The Seleucid Empire (/sɪˈljuːsɪd/;[9] Ancient Greek: Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, romanized: Basileía tōn

Seleukidōn, lit. 'Kingdom of the Seleucids') was a Hellenistic kingdom[10][11] in West Asia during the

Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the

division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great,[12][13][14][15] and ruled by the

Seleucid dynasty 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 encompass modern-day Iraq, Iran,

Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon all of which had been under Macedonian control after the fall of the former

Persian Achaemenid Empire. At the Seleucid Empire's height, it had consisted of territory that had

covered Anatolia, Persia, the Levant, Mesopotamia and what are now modern Kuwait, Afghanistan, and

parts of Turkmenistan.

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 the cession of vast territory west of the Indus and a political alliance.

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, until their conquest by Tigranes the Great of Armenia in 83 BC, and ultimate

overthrow by the Roman general Pompey in 63 BC.

Name

Contemporary sources, such as a loyalist decree honoring Antiochus I from Ilium, in Greek language

define the Seleucid state both as an empire (arche) and as a kingdom (basileia). Similarly, Seleucid rulers

were described as kings in Babylonia.[18]

Starting from the 2nd century BC, ancient writers referred to the Seleucid ruler as the King of Syria, Lord

of Asia, and other designations;[19] the evidence for the Seleucid rulers representing themselves as

kings of Syria is provided by the inscription of Antigonus son of Menophilus, who described himself as

the "admiral of Alexander, king of Syria". He refers to either Alexander Balas or Alexander II Zabinas as a

ruler.[20]

History

Partition of Alexander's empire

History of Greater Iran

Pre-Islamic

Islamic

vte

Main article: Diadochi

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

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 and, from that point, continued to expand his

dominions ruthlessly. Seleucus established himself in Babylon in 312 BC, the year later used as the

foundation date of the Seleucid Empire.

Babylonian War (311–309 BC)

Main article: Babylonian War

The rise of Seleucus in Babylon threatened the eastern extent of the territory of Antigonus I

Monophthalmus in Asia. Antigonus, along with his son Demetrius I Poliorcetes, unsuccessfully led a

campaign to annex Babylon. The victory of Seleucus ensured his claim of Babylon and legitimacy. He

ruled not only Babylonia, but the entire enormous eastern part of Alexander's empire, as described by

the historian Appian:

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.[21]