SELEUCID DYNASTY

This article appears in Volume V24, Page 604 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SCY-SHA

SELEUCID DYNASTY , a line of kings who reigned in Nearer Asia from 312 to 65 B.C.
The founder SELEUCUS (surnamed for later generations Nicator) was a Macedonian, the son of Antiochus, one of Philip's generals. Seleucus, as a young man of about twenty-three, accompanied Alexander into Asia in 333, and won distinction in the Indian campaign of 326. When the Macedonian empire was divided in 323 (the "

Partition

PARTITION

of Babylon ") Seleucus was given the office of chiliarch (Gr. Xiktot, a thousand), which attached him closely to the person of the regent Perdiccas. Seleucus. himself had a hand in the murder of Perdiccas in 321. At the second

partition

PARTITION

, at Triparadisus (321), Seleucus was given the government of the Babylonian satrapy. In 316, 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 co-operated with

Ptolemy

PTOLEMY (
CLAUDIUS
PTOLEMAEUS)

and commanded Egyptian squadrons in the Aegean. The victory won by

Ptolemy

PTOLEMY (
CLAUDIUS
PTOLEMAEUS)

at Gaza in 312 opened the way for Seleucus to return to the east. His return to Babylon in that year was afterwards officially regarded as the beginning of the Seleucid empire. Master of Babylonia, Seleucus at once proceeded to wrest the neighbouring provinces of Persist Susiana and Media from the nominees of Antigonus. A raid into Babylonia conducted in 311 by Demetrius, son of Antigonus, did not seriously check Seleucus's progress. Whilst Antigonus was occupied in the west, Seleucus during nine years (31.1-3o2) brought under his authority the whole eastern part of Alexander's empire as far as the Jaxartes and Indus. In 305, after the extinction of the old royal line of Macedonia, Seleucus, like the other four Drincipal Macedonian chiefs, assumed the style of king,
His attempt, however, to restore Macedonian rule beyond the Indus, where the native Chandragupta had established himself, was not successful. Seleucus entered the Punjab, but felt himself obliged in 302 to conclude a peace with Chandragupta, by which he ceded large districts of Afghanistan in return for 500 elephants. The pressing need for Seleucus once more to take the field against Antigonus was at any rate in large measure the cause of his abandonment of India. In 301 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 here the new city of Antioch upon the Orontes as his

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

seat of government. His previous

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

had been the city of Seleucia which he had founded upon the

Tigris

TIGRIS (Old Persian Tigrd, Diklat of the cuneiform inscriptions, Hiddekel of the Old Testament, Diglath of the Targum, Digla of the Arabs)

(almost coinciding in site with Bagdad), and this continued to be the

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

for the eastern satrapies. About 293 he installed his son Antiochus there as viceroy, the vast extent of the empire seeming to require a

double

government. The capture of Demetrius in 285 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, Ceraunus, who, on the accession to the Egyptian throne of his brother Ptolemy II. (285), had at first taken

refuge

REFUGE

with Lysimachus and then with Seleucus. War between Seleucus and Lysimachus broke out, and on the field of Coru-pedion in

Lydia

LYDIA

Lysimachus fell (281). Seleucus now saw the whole empire of Alexander, Egypt alone excepted, 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 Ceraunus near Lysimachia (281).

End of Article: SELEUCID DYNASTY

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/SCY_SHA/SELEUCID_DYNASTY.html">
SELEUCID DYNASTY
</a>

(Previous)
SELEUCIA (Gr. EeXeimeta)

(Next)
SELF (O.Eng. seolf, silf, &c., cf. Dutch zelf, ...

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email