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 The Seleucids then moved their capital across the river to Ctesiphon, and Seleucia was thus superseded. In a Parthian campaign Trajan burned the city, and in AD 164 it was destroyed by Romans. Another Seleucia was founded by Seleucus I in Syria as the seaport for Antioch on the Orontes.

Seleucia The port for the Syrian city of Antioch which was 26 km. (16 miles) to the east; the River Orontes was 8 km. (5 miles) to the south. Egyptians and Seleucids wrested control of it from each other in the 3rd and 2nd cents. BCE (1 Macc. 11: 8) but in 63 BCE it was granted the status of a free city in the Roman Empire by Pompey, which was its status when Paul, Barnabas, and Mark embarked there on a ship bound for Cyprus (Acts 13: 4).

Seleucia, Iraq Seleukeia Ruins. A Hellenistic city founded by Seleucus Nicator^†. He made Seleucia (on the Tigris) his eastern capital and it was named after him. It was the most important Greek city in Babylonia, but was destroyed in ad 164.