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 NW India. Later (c.305) he yielded part of present Afghanistan to Chandragupta . Seleucus was drawn into the league against Antigonus I , and when Antigonus was defeated at Ipsus in 301 BC, Seleucus gained a large part of Asia Minor and all of Syria. Of the Macedonian generals he was the one who tried hardest to set up a kingdom following Alexander's ideas. He founded Greek colonies such as Seleucia and Antioch. He also tried to govern the subject people according to the methods of the Persian Empire. He finally won Asia Minor by defeating Lysimachus in the battle at Corupedion in Lydia in 281, an event that marked the end of the Diadochi. Seleucus was murdered before he could achieve his ambition of seizing the vacant throne of Macedonia as well. He was succeeded by Antiochus I.

Bibliography: See E. R. Bevan, The House of Seleucus (2 vol., 1902; repr. 1966) and B. Bar-Kochva, The Seleucid Army (1976).

Seleucus Name of two kings of Syria. Seleucus I (c.355–281 bc) was a trusted general of Alexander the Great and founder of the Seleucid dynasty. By 281 bc, he secured control of Babylonia, Syria, and all of Asia Minor, founding a western capital at Antioch to balance the eastern capital of Seleucia, in Babylon. He appeared to be on the brink of restoring the whole of Alexander's empire under his rule when he was murdered. Seleucus II (r.247–226 bc) spent his reign fighting Ptolemy III of Egypt and Antiochus Hierax, his brother and rival, losing territory to both.