SELEUCIA 



SELIM I. 



discovered in sulphur, and in certain sulphide* of 

 iron. It forma with oxygen a suboxide and a 

 binoxide (SeO,, wlenious anhydride); and as it 

 forms also a selenic acid, H^SeO. + x an, the 

 existence of a selenic anhydride SeO, is inferred, 

 though it has not been isolated. With hydrogen 

 selenium forms seleniiiretted hydrogen, or hydro- 

 selenic acid, H,Se. Selenium was discovered in 

 1817 by BerzeliiiR, in the refuse of a sulphuric-acid 

 manufactory. He named it selenium (Or. selene, 

 ' the moon ' ), because in many respects it resembled 

 tellurium (from Lat. tellus, 'the earth'). 



Seleiioia, the name of several ancient cities in 

 Syria, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, Caria, and 

 Mesopotamia, founded during the earlier existence 

 of the dynasty of the Seleucidn- (q.v.). Of these 

 two were especially distinguished. (1) SELEUCIA 

 I'II.KI \. founded by Seleucus Nicator, a few miles 

 north of the mouth of the Orontes in Syria, was 

 the seaport of Antioch, and became of great im- 

 portance during the wars lietween the Keleucid;i> 

 and the Ptolemies for the possession of Syria. It 

 rapidly declined under the Roman dominion. The 

 ruins have been fully explored and described in 

 modern times by Pococke ( Observations on Syria ) 

 and Chesney ( Royal Geoff raph teat Society's Journal, 

 vol. viii. ). The remarkable tunnel of 1088 yards 

 in length, which was excavated out of the solid 

 rock and formed the only communication between 

 the city and the sea, and the remains of its triple 

 line of walls, citadel, temples, amphitheatre, 

 necropolis, &c. attest the former importance and 

 splendour of the city. (2) SELKUCIA ON THE 

 TIGRIS was also built by Seleucns Nicator, on the 

 west bank of the Tigris, 40 miles (according to 

 Strabo 33) north-east of Babylon, which was de- 

 spoiled to supply materials for the construction of 

 ttie new city. Situated in a district of great 

 fertility, and commanding the chief trading routes 

 of Assyria, Babylonia, and western Persia, it 

 rapidly rose to wealth and splendour, supplanted 

 Babylon as the capital of the eastern portion of the 

 Seleucid monarchy, and when in the acme of its 

 greatness contained a population of more than 

 600,000. When the Seleucid empire fell before the 

 liomans the fate of Seleucia was sealed. It was 

 partly burned l.y Trajan ( 116 A.D. ), and in 165 was 

 completely destroyed by Avidius Cassias. 



Srlciirid;i'. the dynasty of kings to whom fell 

 that portion of Alexander the Great's Asiatic con- 

 quests which included Syria, a large jwrtion of 

 Asia Minor, and the whole of the eastern provinces 

 ( Persia, Bactria, &c.). The founder of the dynasty 

 was Shi.i'.n TS I., surnamed Nicator, who 'in the 

 second partition of Alexander the Great's empire 

 obtained Babylonia, to which, with the aid of 

 Anligonus, lie sulweqnently added Susiana ; but 

 a quarrel having arisen with that powerful chief, 

 Seleucus took refuge in Egypt (316 B.C.). The 

 couree of events, however, allowed him to return 

 to his satrapy in :t!2; his re-entry into Babylon 

 marked the beginning of the era of the Sdcuctdas. 

 Hnving recovered Su-iana, he conquered Media, 

 and extended his power to the Oxus and Indus. 

 In 306 he assumed the regal title; and four years 

 afterwards he joined the con federacy of Ptolemy, 

 Lynimachus, and Caiwander against Antigonus, 

 and obtained the largest share in the conquered 

 territories of that ruler, a great part of Asia Minor 

 and the whole of Syria falling to him. Towards 

 the cliwe of hi? reign he gained by war the rest of 

 Asia Minor, but was assassinated (280) by one of 

 his own ollirers. Selem-ns cherished the ambition 

 of building up :i MM-KIM! empire equal in extent to 

 Alexander's, anil he pursued with great zeal the 

 plan of ' Hellenising' the East, by founding numer- 

 ous Greek and Macedonian colonies in various parts 



of his dominions; he also built numerous cities, 

 several of which a- Antioch in Syria and Seleuria 

 on the Tigris rose to l>e among the most populous 

 and wealthy in the world. In the reign of his 

 feeble grandson, ANTIOCHUS II. (260-246), Bactria 

 was lost and the foundations were laid of the king- 

 dom of Parthia. His son, SKI.KICI s II. C.MI; 

 226), surnamed Callinicus, was greatly beset !>y 

 Ptolemy of Egypt, by his own brother, and by 

 the Parthian prince, but managed to hold his own 

 with some difficulty. The glories of Seleucus I. 

 were revived in the second son of Seleucus II., 

 ASTIOCHUS III. (q.v.), 'the Great,' who was the 

 first of the Eastern 'great kings 'of Iran to come 

 into collision with the Knnmns. His second suc- 

 cessor was his own able son, ANTIOCHI'S IV. (q.v.), 

 Epiphanes (I.; 'the Illustrious'), who conquered 

 Code-Syria and Palestine from the Egyptians, but 

 withheld his hand from Egypt at the bidding of 

 the Romans. He practised atrocious cruelties on 

 the Jews, whose religion iie endeavoured to root 

 out in favour of the Greek religion ; but the heroic 

 resistance of the Maccabees (q.v.) completely foiled 

 his project. He died in a state of raving madness, 

 which was attributed by his subjects to his sacri- 

 legious crimes, and so they in derision converted 

 his surname into Epimanes ( ' the Mailman '). Tlie 

 succeeding rulers were for the most part a set of 

 feeble and incompetent sceptre-holders, none of 

 whom was able to delay the gradual disintegration 

 of the empire. Babylonia, the original centre of 

 their power, was conquered by the Parthians in 

 the reign of Demetrius II. (146-125). From that 

 time the Seleucidie were restricted to Syria, until 

 that region was taken from them by Ptolemy and 

 converted into a Roman province (65 B.C.). 



Self-defence. See ASSAULT, MANSLAUGHTER. 



Self-denying; Ordinance, a measure carried 

 through parliament in 1645 by the influence of 

 Cromwell and the Independents, by means of which 

 generals who were either less efficient or but half- 

 hearted in the cause were removed from the com- 

 mand of the army. After Manchester's lack of 

 energy at the second battle of Newbury ( October 

 27, IGt.'i ! ( 'romwell had determined upon a change 

 of tactics, and attacked Manchester in parliament, 

 but he soon found the more iweKdnfj measure a 

 better means towards his ends. Tiie Lords threw 

 out the measure, whereupon the Commons proceeded 

 to form a New Model Armv under Sir Thomas 

 Fairfax as general-in-chief. The Lords now passed 

 the measure with some alterations and called on 

 all existing officers to resign. Thus Essex, Waller, 

 and Manchester were got rid of, while Cromwell 

 was specially reapjxnnted to the command of 

 the cavalry as lieutenant-general. For a similar 

 measure, but one suicidal to good government, in 

 the history of the French Revolution, see MlRA- 

 BEAU, and ROBESPIERRE. 



Sclim I.. Sultan of Turkey, son of Bajazet II., 

 was born in 1467, and dethroned his father by the 

 aid of the Janizaries, 25th April 1512. Then he 

 caused his father, brothers, and nephews to be put 

 to death. This gives the key to his character 

 warlike, energetic, unscrupulous, and fanatical. 

 In 1514, after massacring 40,000 Shiites, he declared 

 war against Shah Ismail of Persia, whom he de- 

 feated at Chaldiran in the neighlnmrhood of Tabriz; 

 but a spirit of disaffection breaking out in his army, 

 he was compelled to content himself with this 

 success, which gave him possession of the provinces 

 of Diarbekir and Kurdistan. In 1517 he conquered 

 the Mameluke rulers of Egypt, and annexed that 

 country, Syria, and the Hejaz. Moreover he won 

 from the Ablmside calif, then living as a spiritual 

 prince at Cairo, the headship of the Mohammedan 

 world, the title of imam, and the standard of the 



