301 



SELEUCID.E. 



SELIM I. 



alliance with him, strengthened by which be returned with a large 

 army to the war with Antigonus, which was finally concluded by the 

 battle of Ipeus, B.C. 301. In the division of territory which followed, 

 Sfleucus obtained for his share Syria and the inland part of Phrygia, 

 and he made further accessions till he acquired Cappadocia, Seleucis, 

 and, according to Appian (' Syriaca '), all the provinces conquered by 

 Alexander between Phrygia and the Indus. Having now leisure to 

 promote civilisation, he planted many cities, the most celebrated of 

 which were Antioch in Syria and Seleuceia near Babylon : in peopling 

 these ho gave great privileges to the Jews. In consequence of the 

 close alliance between Ptolemy and Lysimachus, Selcucua took in 

 marriage Stratonice, the daughter of Demetrius Poliorcetes; but 

 wishing him, to give up Cilicia and Sidon, and finding him unwilling 

 to accede to his demands, he soon engaged in a war with him, which 

 was terminated in the defeat of Demetrius, who was taken prisoner, 

 B.c. 286, and died after three years' captivity. Before this marriage, 

 Seleucus, by a former wife, Apama, the daughter of Artabazus, had 

 had a son Antiochus, who conceived a strong passion for his mother- 

 in-law Stratonice, to gratify which Seleucus resigned her, making over 

 to him at the same time the majority of the seventy-two satrapies 

 comprised in his great empire , and reserving for himself those only to 

 the west of the Euphrates. At the close of his reign, he made war 

 upon Lysimachus, and, upon his defeat and death, conceived the 

 design of conquering Macedonia. Passing over to Europe for this 

 purpose, he was treacherously killed by Ptolemy Ceraunus, whom he 

 had received with great kindness on his flight from Egypt. This was 

 B.c. 280, in his eighty-second year. The character of Seleucus is much 

 praised by ancient historians. His military talents are generally 

 admitted, and he was not deficient in the virtues of civilisation. A 

 liberal spirit is shown in his treatment of Demetrius after he fell into 

 his hands, and in other anecdotes recorded of him. The prudence of 

 the later measures of his reign, the division of his empire and his 

 expedition into Macedonia, may be doubted. He was possessed of 

 great personal strength and courage. 



The following list contains the successors of Seleucus, with the 

 dates of their accessions, and a short notice of those who bore his 

 name : 



2. Antiochus Soter. 



3. -Antiochus Theus, B.C. 261. 



4. Seleucus Calliuicus succeeded his father Antiochus Theus, B.C. 246. 

 The empire was at this time much weakened by the defection of 

 Bactria and Parthia, and the wars of the Antiochi with Ptolemy 

 Philadelphus. Immediately on the accession of Seleucus, his mother, 

 jealous of any rival candidates for the throne, contrived the death of 

 Berenice, the Egyptian wife of the late king, and of her son. To 

 avenge his sister's death, Ptolemy Euergetes invaded the dominions of 

 Seleucus, and, passing the Euphrates, overran them as far as Bactria. 

 Seleucus, being hard pressed in this war, called in the aid of his 

 brother Antiochus Hierax, promising him all the provinces of his 

 empire in the lesser Asia. Strengthened by an alliance with some of 

 the cities in Asia Minor (his treaty with Smyrna is still preserved 

 among the Arundelian Marbles), he attempted to conclude a peace 

 with Ptolemy, but which was broken off by his ambitious brother 

 Hierax, who, supported by the King of Egypt and some of the 

 Gaulish mercenaries, maintained himself for a long time against 

 Seleucus, and being at length defeated, fled to Ptolemy, and perished 

 in Egypt. 



5. In the latter part of his reign, Seleucus seems to have made two 

 expeditions against Parthia, in the latter of which he was taken 

 prisoner by Arsaces, and it does not appear that he was ever released 

 from his captivity. He died of a fall from his horse, and was suc- 

 ceeded by his son Seleucus Ceraunus, B.C. 226, a weak prince, who was 

 cut oft' by a conspiracy in his own army while on his march to attack 

 Attains, king of Pergamus, who had seized the greater part of Asia 

 Minor, B.C. 223. 



6. Antiochus Magnus, brother to the lato king. 



7. Seleucus Philopator, B.C. 187, son of Autiochus, succeeded to an 

 impoverished kingdom, and, reigning feebly for twelve years, was 

 murdered by Heliodorus. 



8. Antiochus Epiphanes, his brother, B.C. 175. 



9. Antiochus Eupator, B.C. 164. 



10. Demetrius Soter, B.C. 162. 



11. Alexander Bala, a usurper, B.C. 150. 



12. Demetrius Nicator, B.C. 146. 



13. Antiochus Sidetes, B.C. 137 to 128. 



14. Seleucus, son of Demetrius Nicator, put to death by his own 

 mother immediately on his accession. 



15. Antiochus Qrypus, B.C. 125. 



16. Antiochus Cyzicenus, B.C. 112 to 95; after the first eighteen 

 months of his reign, jointly with Grypus, till the death of the latter, 

 B.C. 96. 



17. Seleucus VI., and last of the name, Burnamed Epiphanes 

 Nicator, the son of Antiochus Grypus, driven by Antiochus Eusebes 

 into Cilicia, was there besieged in Mopsuestia, and killed, B.C. 95. 



18. Antiochus Eusebes. 



19. Philippus. 



20. Antiochus. 



21. Tigranes, king of Armenia till B.C. 69. 



22. Antiochus Asiaticus, expelled by Pompey, B.C. 65. End of the 

 dynasty of the Seleucidse. 



With few exceptions, the kings of this race were weak and depraved, 

 enfeebled by the vices of their age and country, or not less by the 

 decaying state of their empire. The decline of this monarchy, com- 

 mencing from the latter years of the reign of its first founder, was 

 accelerated by the maritime and commercial superiority of Egypt 

 owing to the possession of Cyprus, Cilicia, and Tyre, by the formation 

 of the independent kingdoms of Bactria and Parthia, and the growth 

 of the power of the kings of Pergamus. After the defeat of Antiochus 

 Magnus by the Romans, the Seleucidse could only maintain a hopeless 

 struggle with hostile neighbours and disaffected subjects. How far 

 the destinies of the eastern world might have been changed had 

 Seleucus made the Euphrates the boundary of his empire, and aban- 

 doned his western conquests, is a question not undeserving considera- 

 tion. 



The coins of this dynasty are very numerous. Those of Seleucus 

 Nicator are distinguished from the rest by their exact resemblance in 

 type, style, and weight to those of Alexander the Great. The young 

 head of Hercules in the lion's skin, Jupiter yEtophorus seated, the 

 head of Pallas on the obverse, and of Victory holding out a wreath 

 on the reverse, are copied, with the name of Seleucus instead of Alex- 

 ander. There are others with a horned head of Seleucus, said to 

 refer to his extraordinary effort of strength in holding a bull by the 

 horns ; and we are told by Appian (' Syriaca ') that his statues in con- 

 sequence were represented horned. We also find the anchor as a type, 

 which probably refers to a prodigy at his birth, recorded by the same 

 author, and prophetic of his future destiny. 



On the coins of the later Seleucidto we have as a very general typo 

 Apollo, either standing or seated on the cortina, holding in one hand 

 an arrow, in the other a bow strung. Other types are winged heads, 

 probably relating to terseus, the great ancestor of the Macedonians ; 

 the elephant, and the prow of a vessel, in reference to the naval and 

 military forces of the empire. All the kings bearing the name of 

 Seleucus struck coins, with the exception of the fifth ; and we may 

 remark the long and pompous title of the last of these monarchs, 

 2EAETKOT Eni*ANOY2 NIKATOPO2, as contrasted with the failing 

 fortunes of the dynasty, and with the simple inscription on the coins 

 of the founder, BA2IAEn2 2EAETKOT. The scattered history of the 

 Seleucidte has been collected from Justin, Appian, Diodorus, Polybius, 

 and others, by the authors of the ' Universal History ; ' Vaillant, 

 ' Historia Seleucidarum ;' Frohlich, ' Annales Regum Syria? ; ' Clinton, 

 ' Fasti Hellenici,' iii. ; and Droysen, ' Geschichte der Nachfolger 

 Alexanders.' 



British Museum. Silver. 



Head of Seleucus II., -with the diadem. Apollo standing leaning on a tripod ; 

 in his right hand an arrow ; the inscription BA2IAEfl2 2EAETKOT, and 

 monogram. 



British Museum. Silver. 



Head of Seleucus IV., -with the diadem, and the inscription BA2IAEfl2 

 2EAETKOT : Apollo seated naked on the cortina, in his right hand an arrow, 

 in the left a bow strung ; below, the monogram. 



SELEUCUS. [SKLEUCID.E.] 



SELIM I., Emperor of the Turks, was the son of Bayezid or 

 Bayacet II. He was born under the reign of his grandfather Moham- 

 med II., in 1467. Being governor of Trebizond in 1511, he revolted 

 against his father, and marched to Constantinople. Though he was 

 defeated, and obliged to seek safety in flight, the Janissaries and the 

 spiihis being in his favour, his father Bajazet was compelled to resign 

 the throne to him, and he was accordingly proclaimed on the 23rd of 

 May 1512. Selim was then about forty-six years of age. His first 

 step after his accession was to march against his eldest brother Ahmed, 

 who was at the head of some troops in Asia. He defeated and put 

 him to death, as well as another brother named Korkud, and several 



