Seleucus I Nicator
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Silver coin of Seleucus. Greek inscription reads Î'ΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ (king Seleucus). |
Seleucus I (surnamed for later generations
Nicator,
Greek:
ΣÎλευκος ÎικάτωÏ) (
c. 358 BC–
281 BC), was a
Macedonian officer of
Alexander the Great. In the
wars of the Diadochi that took place after Alexander's death, Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty and the
Seleucid Empire.
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Seleucus I (Roman copy from a Greek original found in Herculaneum). |
Seleucus was the son of
Antiochus, one of
Philip's generals, and of
Laodice. In
333 BC, as a young man of about twenty-three, he accompanied
Alexander into Asia and won distinction in the Indian campaign of
326 BC. When the Macedonian empire was divided in
323 BC (the "
Partition of Babylon"), Seleucus was given the office of
chiliarch, which attached him closely to the regent
Perdiccas. Subsequently, Seleucus had a hand in the murder of Perdiccas during the latter's unsuccessful invasion of Egypt in
321 BC.
At the second partition, at
Triparadisus (
321 BC), Seleucus was given the government of the
Babylonian
satrapy. In
316 BC, when
Antigonus had made himself master of the eastern provinces, Seleucus felt himself threatened and fled to
Egypt. In the war which followed between Antigonus and the other Macedonian chiefs, Seleucus actively cooperated with
Ptolemy and commanded Egyptian squadrons in the
Aegean Sea.
The victory won by Ptolemy at the
battle of Gaza in
312 BC opened the way for Seleucus to return to the east. His return to Babylon was afterwards officially regarded as the beginning of the Seleucid Empire and that year as the first of the
Seleucid era. Master of Babylonia, Seleucus at once proceeded to wrest the neighbouring provinces of
Persia,
Susiana and
Media from the nominees of Antigonus. A raid into Babylonia conducted in
311 BC by Demetrius, son of Antigonus, did not seriously check Seleucus' progress. Over the course of nine years (
311-
302 BC), while Antigonus was occupied in the west, Seleucus brought the whole eastern part of Alexander's empire as far as the
Jaxartes and
Indus Rivers under his authority.
In
305 BC, after the extinction of the old royal line of Macedonia, Seleucus, like the other four principal Macedonian chiefs, assumed the title and style of King. He established
Seleucia on the Tigris as his capital.
India
In the year
305 BC Seleucus I Nicator went to India, where he waged war against
Chandragupta Maurya. Through a treaty sealed in
303 BC, Seleucus ceded what is now Pakistan, southern Afghanistan, and parts of
Persia west of the
Indus but received 500 elephants in return, which were to play a key role in the battles that were to come. To cement the treaty, there was either some sort of marriage alliance involving Seleucus' daughter or the diplomatic recognition of intermarriage between Indians and Greeks.
"The Indians occupy [in part] some of the countries situated along the Indus, which formerly belonged to the Persians: Alexander deprived the Ariani of them, and established there settlements of his own. But
Seleucus Nicator gave them to
Sandrocottus in consequence of a marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants." Strabo 15.2.1(9)
[Strabo 15.2.1(9)]"Always lying in wait for the neighboring nations, strong in arms and persuasive in council, he [Seleucus] acquired Mesopotamia, Armenia, 'Seleucid' Cappadocia, Persis, Parthia, Bactria, Arabia, Tapouria, Sogdia, Arachosia, Hyrcania, and other adjacent peoples that had been subdued by Alexander, as far as the river Indus, so that the boundaries of his empire were the most extensive in Asia after that of Alexander. The whole region from Phrygia to the Indus was subject to Seleucus. He 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."
Appian, History of Rome, The Syrian Wars 55
[Appian, History of Rome, The Syrian Wars 55] In addition to this matrimonial alliance, Seleucus dispatched an ambassador,
Megasthenes, to the Mauryan court at
Pataliputra (Modern
Patna in
Bihar state).
Seleucus himself took as wife Apama, whom he had three children with: two daughters, Apama and Laodice and sons
Antiochus &
Achaeus. After the death of Apama, Seleucus married
Stratonice, daughter of
Demetrius Poliorcetes, Seleucus had a daughter by Stratonice, who was called Phila.[
1]
Asia Minor
In
301 BC he joined
Lysimachus in Asia Minor, and at
Ipsus Antigonus fell before their combined power. A new partition of the empire followed, by which Seleucus added to his kingdom Syria, and perhaps some regions of Asia Minor.
The possession of Syria gave him an opening to the Mediterranean, and he immediately founded the new city of
Antioch on the Orontes as his chief seat of government. Seleucia on the Tigris continued to be the capital for the eastern satrapies. About
293 BC, he installed his son
Antiochus there as viceroy, the vast extent of the empire seeming to require a double government.
It is said of Seleucus that "few princes have ever lived with so great a passion for the building of cities. He is reputed to have built in all nine Seleucias, sixteen Antiochs, and six Laodiceas"
.
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Silver coin of Seleucus. Greek inscription reads Î'ΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ (king Seleucus). |
The capture of Demetrius in
285 BC added to Seleucus's prestige. The unpopularity of Lysimachus after the murder of
Agathocles gave Seleucus an opportunity for removing his last rival. His intervention in the west was solicited by
Ptolemy Keraunos, who, on the accession to the Egyptian throne of his brother
Ptolemy II (
285 BC), had at first taken refuge with Lysimachus and then with Seleucus. War between Seleucus and Lysimachus broke out, and at the decisive
battle of Corupedium in
Lydia, Lysimachus fell (
281 BC). Seleucus now held the whole of Alexander's conquests excepting Egypt in his hands, and moved to take possession of Macedonia and Thrace. He intended to leave Asia to Antiochus and content himself for the remainder of his days with the Macedonian kingdom in its old limits. He had, however, hardly crossed into the Chersonese when he was assassinated by
Ptolemy Keraunos near
Lysimachia (
281 BC).
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A genealogical tree of SeleucusSeleukos Nikator: Constructing a Hellenistic Kingdom by John D. Grainger ISBN 0415047013
