia. He restored the Esagila or great temple of the god Marduk , in Babylon. With him and his fight against Ptolemy II we have the first of the so-called Syrian Wars , in the years 274-271.
Antiochus II Theos (261-246 BC)
Antiochus II was nicknamed god of the Milesians , for having freed them from the tyrant Timarco.
He fought against Ptolemy Philadelphus II, who invaded Syria taking advantage of the youth of his neighbor, in the II Syrian War (260-253), peace being celebrated at the end with his marriage to Berenice, daughter of the Egyptian king. The Syrian king had obtained successes that allowed him to impose his protectorate over Ionia and some cities of Lycia and Pamphylia. This king managed to preserve the Seleucid heritage and even increase it. When he died, assassinated perhaps by his first wife, Laodice, repudiated on the occasion of his political marriage with the Egyptian princess, he left his kingdom to his son Seleucus, who reigned with the name of Seleucus II II Canlinicos (Victor ) (265-226).
Seleucus II Callininicos (265-226 b.C.)
Seleucus II was the son of Laodice, to whom his brother Antiochus Hierax unsuccessfully disputed the throne.
The king of Egypt, Ptolemy III Euergetes, invaded his states defending the rights of his sister Berenice and his son, and took Antioch during the III Syrian War or Laodicean War (246-241), although he arrived late because Laodice had had both assassinated, but his presence in Egypt being demanded, Seleucus recovered it, although he had to give up his positions in Ionia, Cilicia and Pamphylia.
Seleucus then marched against Tiridates (248-214), son of Arsaces I, king of the Arsacid Parthians, whose kingdom had arisen after the invasion of the Scythian tribe. Constituted as a feudal state that linked with the Achaemenid tradition, the Parthians made their kingdom grow at the expense of the possessions of the Seleucids and Tiridates conquered part of Parthia and all of Thicamá around the year 240. With the reign of this Parthian king began the Era of the Arsacids (April 14, 247). Seleucus II died in the course of a campaign carried out against the Attalids of Pergamon. Although he did not lack energy, he could not oppose the disintegration of his kingdom, which was more or less reduced with him to Syria.
Seleucus III Soter (226-223 BC)
His eldest son, Seleucus III succeeded him, although he was soon killed by his officers, in an expedition against Attalus I of Pergamon, succeeded by his brother Antiochus.
Antiochus III The Great (223-187 BC)
Antiochus III was called The Great because he was one of the most famous and important monarchs of his time. This king carried out great deeds:he Suppressed the revolts of the Satraps of Persia and Susiana and reaffirmed his empire from the year 212 to 204, restoring seduced sovereignty in the eastern regions against the Parthians. These victories earned him the nickname of The Great , greatness that Rome would humiliate.
During the IV Syrian War (219-217), he was defeated by Ptolemy IV at the Battle of Rafia (year 217), near Gaza and had to leave Palestine and Phenicia.
His empire was immense, varied and disjointed, in its constituent elements. No Hellenistic monarchy featured a greater variety of peoples, comprising the most glorious foci of ancient Middle Eastern and Mesopotamian civilizations such as Babylon, Susa, and Jerusalem. Also among them were the ruins of Troy, at least during the reign of Seleucus I, and those of Nineveh. He projected a great expedition to India, which he carried out (years 212-205) and whose concrete results are scarce, but it allowed him to assume the title of Great King ( Basileus Megas ) and brought him great prestige among his subjects.
Renewing the war against the Lagids (V Syrian War :202-200), he snatched Phenicia and Palestine from them, while in the West, he took his weapons to Thrace, which he took in the year 196, which alienated him from the Romans, who just a year ago had destroyed Macedonia in the Battle of Cynoscephali .
The year 198 marked the high point of his power, and in 195 he made peace with Egypt. In the year 192, he went to Greece, but had to face it with the Romans and was defeated at Thermopylae two years later (year 191).
In the year 190 he was defeated by the Roman L. Scipio at Sipylus , Magnesia. In the year 189/8 he signed the Peace of Apamea with Rome and thereby lost all his possessions in Asia Minor. To pay the tribute imposed by the Romans, he despoiled a temple at Elymaida, near Persia, and was killed during this expedition. After him, the process of decomposition of the Seleucid Empire begins, with internal conflicts and dynastic disputes inside, while the struggles against the Parthians continue abroad. In domestic politics. Antiochus suppressed the satraps, replacing them with the strategói , endowed with civil and military powers in smaller constituencies than the old satrapies. With this work of centralization he intended to affirm royal power and reinforce the state of obligatory worship of the sovereign. From this moment on, the decline of the Seleucid dynasty inevitably increased.
Seleucus IV Philopator (187-175BC)
His son Seleucus IV Philopator (187-175) was his successor. This king was assassinated by one of his ministers, the vizier Heliodorus, and was succeeded by his brother, Antiochus.
Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 BC)
Antiochus IV Epiphanes is often described as unbalanced, having invaded Egypt in the year 170 in the course of the VI Syrian War (170-168), and that he would have taken Alexandria if the Romans had not forced him to lift the siege.
He was famous above all because he wanted to promote Hellenization, enlarging Antioch and multiplying urban creations, trying to adopt Greek cults and customs.
This king was also famous for his wars against the Jews, led by the Maccabees, who freed themselves from Seleucid domination. Like his father, he lost his life trying to loot a temple in Elymaida. Under his reign, the Seleucid trade with the Persian Gulf began to stagnate, without the causes being known for sure, perhaps due to insecurity and competition from Egyptian merchants, who seized oriental products upon arrival in the Mediterranean after crossing Arabia.
The last Seleucid Kings
During the century since the death of Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the annexation of the Seleucid kingdom by Pompey the Great , the disintegration was accentuated, due to the expansion of the Parthians, the emancipation of the Jews and the Arabs and the multiplication of small local potentates, often Arabs, in addition to the dangers of banditry and piracy. After him, and for a brief period, two Seleucos, two Demetrios and nine Antiochos succeeded each other on the throne. The last of them was Antiochus XII Asiaticus (69-64), put on the throne by Luculu and later stripped of the kingdom by Pompey, who made Syria a Roman province in 64 BC, by reorganizing the Roman domains in the East (Pontus, Syria and Cilicia became provinces and Armenia, Cappadocia, Galatia, Colquida and Judea in vassal states).
The territories of the Seleucid Empire
The interest of Seleucid history lies in the attempt by the early kings of the dynasty to colonize most of Western Asia with Greek cities and settlements, one of the most amazing undertakings in the world.
The Seleucid Empire had three great centers:Ionia , whose capital was Sardis; Northern Syria and Babylon .
A feature of the Seleucid regime was the revival of Babylon, whose ancient culture was what the Egyptian was to the Ptolemaic kingdom. Cuneiform literature was now revived and Chronicles of the events of the time were written. Many commentaries and syllabaries with a new form of the latter are known, perhaps for use by the Greeks. Ancient Sumerian hymns and their Babylonian translations were also copied. The last known cuneiform document dates from the year 7 BC.
The Seleucids largely retained the Persian administrative system, perhaps because there was no better possible solution. It is known that the Achaemenid administration was based on the division into satrapies, although these divisions were not homogeneous, since the territories included enclaves with privileges, such as the priestly-states, the Greek cities or the dynastic ones.
There is no complete list of Seleucid satrapies for the same period and their name and number vary with time. There must have been about twenty in the third century, some of which were small, like those of Asia Minor, and others huge, like the superior satrapies western Iran and Mesopotamia, closely related to each other.
The cult of the King in the Seleucid Empire
Like the Ptolemies and in accordance with Alexander's thought, the Seleucids sought in the cult of the sovereign the link that would unite the different and scattered factors of his great Empire. The antecedents of the royal cult were in the deification of the heroes in the Greek cities and in the same power of the dead, who were believed to be in contact with the divinity.
It was also thought that victory was a divine favor granted to kings who had a special charisma in favor of the gods and the divine quality of the victor was something normal accepted in the Greek thought of the fourth century, as a phrase:
"The superior man is like a god among men"
Alexander's rapid and brilliant career and his great conquests accelerated the chief's gradual access to sacredness, which may not be exempt from Eastern and Western influences (Hispania-Rome). The different cults to the sovereigns were emerging in the various Hellenistic cities and in the different monarchies, spontaneously or at the suggestion of the ambassadors, with a series of almost stereotyped schemes:Fear us , Altar, Sacrifices, Anniversary procession, Games, hymns, offerings of gold crowns and statues and dynastic name attributed to a tribe or a month. A Seleucian inscription from Pieria has preserved the list of the dead and deified priests, gods and Seleucids.
Another form of access of the kings to deification was their association with a god, which takes different forms:At Delphi there was a statue of Antiochus III in the sacred precinct. In Seleucia of Pieria, the Seleucids were associated with Apollo and his cult was served by a common priest. Other times, the patronage of the gods translated into legends of elevation of the sovereign among the gods, as had already happened with different mythological characters (such as Iphigenia or Pélops) and the expression he left for the house of the gods it was the current formula to refer to deceased sovereigns.
But the kings were not the object of worship only. Also queens and favorites were honored with divine honors by cities, sung by poets and first assimilated to Aphrodite and later to Isis .
The Seleucids, as well as the Attalids of Pergamon and the Ptolemies, had a dynastic cult, in which it is necessary to distinguish between municipal cults and State religion . In Macedonia, on the other hand, no state cult has been found for the Antigonid rulers and only some of these rulers were worshiped in the cities.
There are also syncretic cults between minor dynasties, such as the one instituted by Antiochus of Commagene, in the middle of the 1st century and collected in his testament, which is preserved in an inscription. He created a cult endowed with a priest whose acts he minutely prescribes, as well as his clothing, which must be Persian. The pantheon that the king worships is also both Greek and Persian.
These royal cults gave work to numerous artists and architects, who built temples and chapels, gymnasiums and porches bearing the names of the different kings:Ptolemaion, Ataleion, Arsinoeion, etc…, as well as sculptures and inscriptions that have often been preserved.
In the Seleucid Dynasty, the kings were not gods, but received of the gods his investiture. The king was the one to whom Mitra and Analtis they gave the hvareno , the glory that mimbaba his forehead and that meant happiness and victory. But perhaps, the Seleucids were gods in the Hellenic cult that was born in the different cities and that they themselves organized, although in this sense, the opinions are contradictory. Antiochus I had the priesthood of him at Ilion and gymnastic games at Bargylia. Games were held in honor of Antiochus I and his son Antiochus II which were held in his temples. To the temple of queen Stratonice, in Somvina, Seleucus II granted the right of asylum.
OrganizationoftheSeleucidempire
This Empire, heir to most of the Persian Achaemenid Empire , also inherited the difficulties that this presented:Its great extension, the great cultural differences, the great geographical differences and the difficulty in communications.
The Seleucids largely preserved the Persian administrative system based on the satrapies, perhaps because it either made their task easier or because they did not find a better way to organize them by making some modifications:Each satrapy was not a homogeneous administrative entity , as their territories included different enclaves:Priest-states, independent Dynasties, and ancient or new Greek Poleis. There is no complete list of the Seleucid satrapies and their number varies. At the beginning of the third century there were about twenty and the extension varied considerably from one to another.
The position of Satrap was maintained until Antiochus III, with the exception of the territories of Asia Minor, where Antigonus the Cyclops had replaced them with Greek strategos. The great extension of the Empire made necessary the creation of more general governments. The superior satrapies, those located east of the Euphrates, were regrouped under the authority of a governor-general, a position that was usually held by the crown prince of the Empire or some Prince of royal blood, whose residence was Seleucia on the Tigris. The Strategist of Lydia resided in Sardes and had authority over the other satraps of Asia Minor.
Within each satrapy, the various functions were distributed among many high officials. The Satrap had fundamentally civil and financial functions. The Strategists also commanded the troops. Antiochus III attributed military functions to the Satraps, entrusting the fiscal and financial functions to an Econome or a similar position of in charge of revenues , subordinate to the functions of the Strategist-Governor. The junior, administrative staff had authority over the royal land or chôra basiliquè , of which we do not know how it was organized in Asia Minor.
The peasants of the royal lands or laoi basilikoi They lived in small towns or komaí and although they were free, they were linked, in a certain way, to the land, so that when the king bequeathed the land, he did so with his peasants included, although they cannot be compared to the serfs of the gleba medieval, since they could leave it freely.