The Empire after Alexander’s Death
Alexander the Great died in Babylon after a campaign in “India” (north-western part of the Indus Valley) in 328 BCE. His young age and hasty pace of conquests left him little time for organising his empire; thus immediately after his death, the empire became the scene of power struggles between his generals.
The most powerful and respected of these generals was Antipater who claimed the over-lordship of all others and the throne of Macedonia without any objections. Perdikkas, an important general, became the ruler of “Asia” (former Persian lands) and Ptolemy, another trusted general, became the ruler of Egypt.
The destructive and authoritarian nature of Alexander’s rule and conquests also resulted in the rise of various rebellions around the empire. One of the earliest one of these rebellions was taken up by the Greek city-states who had lost their independence to the policies of Philip and Alexander. Antipater, as the ruler of Macedonia, rushed to suppress this rebellion, but was defeated and humiliated. Other rebellions also took place, particularly in Asia Minor, prompting the creation of small kingdoms such as that of Pontus.
At this time, Perdikkas, the ruler of Asia, decided to unite the empire of Alexander again and thus undertook a campaign against all other rulers and satrapies. His campaign was cute short when Seleukos, the leader of the famous “Silver Shields” murdered him (321 BCE). The new council of rulers, which took place on Triparadise in Syria, reconfirmed Antipater’s ruler over Macedonia, appointed Antigonos Monophthalmos (the One Eyed!) as the ruler of Asia, gave Piphonos the ruler of Asia Minor, and appointed Seleukos as the lord of Babylonia.
Other satrapies such as Parthia, Zrankia, and Bactria, were also divided, all of them supposedly under the rule of Antigonos. Among these was the satrapy of Media which was divided into three satrapies, among them Media Minora. This satrapy was ruled by Atropat, Perdikkas’ father-in-law, since the time of Darius III. The satrapy was renamed Media Atropatene, a name which survives to this day in the guise of Azerbaijan.
Following this division, Antigonos became the most powerful ruler in the Empire and with defeating Eumenes, a loyal general of Perdikkas, dreamt of restoring Alexander’s Empire under his own rule. In 315, Seleukos fled the onslaught of Antigonos and arrived at the court of his friend and comrade, Ptolemy I of Egypt, by now, the undisputed king of that country. In 312, Seleukos, as the head of Egyptian navy, defeated Antigonos and his son, Demetrios Poliorketes in the Battle of Gaza and returned to his position as the ruler of Babylonia.
At the time, Lysimachos and Kassander also allied themselves with Ptolemy I and declared war on Antigonos, defeating him in the process and gaining Asia Minor for Lysimachos and Macedonia for Kassander. Antigonos tried in vain to defeat Seleukos, but the power of Seleukos was in the rise.
Seleukos I Nikator
In 305-204 BCE, Seleukos undertook a campaign in the east to consolidate his power and managed to subdue Zrankia, Bactria, and the rest of the east, an indicator that Alexander probably never managed this. In the banks of the river Indus, Seleukos clashed with the overwhelming power of the founder of the Gupta Empire, Chandragupta Mauriya who stopped the advancements of Seleukos. The peace treaty that resulted gave Gandhara and Gedrosia and the rest of Indus Provinces to Mauriya and brought 500 Elephants to Seleukos.
In 301, Kassander, Lysimachos, Ptolemy, and Seleukos united themselves against Antigonos and defeated and killed him in the Battle of Ipsos. The removal of Antigonos made Seleukos the most powerful man in Asia. He declared himself king in 301, although for all practical purposes, we can count the foundation of the Seleucid House from 312 BCE. Seleukos established his western capital in Anthiochia-on-Oronthes and his eastern capital in Seleukia-on-Tigirs. The population of the ancient city of Babylon whose city was destroyed by Antigonos were moved to Seleukia and made it another successful commercial and cultural centre.
A good portion of the rule of Seleukos and his son, Antiochos I was spent in organising their empire. Most of Achaemenid bureaucracy was left undisturbed, with minor exceptions such as making the satrapal Tax agents only responsible to the Imperial Treasurer, making him independent of the satraps. The polis system also was introduced which meant the semi-autonomy of cities and their rulers from the satraps, making them answerable only to the emperor. Some cities even minted coins and called themselves “Allies of the Emperors”. In this way, satraps were appointed with extracting the revenues from the rural agricultural lands, setting up the foundations of Arsacid feudalism. Cities were left to their noble rulers and merchants and the agricultural lands around them were left at the control of this ruling class. Although the polis system was not entirely alien to the Achaemenid lands, Babylon and Susa were polis since the pre-Achaemenid times, nevertheless, the creation of various polis around the empire made these cities centres of art, education, and trade.
From 294-286 BCE, much of Seleukos’ time was spent in fighting with Demetrios, son of Antigonos who had escaped the disaster at Ipsos. Demetrios was defeated, but held at the Seleucid court honourably, but he drank himself to death nonetheless.
In 281, the subject of Lysimachos in Asia Minor invited Seleukos to free them of the rule of the tyrannous king. Seleukos made a campaign against Lysimachos and defeated him in 281 in the Battle of Koroupedion. He next turned his attention to Macedonia and Antigonos II, son of Demetrios, who had recently established his rule in those regions. For a time, Seleukos seemed to be successful in consolidating the empire of Alexander. However, this was cut short by the hands of Ptolemy Keraunos, son of the late Ptolemy I of Egypt, who assassinated Seleukos I on the shores of Thrace.
Antiochos I Soter
Antiochos I Soter was the eldest son of Seleukos I and Apame, daughter of a Sogdian nobleman. At the time of his father’s death, Antiochos was the ruler of the east, centred in Bactria. The assassination of Seleukos came as a complete shock to the young king who had to spend much time establishing his rule over the west.
The first challenge for Antiochos was the continuation of his father’s campaign against Antigonos II. However, at that time, Mithridates of Pontus, a local Persian satrap who had declared independence and established the royal house of Pontus, along with the support of Ptolemy II Philadelphous of Egypt, started a rebellion against Antiochos. The young king concluded a peace treaty with Antigonos II that was to guarantee peace between Seleucids and the Macedonian rulers for almost a century.
The rebellion of the satraps of Asia Minor was heightened when they invited two Celtic tribes to Asia Minor. These tribes pillaged and destroyed lands under the rule of Antiochos for two years until they were defeated by Antiochos and settled in Galatia, part of modern day Turkey (275 BCE).
Between the years 274 and 271 BCE, a series of wars took place between Antiochos I and Ptolemy II of Egypt entitled the First Syrian War. It was over the lands that Ptolemy I had taken from Seleukos who did not object out of gratitude for Ptolemy’s earlier assistance. However, Ptolemy II started to expand his rule in Syria and Antiochos had to face him. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful in this campaign and in 271, a peace treaty was concluded, leaving western Syria and south-western Asia Minor in the hands of Ptolemy.
At the end of Antiochus’ reign, his eldest son, Seleukos who was the heir to the throne and the ruler of Bactria, rose in rebellion against his father. Antiochos met and defeated his son and was forced to execute him in 267 BCE. He himself died in 261 BCE and left the throne to his second son, Antiochos II Theos.
Antiochos II Theos and the Beginnings of Eastern Independence
Antiochos II became the ruler of a vast and stable Seleucid Empire in 261 BCE. His reign is generally considered one of the less important and illustrious of Seleucid reigns, and he himself is portrayed as a fun loving and hard drinking monarch. However, his effort in stabilising the Empire and also extending its influence cannot be ignored.
Antiochos II followed the unsuccessful struggle of his father against the growing Egyptian presence in Syria and Asia Minor and initiated the Second Syrian War in 259 BCE. His early campaigns saw the removal of Timarchos, the Egyptian supported Tyrant of Miletus from the throne of that city (258 BCE), an act that brought the title of Theos (god) to him. The freedom of Miletus initiated the local rebellions in other parts of Asia Minor against the Egyptian rule, and soon enough other cities such as Ephesos were freed from the rule of Ptolemey II.
In Europe, Antiochos brought the Seleucid rule to Thrace, a feat not even achieved by Seleukos I himself. In 253, Ptolemy II Philadelphous was forced to sign a peace agreement that recognised the lordship of Antiochos II over Syria and Asia Minor and ended the Second Syrian War. In order to strengthen the ties with Egypt, Antiochos II married Berenike, daughter of Ptolemy II. However, since Antiochos was already married to Laodike and had two sons (the future Seleukos II and Antiochos Hierax) from her, this created a friction inside the royal house. This was further strengthened when Antiochos unwisely decided to go back to Laodike. The struggle that took place between the factions of royal household both during the life and after the death of Antiochos II in 247 BCE, threatened the very survival of Seleucid House and its power.
However, the biggest threats to the Seleucid rule were to come from the forsaken states of the east. In the eastern satrapy of Bactria - once the seat of the Seleucid heirs to the throne - a new ruler named Diodotos took power. Soon after that, he managed to consolidate his power in the east and with the support of the Macedonian and Greek colonies, declared himself the independent ruler of Bactria. Diodotos’ founding of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom made this area the bastion of Hellenic culture in the east for many centuries to come. The Greco-Bactrian kingdom was to influence many succeeding dynasties.
Further to the west, in 247 BCE the ruling classes in the satrapy of Parthia chose a tribal ruler of the Parni as their new king. This king, named Arsaces ( Arashk) was the leader of the Parni in their migration from the area west of Sogdiana south to the Achaemenid/Seleucid satrapy of Parthia. The dynasty he founded, named Arsacids after him, was to become a strong force in the near east and one of the longest ruling dynasties in Iran. However, at the time, the internal struggles of the Seleucid court prevented it from noticing the newly created Arsacid rule, an oversight that was to cost a heavy loss to the Seleucids.
For further reading:
Bouché-Leclercq, A. Histoire des Séleucides, 2 vols. Paris: Culture et Civiliation, 1913-1914
Briant, P. "The Seleucid Kingdom, the Achaemenid Empire and the History of the Near East in the First Millennium BC," in P. Bilde, ed., Religion and Religious Practice in the Seleucid Kingdom. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1990
Cohen, G. M. The Seleucid Colonies (Historia Einzelschriften 30). Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1978
Fischer, T., "Seleukiden," Chiron 15, 1985
Goralski, W. J. "Arrian's Events After Alexander: Summary of Photius and Selected Fragments," Ancient World 19, 1989
Grainger, J. D. Seleukos Nikator. London: Routledge, 1990
Le Rider, G. "Séleucos I entre Séleucie de Piérie et Antioche," Revue belge de Numismatique 145, 1999
Mehl, A. Seleukos Nikator und sein Reich I. Teil: Seleukos' Leben und die Entwicklung sein Machtposition (Studia Hellenistica 28). Louvain, 1986
van der Spek, R.J. "..en hun machthebbers worden weldoeners genoemd." Religieuze en economische politiek in het Seleucidische Rijk. Amsterdam: Boekhandel/Uitgeverij, 1994
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The Empire of Alexander was left to his generals after his death. Seleukos Nikator, one of Alexander's most distinguished generals, inherited Syria and much of the former Achaemenid Empire and established the Seleucid Empire.
