Seleukids Flashcards
Upon AtG’s death, what city was Seleukos I made governor of?
Babylon
Full dynastic name of Seleukos I?
Seleukos I Nikator
When is the Sel Kingdom said to have started? Why is this contentious?
321/20
It was 304 that Seleukos I was actually made a basileus
What animal become symbolic of Sel Kingdom? How come?
Elephant
In 305/4, an Eastern Asia leader gifted them to the king
When was the Battle of Ipsos? What happened as a result?
301
Attalids were weakened by the Sels who then took on control of northern syria
When did Seleukos I die? Who was his successor?
281 BCE
Antiochus I Soter
What was Seleukos’ first capital?
Seleukia-on-the-Tigris, Babylonia
What was the major imperial success for Antiochus III?
took over Phoenicia and Palestine from the Ptolemies
What is culturally interesting and previously contentious abt the Seleukid Kingdom?
Its combining of western and eastern cultural traditions incl in the material remains
Which 2 scholars argued the Seleukid kingdom was more Eastern than the traditional view of its being culturally western?
Kuhrt and Sherwin-White
What are hangovers from the Ach Empire in the administration of the Sel Kingdom? (2)
use of satrapies to organise lower level power
complexity of tax-collecting
What changed monetarily from the start of the Sel kingdom to the end?
Alexander coinage dominated at sole mint of Babylon. Then, number of mints increased and Sels started minting their own coins (gold, silver, bronze issues) w obverse of reigning king and reverse w various imperial symbols
What was a key factor in unusually large series of coins minted under the Sels?
military campaigns
What was Selukos I’s tetrapolis?
North Syrian cities he founded: Antioch, Laodikea, Seleukia-in-Piera, and Apamea.
What syrian city founded by Seleukos I would become the capital of the kingdom?
Antioch-on-the-Orontes
What likely happened to the land of newly conquered cities under the Seleukids?
Split into plots and allotted to the king’s soldiers
As well as metropoleis, what other kind of settlement could be made by a Hellenistic kingdom? Example?
Military settlements
Jebel Khalid
What region is the ‘upper satrapies’? When did Seleukos take this terrirtory?
regions east of Babylonia
303
What was particularly special about the Seleukid kingdom?
largest
In mid-3rd century BCE, what occurred that meant Sel kingdom lost significant territory?
Bactria broke off to be independent
When did Rome take over the Seleukid territory?
64 BCE