Seleucid
سلوكسيدي
Member of a dynasty ruling over
Syria and a great part of western
Asia from 311 to 65 BC.
Seleucid dynasty: Macedonian
Greek dynasty (312–64 BC) founded by
Seleucus I Nicator.
Seleucid dynasty was carved from the empire of
Alexander the Great, the Seleucid domain stretched from
Thrace to the border of
India and included
Babylonia, Syria, and
Anatolia. Seleucus was succeeded in 281 by Antiochus I Soter, who reigned until 261. He was followed by:
- Antiochus II (r. 261-246)
-Seleucus II Callinicus (r. 246-225)
-Seleucus III (r. 225-223)
-Antiochus III (the Great; r. 223–187). Under the last, the empire was at its height. Resistance to the power and spread of Hellenistic culture soon began to manifest itself in the Asian lands. Antiochus III's encounter with the
Romans signaled decline, especially after the defeat of 190. The decline accelerated after the death of Antiochus IV (r. 175-164), who lost Judaea to the Maccabees. The efforts of Demetrius I and Antiochus VII could not forestall the dynasty's inevitable end at the hands of the Roman
Pompey the Great in 64 BC.
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