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Seleucia
Seleucia , ancient city of Mesopotamia, on the Tigris below modern Baghdad. Founded (c.312 BC) by Seleucus I, it soon replaced Babylon as the main center for east-west commerce through the valley. The city was the eastern capital of the Seleucids until the Parthians conquered it. The Seleucids then ...
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Laodicea
Laodicea , name of several Greek cities of Asia and Asia Minor built by the Seleucids in the 3d cent. BC The most important, Laodicea ad Lycum, was N of Colossae near the present Denizli. On the trade route from the East, the city prospered, particularly under Rome. Extensive Roman ruins include the...
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Lycia
Lycia , ancient country, SW Asia Minor. Egyptian sources ally the Lycians to the Hittites at the time of Ramses II; the Lycians spoke an Anatolian language . Lycia was frequently mentioned by Homer in Greek mythology. In historic times it was held by the Persians, the Seleucids, and the Romans (f...
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Bithynia
Bithynia , ancient country of NW Asia Minor, in present-day Turkey. The original inhabitants were Thracians who established themselves as independent and were given some autonomy after Cyrus the Great incorporated Bithynia into the Persian Empire. After the death of Alexander the Great, the Bithynia...
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Antiochus III
Antiochus III (Antiochus the Great), d. 187 BC, king of Syria (223-187 BC), son of Seleucus II and younger brother of Seleucus III, whom he succeeded. At his accession the Seleucid empire was in decline. Although Antiochus did not succeed in totally restoring the greatness of the Seleucid dynasty, ...
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Ardashir I
Ardashir I [another form of Artaxerxes], d. 240, king of Persia (226?-240). He overthrew the last Parthian king, Artabanus IV, entered Ctesiphon, and reunited Persia out of the confusion of Seleucid decline. He established the strong Sassanid , or Sassanian, dynasty and reconquered the old eastern...
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Bactria
Bactria , ancient Greek kingdom in central Asia. Its capital was Bactra, present-day Balkh in N Afghanistan. Before the Greek conquest, the region was an eastern province of the Persian Empire. It prospered as the area for transmitting Siberian and Indian metals and goods to the Persians. When Ale...
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Chandragupta
Chandragupta (Chandragupta Maurya) , fl. c.321 BC-c.298 BC, Indian emperor, founder of the Maurya dynasty and grandfather of Asoka . He conquered the Magadha kingdom (in modern Bihar and Jharkhand) and eventually controlled all India N of the Vindhya Hills. In c.305, Chandragupta, with a huge a...
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Cilicia
Cilicia , ancient region of SE Asia Minor, in present S Turkey, between the Mediterranean and the Taurus range. It included a high and barren plateau, Cilicia Trachia or Cilicia Tracheia, and a fertile plain, Cilicia Pedias. The area was under the domination of the Assyrian Empire before it became p...
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Seleucus I
Seleucus I (Seleucus Nicator) , d. 280 BC, king of ancient Syria. An able general of Alexander the Great, he played a leading part in the wars of the Diadochi . In the new partition of the empire in 312 BC he received Babylonia. Conquest of Susiana and Media enlarged his holdings, and he invaded ...
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