Seleucus I (surnamed for later generations
Nicator, in Greek:Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ") (c. 358 BC–281
BC), Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great. In
the wars of the Diadochi, after Alexander's death,
he established the Seleucid dynasty and Seleucid
Empire.
Early career & ascent to power
Seleucus was the son of Antiochus, one of Philip's
generals. As a young man of about twenty-three, he
accompanied Alexander into Asia in 333 BC, 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 person of the regent Perdiccas. Seleucus himself
had a hand in the murder of Perdiccas 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 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 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's progress. Whilst
Antigonus was occupied in the west, Seleucus over
the course of nine years (311-302 BC) brought under
his authority the whole eastern part of Alexander's
empire as far as the Jaxartes and Indus Rivers. 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.
Establishing the Seleucid state
His attempt, however, to restore Macedonian rule
beyond the Indus, where Chandragupta Maurya had
established himself, was not successful. Seleucus
entered the Punjab, but after humiliating defeats in
302 BC, was forced to conclude a peace with
Chandragupta, by which he ceded large districts of
what is now Afghanistan, and his daughter Helen as a
"hostage-concubine", to Chandragupta.
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 here the new city of Antioch
upon the Orontes as his chief seat of government.
His previous capital had been the city of Seleucia,
which he had founded upon the Tigris (almost
coinciding in site with Baghdad), and this 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.
Silver coin of
Seleucus. Greek inscription
reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ
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).
References
- Seleukos Nikator: Constructing a Hellenistic
Kingdom by John D. Grainger ISBN 0415047013
- This article incorporates text from the
public domain 1911 Encyclopędia Britannica.
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