Seleucus I Founds the Seleucid Empire
Seleucus had served Alexander as a senior officer and in 323 BCE was appointed satrap of Babylonia. He was expelled by Antigonus around 316 BCE but fled to Ptolemy in Egypt, rejoined the anti-Antigonus coalition, and in 312 BCE retook Babylon — a date the Seleucids later used as year one of their dynasty. Seleucus proved exceptionally capable. He retook the eastern satrapies of the Persian Empire step by step, fighting his way back to his former position and beyond. By 305 BCE when he declared himself king, he ruled from Syria in the west to Bactria and Sogdia in the east — territorially the largest of the Hellenistic states. In 305-303 BCE Seleucus campaigned into northwestern India, where he encountered the Maurya Empire of Chandragupta. After a military confrontation, he negotiated a treaty: he ceded his Indian territories in exchange for 500 war elephants. These elephants proved decisive at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BCE, where they helped destroy Antigonus. Seleucus founded numerous cities, including Antioch as his western capital and Seleucia-on-the-Tigris as his eastern capital. He pursued a policy of Greek colonization, settling thousands of Macedonian and Greek veterans in new cities throughout his territory. The Seleucid Empire was always difficult to govern — too large, too ethnically diverse. It gradually contracted under Parthian pressure from the east and Roman pressure from the west, but created enduring Hellenistic cultural influence across the Near East.
- Year: 305 BCE
- Category: Political
