S E L 



S E L 



Orontes, and near it, and S.W. of Antioch. According 

 to Piiiiyi it was a free city- 



Seleucia, the name which Seleucur; gave to a town of 

 Gadara, fituatcd to the E. and beyond the fea of Tiberias. 

 ^Alfo, a town of Judea, in the half-tribe of Manaffeh, on 

 the other fide of Jordan. 



SELEUCIANS, Seleuciani, in Ecckfiajllcal Hijlory, 

 a feft of ancient heretics, called alfo Hermiani. 



Seleucus and Hermias taught, that God was corporeal ; 

 that the elementary matter was co-eternal with him ; and 

 that the human foul was formed by the angels of lire and air. 

 They alfo denied, that Jefus Chrill fat at the right hand of 

 God ; alTerting that he had quitted the right, and had re- 

 moved his throne into the fun. 



SELEUCIDjE, in Chronology ; era of the Seleucidae, 

 or the Syro-Macedonian era, is a computation of time, com- 

 mencing from the eltab!i(hment of the Seleucidx, a race of 

 Greek kmgs, who reigned as fucctffors of Alexander the 

 Great, in Syria, as the Ptolemies did in Egypt. 



This era we find exprelled in the book of Maccabees, and 

 on a great number of Greek medals ilruck by the cities of 

 Syria, &c. 



The rabbins and Jews call it the era of contrads, becaufe, 

 being then lubjedt to the kings of Syria, they were obliged 

 to follow their method of com.puting in all contrffts. 



The Arabs call it therlck dilcarnain, era of two horns, 

 which fome fay fignify the era of Alexander the Great ; be- 

 caufe that prince bore two rams' horns on medals, in imitation 

 of Jupiter Ammon, whofe fon he would needs be ; but others 

 underlland it much better of the two kingdoms of Syria and 

 Egypt, which were now cloven or divided, and of one fingle 

 empire parted into iwo monarchies. 



The grand point is to know the year in which the fepa- 

 ration was made ; or, which is the fame thing, when Se- 

 leucus Nicanor, one of Alexander's captains, and the firll of 

 the SeleucidsE, e'lablilhed his throne in Syria. 



Without dc-tailing the various fentiments of various au- 

 thors, it may fuffice to obferve, that, according to the bell 

 accounts, the firlt year of this era falls in the year 311 or 

 312 before Cluilt, which was twelve years after Alexander's 

 death. S?e Epociia. 



SELEQCIS, ui ylnctent Geography, a country of Afia, 

 in Syria, which took its name from the city of Seleucia. 

 It was alfo called Telrapolh, on account of four celebrated 

 towns contained in it, according to Strabo. This country 

 extended fouthwards as far as Phoenicia. 



SELEUCO Belus, a town of Afia, in Syria; fituated 

 towards the river Orontes, W. of mount Belus, about N. 

 lat- ^f iroK 



SELEUCUS, a town of Afia, in Syria, in the vicinity 

 of Apamea. 



Seleucus I., in Biography, furnamcd Nicator, king of 

 Syria, was Ion of a Macedonian named Antiochus, a cap- 

 tain under king Pliilip. Seleucus entered, when young, into 

 the feivicc of Alexander the Great, by whom he was raifed 

 to an important command, and after the deatii of that con- 

 queror, he was placed by Perdiccas at the head of the ca- 

 valry. On the divifion of the provinces made by Antipater, 

 the government of that of Babylon was entrufted to Seleucus, 

 in which fituation he oppoied the advance of Eumenes againll 

 Antigonus. When, however, that leader, after tiie death 

 of Eumenes, marched to Babylon, he (hewed fuch a hodile 

 difpofition towards Seleucus, that the latter thought it iic- 

 ceifary to take refuge with Ptolemy, king of Egypt. Upon 

 the defeat of Demetrius, the fon of Antigonus, by Ptolemy, 

 Seleucus recovered his government of Babylon, and added 

 to it Media and Sufiana, wiiich be wrellcd from Nicanor, 



the governor, for Antigonus. Demetrius afterwards ex- 

 pellcd Seleucus from Babylon, but he foon returned, and 

 durably ellablifhed his autnority. He then proceeded with 

 a powerful army to the Eaft, conjuercd and flew Nicanor, 

 and marching through Perfia, Batiria, and Hyrcania, fub- 

 dued thofe countries, and the otiier provinces which had 

 formed part of Alexander's empire on this fide the Indus. 

 From thefe important viftories he ailumed the name of Ni- 

 cator ; and the other fuccefsful captains of Alexander taking 

 the title of kings in the year 306 B.C., iie followed their 

 example. The hiiturical era of the Seleucidse, however, 

 commenced fix years earlier than this, i'i%. in the year 212 

 B.C., when he recovered Babylon. He now marched to 

 regain the diftritts of India Proper, conquered by Alexander, 

 but he was oppofed by lo large a force, that he thought it 

 expedient to leave him in pollefTion, on condition of being 

 fupplied by him with 500 elephants. One realon of his 

 making this treaty was the neceffity of joining with Caf- 

 fander, Lyfimachus, and Ptolemy, in order to reduce the 

 overgrown power of Antigonus, which menaced the inde- 

 pendence of them all. This purpofe was effected by the 

 great battle of Ipfus, in which Antigonus loil his hfe. 

 His dominions were fliared by the four confederate monarchs, 

 previoufly to which Seleucus had feizcd the province of 

 Upper Syria, and founded the famous city of Antioch. 

 He alfo built other cities in the fame province, to which he 

 gave family names, as Seleucia, from himfelf ; Apamea, 

 from his wife ; and Laodice, from his mother ; and as he 

 was a great founder of cities in all his territories, he filled 

 Afia with places bearing the names of his family. After 

 this, he built Seleucia on the Tigris, which became one of 

 the molt famous cities in the Eail, and was the caufe of the 

 defertion and ruin of Babylon. In many of his new cities 

 he fettled colonies of the Jews, whom he endowed with ample 

 privileges, and to him was owing their eltablifhment in the 

 Afiatic provinces to the weft of the Euphrates. When he 

 was advanced in years, he is faid to have refigned to his fon 

 Antiochus, his wife Stratonice, and with her he refigned to 

 the prince all the provinces of Upper Afia. Seleucus and 

 Lyfimachus were now the only lurvivors of Alexander's 

 captains, and a domeltic tragedy having taken place in the 

 family of the latter, fome of its members took refuge in the 

 court of Seleucus, whom they urged to make war upon 

 Lyfimachus. He accordingly invaded, witii a very power- 

 ful army, the territories of Lyfimaclius in Afia Minor. 

 That prince crofted the Hellefpont to protcit them, and a 

 moll bloody battle was fought between the rivals in Piirygia, 

 in whicli Lyfimachus was flain, in tlie year B.C. 281. Se- 

 leucus took poflcflion of his dominions, but did not long 

 enjoy the fruits of viiitory, for as he was marching into 

 Macedonia, ieven montlis after, he was treacheroufly mur- 

 dered by Ptolemy Ceraunus, one of the fugitives from tlie 

 court of Lyfimachus. Seleucus died in the 43d year from 

 the death of Alexander, and in the 73d year of his age. 

 He was a prince of fplendid qualities, mild and equitable 

 in his government, and a patron of letters and learned men. 

 Uinver. Hift. 



Ski.eucus II., furnamcd Callinicus, fuccceded liis father 

 Antiochus Theos, in tlie year 246 B.C. His mother Lao- 

 dice having cruelly put to death Berenice, the fecund wife of 

 Antioclius, and her Ion, Ptoleitiy Euergctes, the brother of 

 Berenice, marciied into Syria, flew I^aodice, and took pof- 

 feflion of great part of the Syrian empire. After his return 

 to Egypt, Seleucus recovered part of his loft dominions ; 

 but being defeated by Ptolemy, lie applied for aid to hi» 

 brother. Tliis union brought about a truce witli Ptolemy, 

 but the twa brothers then quarrelled, and Seleucus was de- 

 feated 



