Seleucus Nicator ( I - Establishing the Seleucid state

Macedonian general of Alexander the Great, and founder of the Seleucid dynasty. He rose from being satrap of Babylonia (321 BC) to being the ruler of an empire which stretched from Asia Minor to India. To hold his unwieldy empire together, he founded a new, more central capital at Antioch in N Syria (300 BC).

Seleucus Victor) (c. 358 BC–281 BC), was a Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great. In the wars of the Diadochi that took place after Alexander's death, Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty and the Seleucid Empire. ascent to power

Seleucus was the son of Antiochus, one of Philip's generals, and of Laodice. In 324 BCE Seleucus took as wife Apama, with whom he had four children: two daughters, Apama and Laodice and sons Antiochus &

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 regent Perdiccas. Subsequently, Seleucus had a hand in the murder of Perdiccas during the latter's unsuccessful invasion of Egypt 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. Over the course of nine years (311-302 BC), while Antigonus was occupied in the west, Seleucus brought the whole eastern part of Alexander's empire as far as the Jaxartes and Indus Rivers under his authority.

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

India

In the year 305 BC Seleucus I Nicator went to India and apparently occupied territory as far as the Indus, after what he waged war with the Maurya Emperor Chandragupta Maurya:

"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. Appian, History of Rome, The Syrian Wars 55

The two leaders ultimately reached an agreement, and through a treaty sealed in 303 BC, Seleucus ceded some territory to Chandragupta in exchange for 500 war elephants, which were to play a key role in the battles that were to come. Strabo 15.2.1(9)

Modern scholarship often considers that Seleucus actually gave more territory, in what is now southern Afghanistan, and parts of Persia west of the Indus.

Some authors claim this is an exageration, which comes from a statement made by Pliny the Elder, referring not specifically to the lands received by Chandragupta, but rather to the various opinions of geographers regarding the definition of the word "India" :

"The greater part of the geographers, in fact, do not look upon India as bounded by the river Indus, but add to it the four Satrapies of the Gedrosi (Gedrosia), the Arachotæ (Arachosia), the Arii (Aria), and the Paropauisidæ (Paropamisadae), the river Cophes (Kabul river) thus forming the extreme boundary of India. Pliny, Natural History VI, 23

Also the passage of Arrian explaining that Megasthenes lived in Arachosia with the satrap Sibyrtius, from where he visited India to visit Chandragupta, goes against the notion that Arachosia was under Maurya rule:

"Megasthenes lived with Sibyrtius, satrap of Arachosia, and often speaks of his visiting Sandracottus, the king of the Indians."

In addition to this matrimonial recognition or alliance, Seleucus dispatched an ambassador, Megasthenes, to the Mauryan court at Pataliputra (Modern Patna in Bihar state).

Seleucus obtained knowledge of most of northern India, as explained by Pliny the Elder. surveyed by Seleucus Nicator: namely - from thence (the Hydaspes) to the Hesudrus 168 miles - to the river Ioames as much: and some copies add 5 miles more therto - from thence to Ganges 112 miles - to Rhodapha 119, and some say, that between them two it is no less than 325 miles. Pliny the Elder, Natural history, Chap 21

Seleucus apparently minted coins during his stay in India, as several coins in his name are in the Indian standard and have been excavated in India.

Asia Minor

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.

In 300 BCE, after the death of Apama, Seleucus married Stratonice, daughter of Demetrius Poliorcetes.

It is said of Seleucus that "few princes have ever lived with so great a passion for the building of cities.

The capture of Demetrius in 285 BC added to Seleucus's prestige. 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.