IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Σκουνάκη Ιουλία Μετάφραση : Κόρκα Αρχοντή Για παραπομπή : Σκουνάκη Ιουλία , "Seleucus I Nicator", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=9750> Περίληψη : Seleucus I Nicator was one of the most important kings that succeeded Alexander the Great. Originally a mere member of the corps of the hetaeroi, he became an officer of the Macedonian army and, after taking advantage of the conflict among Alexanderʹs successors, he was proclaimed satrap of Babylonia. After a series of successful diplomatic movements and military victories in the long‑lasting wars against the other Successors, he founded the kingdom and the dynasty of the Seleucids, while he practically revived the empire of Alexander the Great. Άλλα Ονόματα Nicator Τόπος και Χρόνος Γέννησης Europos, 358/354 BC Τόπος και Χρόνος Θανάτου Lysimacheia, 280 BC Κύρια Ιδιότητα Officer of the Macedonian army, satrap of Babylonia (321-316 BC), founder of the kingdom (312 BC) and the dynasty of the Seleucids. 1. Biography Seleucus was born in Macedonia circa 355 BC, possibly in the city of Europos. Pella is also reported to have been his birth city, but that is most likely within the framework of the later propaganda aiming to present Seleucus as the new Alexander the Great.1He was son of Antiochus, a general of Philip II, and Laodice.2 He was about the same age as Alexander the Great and followed him in his campaign in Asia. He was not an important soldier at first, but on 326 BC he led the shieldbearers (hypaspistai)in the battle of the Hydaspes River against the king of India, Porus (also Raja Puru). Sources testify that he also had the quality of hetairos (comrade).3 In the framework of the group weddings Alexander the Great ordered to take place between Macedonians and Persian women in Susa, Seleucus was married, in 324 BC, to Apama, daughter of the ruler of Bactria, Spitamenes, who later gave birth to Antiochus I.4 2. Action The name of Seleucus is mentioned among those who requested the advice of god Sarapis so that Alexander the Great could be healed.5 In the conflict over power that started after the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC), Seleucus served under Perdiccas. He then became a chiliarch (= chief of a thousand men),while he was a hipparch (= generalin the cavalry of the hetairoi).6He followed Perdiccas in Cappadocia, Pisidia and Egypt. In Egypt, in 321 BC, he joined the conspirators who murdered Perdiccas.7 In the meeting that took place in Triparadisus of Syria, Seleucus and Antigonus saved Antipater from the conspiracy of Euridice and from the attack of soldiers who demanded money. During the division of the empire, Seleucus received the financially robust, yet militarily powerless, satrapy of Babylon. Sources do not define whether he had to claim his share from Docimus, the former satrap of Babylon and follower of Perdiccas.8 Meanwhile, the dispute between Antigonus and Eumenes had just started, and his kingdom was surrounded by both armies. At first, he tried to manage the situation through diplomacy, but finally he ensured that Antigonus would gain control over Susa and be given the title of satrap of Susiane.9 Δημιουργήθηκε στις 23/9/2021 Σελίδα 1/8 IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Σκουνάκη Ιουλία Μετάφραση : Κόρκα Αρχοντή Για παραπομπή : Σκουνάκη Ιουλία , "Seleucus I Nicator", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=9750> After defeating Eumenes, Antigonus was the most powerful and wealthiest of the Successors. His aim was to divide the satrapies anew. He killed Pithon, satrap of Media, and gave the satrapy of Susa to a native satrap, Aspisas. Seleucus was then faced with a provocative demand of Antigonus to control the local public income, something which meant control over the power of Seleucus. Seleucus, fearing that he would have Pithon’s ending, escaped to Alexandria, to Ptolemy.10 Seleucus gathered Ptolemy, Cassander and Lysimachus and created the first alliance against Antigonus. Seleucus himself is not mentioned as an ally, probably because he had no power, but he was placed in charge of the Ptolemaic fleet. He sailed along the Phoenician and Aegean coasts and besieged Erythrae, but he quickly abandoned it and retreated to Cyprus.11 Diodorus mentions that he occupied Kyreneia, Lapithos and Amathountas and possibly Kition, Cypriot cities that supported Antigonus. In 314 BC in Lemnos, despite the reinforcement sent by Cassander, he was not able to detach the island from Antigonus and sailed to Kos.12 In spring 312 BC, the forces of Ptolemy, under the command of Seleucus, regained Palaestina, Phoenicia and Syria. In Gaza they defeated the war elephants of Demetrius, son of Antigonus.13 Later on, Seleucus took 800 soldiers and 200 horsemen of Ptolemy and moved to Babylon. He then occupied the acropolis, where the guards of Antigonus, under the command of Diphilus, had been hiding, and very soon he gained control of the city. The retrieval of Babylon was set as the chronological start of the kingdom of the Seleucids (312/11 BC or 311/10 BC).14 Seleucus increased his military power, as he had many opponents to face. When he defeated Nicanor, the satrap of Media who followed Antigonus’orders, many soldiers defected and joined his army.15 He then moved to the east. He conquered Persis, Aria, Parthia and Media. Then Antigonus sent Demetrios to Babylon, who easily occupied a part of it, while Seleucus was in Media. Antigonus had no intention of recognising Seleucus as an independent satrap and the latter did not participate in the peace agreement between the Successors in 311 BC.16 Little is known about the following years. From fragments of a Babylonian chronicle and allusions made by Greek writers, it can be concluded that Antigonus was at war with Seleucus for a long time (310-308 BC). Seleucus finally won, although nothing is known about the place and the time the decisive battle took place. However, it appears that Babylon endured severe damages. From 311 BC until 303/2 BC, Seleucus managed to annexe the eastern Iranian territory and reach as far as the Indus River, although until 301 BC Babylonia was constantly threatened by Antigonus and Demetrios.17 In 306/5 BC, following the example of the other Successors, he adopted the title of king. Antigonus’aggressive politics made the others join forces again. Seleucus came to terms with the Indian king Candragupta Mauryan, who gave him 500 elephants (305 BC) in exchange for some territories.18 The war against Antigonus was determined when Seleucus and Lysimachus, mostly thanks to the elephants the former had received, defeated him in the battle of Ipsus, in 301 BC, where Antigonus was killed. The victors divided the territories of the defeated. Seleucus received the north part of Syria, given that Ptolemy had Coele Syria and refused to give it up (bone of contention between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids and cause of the Syrian wars). Seleucus did not make any claims temporarily, but he did proceed to founding cities in north Syria, naming them after members of his family (Seleuceia in Pieria, Laodicea, Apameia in Orontes River), and moving the capital from Seleuceia on the Tigris to the new-founded Antioch ad Orontem.19 After Ipsus, he also tried to approach the Greek cities of Ionia (Miletus, Ephesus, etc.). The return of the statue of Apollo to the temple at Didyma of Miletus, which had been taken to Ekbatana in 494 BC, was a gesture of good will. It was obvious that now Seleucus was planning to expand to Asia Minor.20 Meanwhile, Ptolemy joined forces with Lysimachus. Seleucus, in order to avoid diplomatic isolation, allied with his former opponent Demetrius and in 299 BC he married his daughter, Stratonice. For a long time, he avoided getting involved in warfare and just observed Demetrius’aggressiveness towards Ptolemy. It was then that he must have been involved in the organisation of his state. The sources do not provide clear information, but it is certain that he divided his kingdom into small provinces (new satrapies?). Nevertheless, when Demetrius occupied the areas around north Syria and refused to concede Sidon and Tyros, Seleucus took action. He quickly occupied Cilicia. In 292 BC he accorded his wife Stratonice to his son Antiochus, named him joint sovereign and assigned him with the administration of the Upper Satrapies, actually dividing his kingdom. In 285 BC, he captured Demetrius and imprisoned Δημιουργήθηκε στις 23/9/2021 Σελίδα 2/8 IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Σκουνάκη Ιουλία Μετάφραση : Κόρκα Αρχοντή Για παραπομπή : Σκουνάκη Ιουλία , "Seleucus I Nicator", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=9750> him in Apameia, where he died two years later.21 During that time, there was a crisis in the kingdom of Lysimachus, when he ordered the death of his son Agathocles (283/2 BC). Many people from the king’s circle (including the children and the wife of Agathocles, Lysandra) sought refuge in Seleucid cities. Philetaerus of Pergamon defected to Seleucus. Seleucus provided asylum to Lysandra’s brother, Ptolemy Ceraunus, who claimed the Egyptian throne as the legal successor. Seleucus took advantage of this opportunity, advanced towards Lydia and reached Sardis. In 281 BC, in the battle of Corupedium, Lydia, Lysimachus was killed.22 Victor Seleucus annexed territories of Asia Minor without validating the autonomy of the Greek cities, although many of them saluted him as a liberator. He then moved towards the Hellespont, Thrace and Macedonia, which came under him after his victory over Lysimachus. Only the cities of Byzantium, Kalchedon and Heraclea, out of fear that Seleucus might break their independence, joined forces with Mithradates III and defeated the army of Seleucus in the battlefield.23 In 281/80 BC, near the city Lysimacheia, Ptolemy Ceraunus, commander of the army, murdered Seleucus and was proclaimed king.